The Wilmot Proviso

January 12, 1849

Under the Refuge of Oppression column is an account from the Richmond Enquirer telling of recent proceedings in the Virginia Legislature, warning that passage of the Wilmot Proviso would threaten “disunion and civil war”.    “….there are certain laws, to which, if they should be enacted by Congress, the South, under no circumstances, ought permanently to submit.  We enumerate them as follows: 1. A law in any manner interfering with the institution of slavery in the States.  2. A law prohibiting the slave-trade between the States.  3. A law abolishing slavery or the slave-trade in the District of Columbia.  4. A law prohibiting slavery in the territories.”