Note 86 — Chapter XI · THE FREE-SOIL CAMPAIGN 1847-1848

"To understand the issue presented by the Wilmot Proviso it must be observed that its advocates sustained it on the distinct ground that, as slavery had been abolished throughout the Mexican Republic, the acquisition of territory without prohibiting slavery would, on the theory asserted by the Southern States, lead to its restoration where it had ceased to exist, and make the United States responsible for its extension to districts in which universal freedom had been established by the fundamental law."—Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John A. Dix, Vol. 1, p. 205.