Tweet-a-Week I: Wilmot Proviso

Had no idea what this even was before today. As it was, google allowed me to establish that the Wilmot Proviso was a bill that was proposed by David Wilmot in 1846. The bill would have made slavery illegal in the territories newly acquired from the Mexican-American War. It divided congress, and the entire nation. In the coming years, it would turn into a civil war.

This bill is one of the things that first sparked Whitman's involvement in speaking out against slavery, with the poet writing articles supporting the bill in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. However, it seems as though he had some underlying ulterior motives to his views. With the gain of these new states, there was also untold opportunity for working whites to find jobs. But in states where slave labour is legal, why would anyone pay a white man to do what they would get a black man to do for free?

Really, I suppose it all comes down to the American dream of opportunity. Regardless of race, if nothing else ending slavery would (in theory) level the playing field. Whitman, in Leaves of Grass, seems very enthralled with the idea of equality ("For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you") despite living in a time of tremendous turmoil and inequality. So the Wilmot Proviso was like a beacon, the first step towards a world where people could be the same, race made irrelevant. New states that could join this marvelous country never knowing the black stain of slavery that would taint so many others. (And Damn if that isn't just poetic. I can see the appeal.)

But let's back up a sec, I just had a thought. Equality can extend past simply equal work opportunities. What about Whitman's beloved loafing? Slaves had no choice in their work. Loafing was not just frowned upon for them, it was punishable. Here is this entire race of people that cannot share in Whitman's ideal and yet probably appreciate it more so that most others. It must have been painful for him. Whitman says "In all people I see myself", and yet there are so many people who are being mistreated, who cannot live the life he finds so desirable. To look at a slave and see yourself, would have to be heartbreaking. Because Whitman wants to connect with people, to be equal with them, but the definition of slavery denies that.