Difference between revisions of "Lewis Cass" - New World Encyclopedia

	Lewis Cass
	;
	14th United States Secretary of War
	In office; August 1, 1831 – October 5, 1836
Preceded by	John Henry Eaton
Succeeded by	Joel Roberts Poinsett
22nd United States Secretary of State
	In office; March 6, 1857 – December 14, 1860
Preceded by	William L. Marcy
Succeeded by	Jeremiah S. Black
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	Politician, Lawyer
Signature

Revision as of 16:52, 16 June 2007

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.

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.

President Buchanan and his Cabinet
From left to right: Jacob Thompson, Lewis Cass, John B. Floyd, James Buchanan, Howell Cobb, Isaac Toucey, Joseph Holt and Jeremiah S. Black, (c. 1859)

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. William Orlando Butler was his running mate. 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.

Cass/Butler campaign poster

After losing the election to Zachary Taylor, he returned to the Senate, serving from 1849 to 1857. He was the first non-incumbent Democratic presidential candidate to lose election.

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.)

External links

Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army Retrieved June 16, 2007.

Preceded by: William Hull	Territoral Governor of Michigan 1813 – 1831	Succeeded by: George Bryan Porter
Preceded by: John Henry Eaton	United States Secretary of War August 1, 1831 – October 5, 1836	Succeeded by: Joel Roberts Poinsett
Preceded by: Edward Livingston	U.S. Minister to France October 4, 1836 – November 12, 1842	Succeeded by: William R. King
Preceded by: Augustus S. Porter	United States Senator (Class 1) from Michigan March 4, 1845 – May 29, 1848	Succeeded by: Thomas Fitzgerald
Preceded by: James K. Polk	Democratic Party presidential candidate 1848 (lost)	Succeeded by: Franklin Pierce
Preceded by: Thomas Fitzgerald	United States Senator (Class 1) from Michigan January 20, 1849 – March 3, 1857	Succeeded by: Zachariah Chandler
Preceded by: David Rice Atchison	*President pro tempore* of the United States Senate** December 4, 1854	Succeeded by: Jesse D. Bright
Preceded by: William L. Marcy	United States Secretary of State March 6, 1857 – December 14, 1860	Succeeded by: Jeremiah S. Black

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

Lewis Cass ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "Lewis Cass"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | image=Cass standing-right.jpg
 | order=14th
-| title=United States Secretary of War
+| title=[[United States Secretary of War]]
 | term_start=August 1, 1831
 | term_end=October 5, 1836
-| predecessor=John Henry Eaton
+| predecessor=[[John Henry Eaton]]
-| successor=Joel Roberts Poinsett
+| successor=[[Joel Roberts Poinsett]]
 | order2=22nd
-| title2=United States Secretary of State
+| title2=[[United States Secretary of State]]
 | term_start2=March 6, 1857
 | term_end2=December 14, 1860
-| predecessor2=William L. Marcy
+| predecessor2=[[William L. Marcy]]
-| successor2=Jeremiah S. Black
+| successor2=[[Jeremiah S. Black]]
 | birth_date=October 9, 1782
-| birth_place=Exeter, New Hampshire, [[United States|United States]]
+| birth_place=[[Exeter, New Hampshire]], [[United States|USA]]
-| death_date=June 17,1866
+| death_date={{death date and age|1866|06|17|1782|10|09}}
-| death_place=Detroit, Michigan, [[United States|United States]]
+| death_place=[[Detroit, Michigan]], [[United States|USA]]
-| party=Democratic
+| party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
 | spouse=Eliza Spencer Cass
-| profession=[[Lawyer]]
+| profession=[[Politician]], [[Lawyer]]
+| signature=Casssig.jpg
 }}
-'''Lewis Cass''' (October 9, 1782 &ndash; June 17, 1866) was an [[United States|American]] military officer and politician. He was the nominee of the Democratic Party for [[President of the United States]] in 1848.  His political agenda can be described as having endorsed a Jeffersonian political philosophy.  Some of the principles reflecting the motivations behind his political actions include: the belief in individual liberty, popular sovereignty, equality of rights and opportunities for all citizens, and a strictly construed and balanced constitutional government of limited powers.
+'''Lewis Cass''' (October 9, 1782 &ndash; June 17, 1866) was an [[United States|American]] military officer and [[politician]]. He was the nominee of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] for [[President of the United States]] in 1848.
 ==Early life==
-Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, New Hampshire on October 9, 1782, to Jonathan and Mary Gilman Cass.  The oldest of six children, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy (PEA), a boarding school established in 1781.
+He was born in [[Exeter, New Hampshire]], where he attended [[Phillips Exeter Academy]].
-Cass moved with his parents to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1799. He briefly earned a living as a schoolteacher, before moving to the Northwest Territory in 1801. There he purchased a farm near Zanesville, Ohio, before giving up life as a farmer to pursue a legal career. He studied law in the office of Return Jonathan Meigs, and was admitted to the bar in 1802 at the age of twenty.
+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 [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. The expedition erroneously identified [[Cass Lake (Minnesota)|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]].
+[[Image:Buchanan Cabinet.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''President Buchanan and his Cabinet''<br/>From left to right: [[Jacob Thompson]], Lewis Cass, [[John B. Floyd]], [[James Buchanan]], [[Howell Cobb]], [[Isaac Toucey]], [[Joseph Holt]] and [[Jeremiah S. Black]], (c. 1859)]]
 ==Political career==
-In 1806 Cass was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. He became a member of the Ohio House committee leading the investigation on the Burr conspiracy.  Three years later, in 1809, he was selected to become a defense counselor in the trial for Ohio Supreme Court Justice George Tod.
+On August 1, 1831, he resigned as governor of the Michigan Territory to take the post of [[United States Secretary of War|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 (diplomacy)|ambassador]] to [[France]].
-Cass also served as a United States marshal for the Ohio district from 1807 to 1812, when he resigned as U.S. to enlist in the United States Army in the War of 1812.
-Serving as a colonel under General William Hull, he was present when Hull surrendered Detroit in 1812. Condemning the surrender, Cass quickly moved up through the ranks, and became major-general. He served as brigadier general by the time he fought at the battle of the Thames in 1813, the battle which led to the re-establishment of American control over the Northwest frontier for the remainder of the war. As a reward for his service in the war, Cass was appointed Governor of the Michigan Territory by President [[James Madison]] on October 29, 1813, and served until 1831.
-[[Image:Buchanan Cabinet.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''President Buchanan and his Cabinet''<br/>From left to right: Jacob Thompson, Lewis Cass, John B. Floyd, [[James Buchanan]], Howell Cobb, Isaac Toucey, Joseph Holt and Jeremiah S. Black, (c. 1859)]]
-As governor, he had chief control of Indian affairs for the territory — an area much larger than the state today, then occupied almost entirely by natives. Traveling frequently, several territorial secretaries often served as acting governor in Cass's place. He extinguished the Indian title to large tracts of land, instituted surveys, constructed roads, and explored the lakes and sources of the Mississippi river. In 1820, Cass led an [[Lewis_Cass#Cass_Lake|expedition]] to the northern part of the territory in search of the source of the [[Mississippi River]].
-Along with John Forsyth, Theodore Frelinghuysen, and John Ross, Cass used strongly opinionated writings to influence a large portion of the public towards support of [[Lewis_Cass#American_Indian_Policy|Indian removal]], formally enacted in 1830 under the Jackson administration.
-On August 1, 1831, Cass resigned as governor of the Michigan Territory to take the post of Secretary of War under President [[Andrew Jackson]], serving until 1836. Directing the conduct of the Black Hawk and Seminole wars, he sided with the president in his nullification controversy with South Carolina and in his removal of the Indians from Georgia. Cass did not side with Jackson, however, on his withdrawal of the government deposits from the United States Bank.
-From 1836 to 1842, Cass served as ambassador to France, becoming very popular with the French government and people. In 1842, when the Quintuple Treaty was negotiated by representatives of England, France, Prussia, Russia and Austria for the suppression of the slave trade by the exercise of the right of search, Cass attacked it in a pamphlet entitled "An Examination of the Questions now in Discussion between the American and British Government Concerning the Right of Search," and presented to the French government a formal memorial thought to be instrumental in preventing the ratification of the treaty by France. Cass resigned from the post after the Webster-Ashburton treaty between Great Britain and the United States was signed, objecting to England not relinquishing claim of the right to search American vessels.
-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 United States Congress. In 1848, he resigned from the Senate to [[Lewis_Cass#Presidential_candidacy|run for President]].
-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.
-==Cass Lake==
-In 1820, Cass led an expedition to the northern part of the territory. He traversed the northern [[Great Lakes]] region (present-day northern Minnesota) in an attempt 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 [[United Kingdom|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.
-==American Indian Policy==
-Cass was a central figure in formulating and implementing the Indian Removal policy of the Jackson administration. Along with John Forsyth, Theodore Frelinghuysen, and John Ross, Lewis Cass used strongly opinionated writings to influence a large portion of the public towards support of Indian removal, formally enacted in 1830; in particular, Cass wrote about his experiences with America's unwritten removal policy and his engagements with the Indians to date. A leading authority on the languages and cultures of the northern tribes, he argued that Indian emigration was necessary in order for them to survive and civilize without extreme pressure from Americans living near and among them.
-The following quote from Cass' ''Considerations on the Present State of the Indians and their Removal to the West of the Mississppi'' demonstrates the concerns he held towards the conservation of the American Indian population amidst all the factors that contributed to their decline:
-<blockquote>As we shall attempt eventually to prove, that the only means of preserving the Indians from that utter extinction which threatens them, is to remove them from the sphere of influence, we are desirous of showing, that no change has occurred, or probably can occur, in the principles of practice of our intercourse with them, by which the progress of their declension can be arrested, so long as they occupy their present situation.</blockquote><ref>Lewis Cass, ''Considerations on the Present State of the Indians and their Removal to the West of the Mississippi'' (Arno Press., 1975. ISBN 0405068581.)</ref>
-==Presidential candidacy==
+Cass represented [[Michigan]] in the [[United States Senate]] from 1845 to 1848. He served as chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Military Affairs|Committee on Military Affairs]] in the [[30th United States Congress|30th Congress]]. In 1848, he resigned from the Senate to run for President. [[William Orlando Butler]] was his running mate. 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 [[United States Free Soil Party|Free Soil Party]].  He also supported the annexation of [[Texas]].
-By 1848, Cass had become one of the most well-known citizens of the United States. He supported the annexation of Texas. He was also 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. Hoping that this view would be attractive to a large number of Americans, the Democratic party selected him to be its candidate for President.
 [[Image:Cass Butler campaign.jpg|thumb|right|270px|Cass/Butler campaign poster]]
+After losing [[U.S. presidential election, 1848|the election]] to [[Zachary Taylor]], he returned to the Senate, serving from 1849 to 1857. He was the first non-incumbent [[List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets|Democratic presidential candidate]] to lose election.
+From 1857 to 1860, Cass served as [[United States Secretary of State|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.
-Cass's nomination for presidency caused a split in the Democratic party, leading many antislavery Democrats to join the Free Soil Party. Although some supported his position on popular sovereignty, many others feared that it was too vague. If either the North or the South gain more power than the other in the senate, a bill could potentially be passed that would either outlaw slavery or make it legal everywhere. Cass's position had the potential to disrupt this carefully held balance between the North and South that had been in place for the past 30 years. Largely for this reason, Cass did not win the election.
+He died in 1866 and is buried in [[Elmwood Cemetery (Detroit, Michigan)|Elmwood Cemetery]] in Detroit.
-After losing to [[Zachary Taylor]], a hero from the Mexican War, Cass returned to Michigan and to the Senate.
+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.)
-==Later life==
-After resigning from Secretary of State in 1860, Cass retired to Detroit to engage in literary pursuits. He died there on June 17, 1866, and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.
-==Legacy==
-In 1948 the Detroit Historical Society of Michigan reinstated their lecture series and named it in honor of Lewis Cass who was Governor of the Michigan Territory and one of the founders of the Detroit Historical Society Guild.  The purpose of these lectures was to present a discussion on an aspect of Michigan’s history.  The lecture was presented by Francis Paul Prucha and was titled ''Lewis Cass and American Indian Policy''.  Prucha focused his discussion on how Cass successfully prevented the complete collapse of American Indian relations with the United States and described him as an "enlightened man of his times, and there was in him a strong, sincere, and persistent streak of humanitarianism."<ref>Francis Paul Prucha, ''Lewis Cass and American Indian Policy'' (Wayne State University Press., 1967. OCLC 1493415) 8.</ref>
-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.)
+==External links==
-There are currently nine counties named after Cass (located in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Texas). Bartow County, Georgia was also named in his honor, but was renamed after the American Civil War.
-There are also many cities, towns, townships, villages, streets, and buildings named in his honor.
+*[http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/sw-sa/Cass.htm Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army] Retrieved June 16, 2007.
-==Notes==
-<references/>
-==References==
-. Cass, Lewis. 1975. ''Considerations on the Present State of the Indians and their Removal to the West of the Mississippi''. Arno Press.
-. Klunder, Willard Carl. 1996. ‘’Lewis Cass and the Politics of Moderation’’. The Kent State University Press.
-. Ohio Historical Society. 2005. [http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=95 Lewis Cass.] Ohio History Central: An Online Encyclopedia of Ohio History. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
-. Prucha, Francis Paul. 1967.  ''Lewis Cass and American Indian Policy''.  Wayne State University Press.
-. Soylent Communications. 2007. [http://www.nndb.com/people/224/000050074/ Lewis Cass.] NNDB. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
-==External links==
-*[http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/sw-sa/Cass.htm Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army]
 {{start box}}
 {{succession box
-| title=Territoral Governor of Michigan
+| title=[[Governors of Michigan Territory|Territoral Governor of Michigan]]
-| before=William Hull
+| before=[[William Hull]]
-| after=George Bryan Porter
+| after=[[George Bryan Porter]]
 | years=1813 &ndash; 1831}}
 {{succession box
-| title=United States Secretary of War
+| title=[[United States Secretary of War]]
-| before=John Henry Eaton
+| before=[[John Henry Eaton]]
-| after=Joel Roberts Poinsett
+| after=[[Joel Roberts Poinsett]]
 | years=August 1, 1831 &ndash; October 5, 1836}}
 {{succession box
-| title=U.S. Ambassador to France
+| title=[[United States Ambassador to France|U.S. Minister to France]]
-| before=Edward Livingston
+| before=[[Edward Livingston]]
-| after=William R. King
+| after=[[William R. King]]
 | years=October 4, 1836 &ndash; November 12, 1842}}
-{{succession box
+{{U.S. Senator box
-| title=United States Senator from Michigan
 | state=Michigan
 | class=1
-| before=Augustus S. Porter
+| before=[[Augustus S. Porter]]
-| after=Thomas Fitzgerald
+| after=[[Thomas Fitzgerald]]
-| years=March 4, 1845 &ndash; May 29, 1848
+| alongside=[[William Woodbridge]] and [[Alpheus Felch]]
-<small>(alongside William Woodbridge and Alpheus Felch)</small>}}
+| years=March 4, 1845 &ndash; May 29, 1848}}
 {{succession box
-| title=Democratic Party presidential candidate
+| title=[[List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets|Democratic Party presidential candidate]]
 | before=[[James K. Polk]]
 | after=[[Franklin Pierce]]
-| years=1848 (lost)}}
+| years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1848|1848]] (lost)}}
-{{succession box
+{{U.S. Senator box
 | state=Michigan
-| title=United States Senator from Michigan
 | class=1
-| before=Thomas Fitzgerald
+| before=[[Thomas Fitzgerald]]
-| after=Zachariah Chandler
+| after=[[Zachariah Chandler]]
-| years=January 20, 1849 &ndash; March 3, 1857
+| alongside=[[Alpheus Felch]] and [[Charles E. Stuart]]
-<small>(alongside Alpheus Felch and Charles E. Stuart)</small>}}
+| years=January 20, 1849 &ndash; March 3, 1857}}
 {{succession box
-| title=President ''pro tempore'' of the United States Senate
+| title=[[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President ''pro tempore'' of the United States Senate]]
-| before=David Rice Atchison
+| before=[[David Rice Atchison]]
 | years=December 4, 1854
-| after=Jesse D. Bright}}
+| after=[[Jesse D. Bright]]}}
 {{succession box
-| title=United States Secretary of State
+| title=[[United States Secretary of State]]
-| before=William L. Marcy
+| before=[[William L. Marcy]]
-| after=Jeremiah S. Black
+| after=[[Jeremiah S. Black]]
 | years=March 6, 1857 &ndash; December 14, 1860}}
 {{end box}}
-[[Category:History and biography]]
+[[Category:History and Biography]]
 [[Category:Biography]]
+[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
+[[Category:History of the United States]]
-{{credit|131411101}}
+{{credit|138460798}}

22nd United States Secretary of State
Lewis Cass

14th United States Secretary of War
In office August 1, 1831 – October 5, 1836
Preceded by	John Henry Eaton
Succeeded by	Joel Roberts Poinsett
In office March 6, 1857 – December 14, 1860
Preceded by	William L. Marcy
Succeeded by	Jeremiah S. Black

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	Politician, Lawyer
Signature