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The Speech that Settled Kansas: Eli Thayer's Rousing Lecture

Wilmot Proviso

Wilmot Proviso was a proposal placed by David Wilmot from Pennsylvania to prohibit slavery in the territory acquired by the United States at the conclusion of the Mexican War.[1] Thayer thinks that people do not need to follow any bulwark like the “Wilmot Proviso” to secure freedom. It is their birth right to be free. As a result, following the Wilmot Proviso in a passive manner will not bring anything fruitful.

[1] “Wilmot Proviso,” Ohio History Central. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Wilmot_Proviso. Accessed 08 Sep, 2019.

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1. all these had said over & over again that
2. the repeal of the Missouri compromise would
3. doom Kansas to slavery & they were not
4. ready to admit after the passage of the bill
5. that there was any possible chance of
6. saving her to freedom by any ~~possible~~
7. efforts of the Emigrant Aid Company, or of any
8. body else.
9. The causes which led to the apathy or hostil-
10. ity of these two classes of honest haters of sla-
11. very will become apparent upon a little
12. examinations. The antislavery politicians
13. & journalists had been accustomed to
14. contend against slavery by legislative pro-
15. hibition or in other words the “Wilmot Proviso.”
16. This was their God; & without his help
17. it was not considered possible for freedom
18. to keep pace with slavery. Every year
19. it became more and more apparent that
20. this deity was being pushed harder &
21. harder like Poe’s man,
22. “Whom unmerciful disaster
23. “Followed fast and followed faster
24. Till at last he was utterly destroyed by
25. the repeal of the Missouri compromise.
26. These politicians had always called
27. the Wilmot Proviso “the bulwark of freedom.”
28. It did not occur to them thus freedom,
29. god-given, was a giant who needed no
30. bulwarks for his protection & could find
31. in them nothing but an obstruction & a