How did the Wilmot Proviso affect the people, government, or the Civil War at the time it was introduced?

Answer 1

The Wilmot Proviso would have outlaws slavery in any territory gained from Mexico. It greatly inflamed the South, who felt that the proviso would impact their property rights, and they also felt it would upset the previously agreed upon balance between slave and free states.

The proviso was never enacted, was repudiated by the Compromise of 1850, and declared unconstitutional by the Dred Scott case.

The proviso's effect, since it was never actually passed, was only emotional, but it was real, and it seriously damaged North-South relationships which were already in serious trouble.