David Wilmot

David Wilmot (January 20, 1814 – March 16, 1868) was a prominent American politician and judge. He served as Representative and a Senator for Pennsylvania and as a judge of the Court of Claims. Wilmot is best known for being the prime sponsor and eponym of the Wilmot Proviso, a failed proposal to ban the expansion of slavery to western lands gained in the Mexican Cession.

When Wilmot was admitted to the bar of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, he entered private practice in Towanda, from 1834 to 1844. His political career started when he was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives serving from March 4, 1845, to March 3, 1851.

The Wilmot Proviso was instrumental in his political rise. Although the Proviso failed, Wilmot became instrumental in the establishment of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania. He was presented as the Free Soil candidate for speaker of the United States House of Representatives in 1849 and was soon at odds with the mainstream Pennsylvania Democratic Party led by James Buchanan. Wilmot was President Judge of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas for the Thirteenth Judicial District from 1851 to 1861. He took a leading part in the founding of the Republican Party in 1854. Eventually he was elected as a Republican to the Senate to fill a vacancy.

Wilmot was also nominated by president Abraham Lincoln to the Court of Claims where he served until his death on March 16, 1868. His contributions to American politics, and in particular the eventual abolition of slavery, are well-remembered and honored in various ways.