Tweet-a-week: Wilmot Proviso

The Wilmot Proviso was a treaty that called for so that any land acquired from the Mexican War would not be subject to any means or practices of slavery. What sounded like a step toward equality and the abolition of slavery was really a fight by the North against Southern prominence (due to support from the apparently Southern-biased President Polk). Nevertheless, even though it did not become law despite many passings, the Wilmot Proviso served as one of several other catalysts that raised tensions between the North and South and led to the Civil War.

It's funny to think of how Whitman was among many Northerners who at first did not care for the slaves, but rather the maintenance of the country's unity as a whole. Expansion into the West was a threat, not necessarily the institution of slavery itself. Even though later he would see slaves differently, the abolitionist movement still was seen negatively in his eyes because it would disrupt the unity within the US. It seems that this view exhibits his sense of political reality that calls for order and unity for the country at any cost.

However, in the poems found in "Leaves of Grass" such as "Song of Myself," a different perspective on slaves can be read. Whitman identifies with all, including slaves; in a direct example, the speaker of the poem observes a slave handling a team of horses, noting that "his glance is calm and commandering" and "the sun falls on his crispy hair and moustache...falls on the black of his polish'd and perfect limbs" (p.8).  He essentially "behold[s] the picturesque giant...and love[s] him" (p.8). The poem, overall, speaks of unity, but the kind between all beings, all being grand, great, and good. Here, there is more hope for the equality of all people in contrast to the lack of concern toward slaves.

Overall, it seems like Whitman might have had some change of heart in regard to how he saw slaves before and during the Civil War. Poetry served as a gateway into a more conscientious sense of being and as a egalitarian approach to life. Though there still remained that threat of democracy and unity within the Union (and though Whitman still opposed abolitionists for being part of that threat as they pit themselves against the South), the presence of a hope for a more unified future (within the country and among people) can be found in his poetry.



Bibliography

Klammer, Martin. "Slavery and Abolitionism." (1998): n. page. Print. <http://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_51.html>.

Reynolds, David S. "Politics and Poetry: Whitman's Leaves of Grass and the Social Crisis of the 1850s." n. page. Print. <http://www.thehamptons.com/words/reynolds/politics_and_poetry.html>.


Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. 150th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.


"Wilmot's Proviso." U.S. History Online Textbook. n. page. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/30a.asp>.