William W. Wick

In 1844, Wick was re-elected to Congress. In 1846, during the debates on the Wilmot Proviso, he proposed an amendment to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific coast. Wick feared that free blacks would flood the urban northeast. The proposal was defeated 89–54. The Wilmot Proviso passed the House in August and was defeated in the Senate.

Wick was a leading opponent of racial mixing and integration, and famous for his opposition to the annexation of Mexican territory: "I do not want any mixed races in our Union, nor men of any color except white, unless they be slaves. Certainly not as voters or legislators."[4] He also served on the Board of Directors of the American Colonization Society, which helped to establish Liberia as a homeland for free blacks.

While a member of Congress, fifty-two-year-old Wick wrote about himself to a friend, describing himself as "fair, a little fat, having increased since 1833 from 146 to 214 pounds— six feet and one inch high, good complexion, portly." Wick, speaking of himself said that "Wick has committed much folly in his time—the principal of which has been holding offices, writing rhymes, playing cards for money, and paying other people's debts—all which he abandoned about the time he became a Democrat." By now his hair had turned gray, and he was suffering from frequent fevers and what he described as "bilious attacks and dyspepsia."

Speaking of himself, Wick told his friend that "He has acquired a good deal of miscellaneous knowledge, loves fun, looks serious, rises early, works much, and has a decided penchant for light diet, humor, reading, business, the drama, music, a fine horse, his gun, and the woods. W[ick] owes nothing, and were he to die today his estate would inventory eight or nine hundred dollars . . . . He 'takes no thought for tomorrow.' but relies upon the same good Providence to which he is debtor for all. W. would advise young men to fear and trust God, to cheat rogues, and deceive intriguers by being perfectly honest . . . to touch the glass lightly, to eschew security and debt, tobacco, betting, hypocrisy and federalism, to rather believe, or fall in with new philosophical and moral humbugs, and to love woman too well to injure her. They will thus be happy now, and will secure serenity at fifty-two years of age and thence onward."[5]

He remained in Congress until the expiration of the Thirtieth Congress in March 1849, having chosen not to stand for reelection.