and in 1847, david wilmot authored a piece of legislation. and the excerpt from his legislation, the wilmot proviso is basically a bill that would have banned slavery in any newly acquired territory from mexico. it did pass the house, but it did not pass the senate, and so it was never ratified into law. but of course it created a lot of great controversy at the time because it reopened that very difficult issue about the extension of slavery into the territories. well, i want to read a little bit from his speech on the house floor. i make no war upon the south, nor upon slavery in the south. i have no squeamish, sensitive ness upon the subject of slavery nor morbid sympathy for the slave. i plead the cause of the rights of white freemen i would preserve for white free labor, a fair country, a rich inheritance, where the sons of toil of my own race and own color can live without the disgrace which association with -- slavery brings upon free labor. i stand for the inviolable lability of free territory. it shall remain free so far as my voice