Wick proposed an amendment to extend the Missouri Compromise line west to the Pacific coast with the Wilmot Proviso (1846).

The provision that would make slave states of the American southwest was passed in the House, but defeated in the Senate.

William Watson Wick was born on February 23, 1796, in Canonsburg, Washington County, Pennsylvania.

[1] He presided over the trial about the Fall Creek massacre, which resulted in the first recorded case of a white man being sentenced to death for crimes against Native Americans under U.S.

Having failed in his bid for reelection, he resumed his private law practice in Indianapolis.

[1] In 1846, during the debates about the Wilmot Proviso, he proposed an amendment to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific coast.

[citation needed] Wick was a leading opponent of racial mixing and integration, and famous for his opposition to the annexation of Mexican territory.

In 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed him Postmaster of Indianapolis, in which capacity he served until April 6, 1857.

[1] He sat as a judge of the Circuit Court for a fourth time until the Autumn of 1859, for a total of 15 years on the bench.

[10] In 1860, he supported Stephen A. Douglas's campaign for president by giving speeches throughout Indiana.