David Wilmot (20 January 1814 – 16 March 1868) was a US Senator from Pennsylvania from 14 March 1861 to 4 March 1863, succeeding Simon Cameron and preceding Charles Buckalew. While he was a member of the US House of Representatives, he proposed the "Wilmot Proviso", which would make the Mexican Cession states free states. However, the proviso was rejected by the US Senate.
Biography[]
David Wilmot was born in Bethany, Pennsylvania on 20 January 1814, and he became a lawyer in Bradford County in August 1834. Wilmot was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson, and he was affiliated with the Jacksonian US Democratic Party. In 1844, he was elected to the US House of Representatives to represent the 12th congressional district, succeeding George Fuller. Wilmot supported the United States' involvement in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, and he devised the "Wilmot Proviso", an act that would make the Mexican Cession territories into free states. The House passed the bill, but the Senate would adjourn rather than approve the bill. In 1848, Wilmot joined the Free Soil Party, and he would later join the US Republican Party when it was founded in Pennsylvania. From 1851 to 1861, he served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and he died in 1868.