David Wilmot (January 20, 1814 – March 16, 1868) was an American politician and judge. He served as Representative and a Senator for Pennsylvania and as a judge of the Court of Claims. He 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. A notable member of the anti-slavery Free Soil Party, Wilmot later was instrumental in establishing the Republican Party in Pennsylvania. Education and career Born on January 20, 1814, in Bethany, Pennsylvania, Wilmot completed preparatory studies at the local Beech Woods Academy and at the Cayuga Lake Academy at Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, then read law with Pennsylvania state judge William Jessup in Montrose, Pennsylvania and with George Washington Woodward in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in August 1834. He was admitted to the bar of Bradford County, Pennsylvania and entered private practice in Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania from 1834 to 1844. Congressional service Wilmot was elected as a Democrat from Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district to the United States House of Representatives of the 29th, 30th and 31st United States Congresses, serving from March 4, 1845, to March 3, 1851. Introducing the Wilmot Proviso Upon taking his seat in Congress, Wilmot initially supported the policies of Democratic President James K. Polk. He also became part of an informal group of anti-slavery Democrats led by New York Congressman Preston King, who was a protege of Governor Silas Wright and an ally of former President Martin Van Buren. Although Wilmot opposed the extension of slavery into the territories, he was generally considered to be a Democratic Party loyalist; he supported Polk in the initiation of the Mexican–American War and was the lone House Democrat from Pennsylvania to vote for the Walker tariff. However, during Polk's presidency, anti-slavery Northern Democrats increasingly came to view Polk as unduly favorable to Southern interests. They were specifically disappointed by Polk's decision to compromise with Britain over the partition of Oregon, as well as Polk's veto of an internal improvements bill. As James G. Blaine later wrote: In August 1846, an appropriations bill for $2 million to be used by the President in negotiating a treaty of peace with Mexico was introduced in the United States House of Representatives. Wilmot immediately offered the following amendment: "Provided, That, as an express and fundamental condition to the