Question

In 1846, Congressman David Wilmot proposed to: Group of answer choices prohibit slavery from all territory acquired from Mexico. allow voters to decide the status of slavery in new territories. divide the Oregon Country between Great Britain and the United States. annex Cuba to avoid southern secession. allow slavery to expand into California and New Mexico.

Answer 1

The correct answer is A) prohibit slavery from all territory acquired from Mexico.

In 1846, Congressman David Wilmot proposed to prohibit slavery from all territory acquired from Mexico.

After the United States won the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), it gained large territories. The Wilmot Proviso tried to eliminate the use of slaves in those recently acquired lands. It was David Wilmot, a Congressman from the state of Pennsylvania, who proposed the the proviso.

David Wilmot was a representative from Pennsylvania in the United States Congress, who introduced this legislation to the House on August 8, 1846.  In the end, the proviso was not successful and this represented a major cause for the American Civil War.