Lewis Cass served as Secretary of War for President Andrew Jackson, and Secretary of State for President James Buchanan. In 1848, he received the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States.

He was born the son of a skilled craftsman on October 9 1782 in Exeter New Hampshire. Jonathan Cass had planned and saved for his son’s education, and as a result, Lewis Cass became a student at the Phillips Exeter academy. One of his schoolmates would be future Senator Daniel Webster. In 1799, Cass moved with his parents to Wilmington Delaware. He saved the money he earned teaching at the local school, and by 1801 he had enough to purchase a farm in Zanesville Ohio.

Cass spent almost all of his spare time studying law. He passed the bar exam in 1802, making him the first certified attorney in the state of Ohio. He opened an office in Marietta. When he joined the Masonic Lodge and became well acquainted with the influential men of his community. In 1806, the local Democrats realized that Cass had political potential and helped him win a seat in the Ohio State Legislature. He soon earned the respect of his colleagues and they recommended him to President Jefferson for the office of US Marshall. Marshall Cass enforced federal law in Ohio for the next five years.

1806 was also the year Lewis Cass married Elizabeth Spencer. They had four daughters and one son.

When America declared war on Britain, he volunteered to serve in the Third Ohio Regiment. General Hull ordered the army to go north into Canada. Unfortunately, Hull was an inexperienced commander who had underestimated the enemy. British forces counter attacked and quashed Hull’s plans for quick victory. General Hull surrendered Ft. Detroit, but Colonel Cass and his men were able to avoid capture. Cass’s bravery and military skills earned him the rank of Brigadier General. He served at the Battle of Thames, under General William Henry Harrison, where an American victory forced the British to withdraw from the Northwest Territory.

In the final analysis, did the Americans win because they forced the British out of American territory, or did the British win because they kept the Americans out of Canada?

President Madison appointed Cass Governor of the Michigan Territory in 1813. As Governor, Cass oversaw the building of roads, secured save harbors on the Great lakes, and negotiated treaties with the local native tribes. In addition to his duties as governor, he was also the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. During this time, he substantially increased his own personal wealth.

President Andrew Jackson appointed Cass to be Secretary of War in 1831. Cass played a major role in planning and implementing the treaties that forced America’s Indian tribes to move west of the Mississippi river.

In 1836, Cass resigned his cabinet post to become The United States envoy to France. While in Paris Cass became a close friend of the American Portrait Artist GPA Healy.

The British had established a constitutional monarchy after their defeat of Napoleon; however, King Louis Philippe returned many of Napoleon's officials to positions of authority when he restored the power and prestige of the Bourgeois. At times Cass was at odds with the administration when dealing with issues that involved the French and the British.

When he returned home, after six years of diplomatic service, the Michigan legislature elected him to the United States Senate. In 1846, there were heated debates over whether or not to allow slavery in the newly acquired territory. A fellow Democrat, David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, attached a provision on the military appropriations bill that forbid slavery from all territory acquired from Mexico. A compromise, proposed by Senator Dickinson of New York, would let the local citizens decide whether to accept or reject the institution of slavery. Cass was a friend of Dickinson and thought this would be an acceptable solution. He wrote a letter to Senator AOP Nicholson of Tennessee expressing his support of Dickinson's plan.

By the time the Democrats met for their convention at Baltimore in 1848, President Polk had decided not to seek reelection. The other contenders for the Democrats' nomination included Secretary of State James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, and Supreme Court Justice Levi Woodbury of New Hampshire. However, news of the “Dickinson plan” made Cass the choice of the Southern delegates. With the South behind him, in addition to his delegates from the North, Cass won the nomination. The delegates who found the doctrine of “squatter’s rights” or “popular sovereignty” unacceptable protested and left the convention.

The Democrat's candidate for Vice President was William O Butler of Kentucky. He earned a promotion to the rank of Major for his heroism at the Battle of New Orleans, he was a two-term congressional representative from 1839 to 1843, and he served as a General during the attack on Monterey in Mexico.

The convention rallied behind their candidates and made the nominations of Cass and Butler unanimous. They praised President Polk for his leadership during the Mexican war, and the criticized the Whigs for having opposed the President on many important issues. However, there was no mention of the most controversial issue, slavery in the new territories.

When the Whigs met in Philadelphia, they nominated the most apolitical candidate in the history of presidential elections. General Zachary Taylor was not known for his expertise on political issues, and many suspected he did not care. Taylor himself admitted that he never voted. Taylor never expressed his opinion on the subject of slavery in the territories or any other major issues of the campaign. The man who would run with Taylor for Vice President would be four-time congressional representative, and New York's comptroller, Millard Fillmore.

The Free Soil Party nominated Former President Martin Van Buren for President. Their candidate for Vice President would be Charles Francis Adams. When one considers the bitterness of the 1824 election, when Andrew Jackson accused John Q Adams and Henry Clay of making "a corrupt bargain", it was a peculiar turn of political events that these men would find themselves on the same ticket. Martin Van Buren had been President Jackson's hand picked candidate for the Democrats in 1836; Charles Francis Adams was the son of John Quincy Adams.

Candidate Cass had the burden of having to run on the record of President Polk's administration. In 1844, Polk's campaign proudly shouted the phrase "forty four forty or fight", but the final agreement, made by President Polk, set the border with Canada at the 49^th parallel. As a result, the territories adjacent to the South would be significantly larger than the ones adjacent to the North. In the states of the Northeast industrialist wanted to end the tariff that Polk had signed into law in 1846. Polk's support of Texas statehood had helped win votes in the south in 1844 and Cass's support of "popular sovereignty" for new states was helping him in the South in 1848, but Cass was alienating many Northern voters who wanted to keep slavery restricted to the states where it currently existed.

Some Southern Democrats worried that their popular Mexican War hero from Mississippi, Jefferson Davis, would abandon the party and support to his former father-in-law Zachary Taylor. Davis made it clear that he admired the father of his late wife, but he would stay loyal to the Democratic Party.

Cass had benefited from real estate investments and the Whigs accused him of taking unfair advantage of his government appointments. A news headline proclaimed, "Cass not an honest man". The Democrats counter attacked by claiming that General Taylor had supplemented his income by taking unfair advantage of his military rank.. When there was such a major issue involving slavery, were personal attacks on the candidate’s financial practices really enough to persuade the voters?

The opponents of slavery had to choose between a slave owner, a man who did not own slaves but believed the people had the right to choose slavery in local elections, or the ex-President running on a third party ticket that was absolutely opposed to slavery in the new territories. Did Van Buren's Free Soil Party take enough votes away from Cass to make Zachary Taylor the President?

Cass carried the new state of Texas and six other Southern States. He also carried the states in the Northwest. Taylor carried the highly populated eastern states between Vermont and Virginia, and four southern states. Taylor won the popular vote with just over 47% and Cass had about 42%. Van Buren did not win any states but he did get more that 10% of the popular vote. Taylor won the electoral vote with 163 compared to Cass's 127.

Despite his loss to Taylor, Cass retained his popularity in Michigan. Less than a year later the state legislature reelected him to the same seat that he had resigned when he accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination. He served as President Protempore of the 33^rd Congress.

Candidate Taylor had been silent on the issues, but President Taylor wanted to keep slavery out of the new territories. He refused to accept Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850. If voters in the South had known of Taylor’s opinion on slavery in the territories before Election Day would Cass have been President?

Poor health kept Elizabeth Spencer from sharing in her husbands return to politics. Despite the doctors best efforts she died on March 31 1853.

In 1857, Cass left the Senate to become the Secretary of State. As the election for President approached, Cass became increasingly frustrated with President Buchanan's executive weakness and indecision. He resigned when Buchanan refused to send reinforcements to the forts at Charleston South Carolina.

Lewis Cass retired and moved back to Detroit. He remained loyal and supported President Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union. He lived until 1867, long enough to know that the United States had remained united.

Lewis Cass once said, “People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.” His legacy will be his role in opening and developing the Northwest Territory. There are schools in Michigan, and nine counties in the United States named for him. Michigan has honored their founding father by having his statue placed in the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.

References

US Congress biographical information

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000233

Encyclopedia of American History. Harper & Row. New York, San Francisco 1976

Lewis Cass

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/Virtualtour/
Virtual%20Tour%20Pictures/Portraits/lewis_cass.htm

Cass, Lewis

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0810717.html

Shawnee 
http://www.tolatsga.org/shaw.html

Lewis Cass
by R.D. Monroe, Ph.D.

http://dig.lib.niu.edu/message/candidates-cass.html

A History of Lewis Cass

http://www.casscommunity.com/lewiscass.html

Boller, Paul F. Presidential Campaigns. Oxford University Press, New York Oxford.

1996

Cooke, Joseph E. Alexander Hamilton. Charles Scribner & Sons. New York 1982,

Roseboom, Eugene H. A History of Presidential elections. The MacMillan Company

New York. 1964

Presidential Elections 1848, http://www.multied.com/elections/1844.html

Selecting The President, From 1789 to 1996. Congressional Quarterly Inc. Washington D.C. 1996

Bauer, K. Jack, Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest. La. State Univ. Press 1985)