In 184 6 the US declared war on Mexico in a dispute over the southern border of Texas, the country recently annexed by the US and former state in Mexico. One of the major reasons for the war was slave owner dreams of adding more slave territory to the US to prevent the eventual ending of slavery by a majority vote of Congress by the growing number of free states being added under the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The Slavery owners however couched their support for the war in patriotic terms about defending the US from invasion and protecting our new border (along with Manifest Destiny). To demonstrate their hypocrisy David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania Democrat, added the the bill funding the war the Wilmot Proviso. It stated:
Provided, That, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted.
The proviso repeated passed the House but died in the Senate. He even tried to make it part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The point was that Wilmot and several others were trying to stop the spread of slavery. The plan failed the make enact a law opposing the expansion of slavery but it help slavery from actually expanding as no slave states were ever added to the US again. WIlmot had exposed the hypocrisy of the planter class in its desire for new slave territory as the real reason for Southern support for the War and strengthened the Free Soil/Abolitionist argument to prevent the expansion of slavery.
I think that we need a new Wilmot Proviso in the current to stop the Mango Mussolini’s border wall. tRump has just proposed a “deal” to extend DACA for money to build a wall. This will be rejected by the Democrats . McTurtle will probably put it to a vote in the Senate but it won’t survive a cloture vote. tRump will claim that the Democrats are keeping the government shut down and therefore are responsible for it. I think an answer to this would be to create a proviso place on every piece of legislation passed by the House that no funds appropriated by the legislation could be used by the executive to build a border wall. The House could approve all kinds of bills passed by the Senate with this one exception. They could even pass border security money, provided none is used for a border wall. It is not a solution to the shutdown but it might keep pressure on the Republicans and stress that except for a physical wall the Democrats are for border security. At minimum it would restore the situation to the House passing legislation to open the government and Mitch the Bitch refusing to let the Senate vote.