Mr Handyman of S Oklahoma City and Norman

. Congress also plays a role in presidential elections Both Houses meet in joint session on the sixth day of January following a presidential election to count the electoral votes and there are procedures to follow if no candidate wins a majority.

William Samuel Johnson Connecticut 1 Yes Defense of the war Democrats wanted more land; northern Democrats were attracted by the possibilities in the far northwest Joshua Giddings led a group of dissenters in Washington D.C He called the war with Mexico "an aggressive unholy and unjust war" and voted against supplying soldiers and weapons He said: "In the murder of Mexicans upon their own soil or in robbing them of their country I can take no part either now or hereafter the guilt of these crimes must rest on others I will not participate in them. After Taylor died and was succeeded by Fillmore Douglas took the lead in passing Clay's compromise through Congress as five separate bills Under the compromise Texas surrendered its claims to present-day New Mexico and other states in return for federal assumption of Texas's public debt California was admitted as a free state while the remaining portions of the Mexican Cession were organized into New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory Under the concept of popular sovereignty the people of each territory would decide whether or not slavery would be permitted the compromise also included a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law and banned the slave trade in Washington D.C the issue of slavery in the territories would be re-opened by the Kansas-Nebraska Act but many historians argue that the Compromise of 1850 played a major role in postponing the American Civil War.