David Wilmont, was a democrat from Pennsylvania. He purposed that any territory the United States got from Mexico would have no slavery, and no involuntary servitude; this became known as the Wilmont Proviso. Wilmont along with other Northerners thought that President Polk was "pro-Southern" because of his support for a new tariff in the South. This mad Southerners mad though, they believed any antislavery decisions would end up effecting all slavery issues everywhere. The Wilmont Proviso was passed by the House of Representatives, but not by the Senate. Senator John C. Calhoun tried to come up with a solution but people in the Senate didn't want any part of it. Which angered Southerners even more. With tensions rising between Congress, Senator Lewis Cass purposed a solution. He suggested the idea that each citizen in the new territory should be allowed to decide if slavery was allowed or not. This became known as popular sovereignty. Congress liked this idea, because it took slavery issues out of the national government. Abolitionists argued though that is denied African American rights. But many northerners, especially in the Midwest supported the idea because most of the citizens would be Northern, therefore banning slavery. This would later lead to other issues in the government. But at the time it settled some of the tension. 
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