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The Wilmot Proviso which states that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of the territory" acquired form Mexico, meaning California, is not valid in that Congress is interfering with the South's lands and rights to keep slavery. Congress has a positive duty, under the Constitution to protect the property of Southerners in the territories, only the state can decide on slavery!!
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| When the Wilmot Proviso was made, much of the South reacted to it with such points as above. By making the Wilmot Proviso, Congress was interfering with slavery, but California as a majority wanted to be deemed a free state, as it was. Since it was in the South and some slave owning Americans had settled there, California became another "hot potato" of the slavery fight between the North and the South, causing a little more agitation. |