Lewis Cass
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Lewis Cass | |
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In office August 1, 1831 – October 5, 1836 |
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Preceded by | John Henry Eaton |
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Succeeded by | Joel Roberts Poinsett |
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In office March 6, 1857 – December 14, 1860 |
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Preceded by | William L. Marcy |
Succeeded by | Jeremiah S. Black |
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Born | October 9, 1782 Exeter, New Hampshire, USA |
Died | June 17, 1866 (aged 83) Detroit, Michigan, USA |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Eliza Spencer Cass |
Profession | Lawyer, Politician |
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Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782 – June 17, 1866) was an American military officer and politician. He was the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States in 1848.
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[edit] Early life
He was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he attended Phillips Exeter Academy.
During the War of 1812, he served as brigadier general fighting at the battle of the Thames. As a reward for his service in the war, he was appointed Governor of the Michigan Territory by President James Madison on October 29, 1813, and served until 1831. He was frequently absent, and several territorial secretaries often served as acting governor in his place.
In 1820, he led an expedition to the northern part of the territory, in the northern Great Lakes region in present-day northern Minnesota, in order to map the region and discover the source of the Mississippi River. The source of the river had been unknown until then, resulting in an undefined border between the United States and Britain. The expedition erroneously identified Cass Lake as the source of the river. The source of the river was correctly identified in 1832 by Henry Schoolcraft, who had been Cass's expedition geologist, as nearby Lake Itasca.
[edit] Political career
On August 1, 1831, he resigned as governor of the Michigan Territory to take the post of Secretary of War under President Andrew Jackson, serving until 1836. Cass was a central figure in formulating and implementing the Indian Removal policy of the Jackson administration. From 1836 to 1842, he was ambassador to France.
Cass represented Michigan in the United States Senate from 1845 to 1848. He served as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs in the 30th Congress. In 1848, he resigned from the Senate to run for President. Cass was a leading supporter of the Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, which held that the people who lived in a territory should decide whether or not to permit slavery there. His nomination caused a split in the Democratic party, leading many antislavery Democrats to join the Free Soil Party. He also supported the annexation of Texas.
After losing the election to Zachary Taylor, he returned to the Senate, serving from 1849 to 1857.
From 1857 to 1860, Cass served as Secretary of State under President James Buchanan. He resigned on December 13, 1860, reportedly disgusted by Buchanan's failure to pursue a stronger policy that might have averted the threatened secession of southern states.
He died in 1866 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.
A statue of Cass is one of the two that was submitted by Michigan to the National Statuary Hall collection in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. It stands in the National Statuary Hall room. (The other statue is of Zachariah Chandler, which is in the Hall of Columns.)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army
Governors of Michigan | |
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Territorial: Hull • Cass • Porter • Mason • Horner
Mason • Woodbridge • Gordon • Barry • Felch • Greenly • Ransom • Barry • McClelland • Parsons • Bingham • Wisner • Blair • Crapo • Baldwin • Bagley • Croswell • Jerome • Begole • Alger • Luce • Winans • Rich • Pingree • Bliss • Warner • Osborn • Ferris • Sleeper • Groesbeck • Green • Brucker • Comstock • Fitzgerald • Murphy • Fitzgerald • Dickinson • Van Wagoner • Kelly • Sigler • Williams • Swainson • Romney • Milliken • Blanchard • Engler • Granholm |
United States Secretaries of War | |
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Knox • Pickering • McHenry • Dexter • Dearborn • Eustis • Armstrong • Monroe • WH Crawford • Calhoun • Barbour • PB Porter • Eaton • Cass • Poinsett • Bell • Spencer • JM Porter • Wilkins • Marcy • GW Crawford • Conrad • Davis • Floyd • Holt • Cameron • Stanton • Schofield • Rawlins • Sherman • Belknap • A Taft • Cameron • McCrary • Ramsey • Lincoln • Endicott • Proctor • Elkins • Lamont • Alger • Root • WH Taft • Wright • Dickinson • Stimson • Garrison • Baker • Weeks • Davis • Good • Hurley • Dern • Woodring • Stimson • Patterson • Royall |
Jackson • Van Buren • Polk • Cass • Pierce • Buchanan • Douglas/Breckinridge (SD), McClellan • Seymour • Greeley • Tilden • Hancock • Cleveland • Bryan • Parker • Bryan • Wilson • Cox • Davis • Smith • Roosevelt • Truman • Stevenson • Kennedy • Johnson • Humphrey • McGovern • Carter • Mondale • Dukakis • Clinton • Gore • Kerry
United States Secretaries of State | |
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Jefferson • Randolph • Pickering • J Marshall • Madison • Smith • Monroe • Adams • Clay • Van Buren • Livingston • McLane • Forsyth • Webster • Upshur • Calhoun • Buchanan • Clayton • Webster • Everett • Marcy • Cass • Black • Seward • Washburne • Fish • Evarts • Blaine • Frelinghuysen • Bayard • Blaine • Foster • Gresham • Olney • Sherman • Day • Hay • Root • Bacon • Knox • Bryan • Lansing • Colby • Hughes • Kellogg • Stimson • Hull • Stettinius • Byrnes • G Marshall • Acheson • Dulles • Herter • Rusk • Rogers • Kissinger • Vance • Muskie • Haig • Shultz • Baker • Eagleburger • Christopher • Albright • Powell • Rice |
Categories: United States Secretaries of State | United States Secretaries of War | United States Senators from Michigan | Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees | United States Army generals | Phillips Exeter Academy alumni | Michigan politicians | History of Michigan | People from Exeter, New Hampshire | United States ambassadors to France | American people of the War of 1812 | 1782 births | 1866 deaths