Global InformationLewis Cass information
Lewis Cass | |
|---|---|
 Secretary Lewis Cass, c. 1855 | |
| 22nd United States Secretary of State | |
| In office March 6, 1857 – December 14, 1860 | |
| President | James Buchanan |
| Preceded by | William Marcy |
| Succeeded by | Jeremiah Black |
| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office December 4, 1854 – December 5, 1854 | |
| Preceded by | David Rice Atchison |
| Succeeded by | Jesse Bright |
| United States Senator from Michigan | |
| In office March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1857 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Fitzgerald |
| Succeeded by | Zachariah Chandler |
| In office March 4, 1845 – May 29, 1848 | |
| Preceded by | Augustus Porter |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Fitzgerald |
| United States Ambassador to France | |
| In office December 1, 1836 – November 12, 1842 | |
| President | Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler |
| Preceded by | Edward Livingston |
| Succeeded by | William King |
| 14th United States Secretary of War | |
| In office August 1, 1831 – October 4, 1836 | |
| President | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | Roger B. Taney (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Joel Roberts Poinsett |
| 2nd Governor of the Michigan Territory | |
| In office October 13, 1813 – August 1, 1831 | |
| Appointed by | James Madison |
| Preceded by | William Hull |
| Succeeded by | George Porter |
| Member of the Ohio House of Representatives | |
| In office 1806–1807 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 9, 1782 Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Died | June 17, 1866 (aged 83) Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Eliza Spencer
(m. 1806; died 1853) |
| Children | 7 |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1812–1814 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Unit | 27th U.S. Infantry |
| Battles/wars | War of 1812
|
Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782 – June 17, 1866) was an American military officer, politician, and statesman. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He was also the 1848 Democratic presidential nominee. A slave owner himself,[1] he was a leading spokesman for the doctrine of popular sovereignty, which at the time held the idea that people in each U.S state should have the right to decide on whether to permit or prohibit slavery, believing in the idea of states rights.
Born in Exeter, New Hampshire, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy before establishing a legal practice in Zanesville, Ohio. After serving in the Ohio House of Representatives, he was appointed as a U.S. Marshal. Cass also joined the Freemasons and would eventually co-found the Grand Lodge of Michigan. He fought at the Battle of the Thames in the War of 1812 and was appointed to govern Michigan Territory in 1813. He negotiated treaties with American tribes to open land for American settlement as part of the belief in the 19th century phrase “manifest destiny” at the time, and led a survey expedition into the northwest part of the territory.
Cass resigned as governor in 1831 to accept appointment as Secretary of War under Andrew Jackson. As Secretary of War, he helped implement Jackson's policy of Indian removal. After serving as ambassador to France from 1836 to 1842, he unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination at the 1844 Democratic National Convention; a deadlock between supporters of Cass and former President Martin Van Buren ended with the nomination of James K. Polk. In 1845, the Michigan Legislature elected Cass to the Senate, where he served until 1848. Cass's nomination at the 1848 Democratic National Convention precipitated a split in the party, as Cass's advocacy for popular sovereignty alienated the anti-slavery wing of the party. Van Buren led the Free Soil Party's presidential ticket and appealed to many anti-slavery Democrats, possibly contributing to the victory of Whig nominee Zachary Taylor.
Cass returned to the Senate in 1849 and continued to serve until 1857 when he accepted appointment as the Secretary of State. He unsuccessfully sought to buy land from Mexico and sympathized with American filibusters in Latin America. Cass resigned from the Cabinet in December 1860 in protest of Buchanan's handling of the threatened secession of several Southern states. Since his death in 1866, he has been commemorated in various ways, including with a statue in the National Statuary Hall.
- ^ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, 2022-01-13, retrieved 2022-07-04