Person:Lewis Cass (4)

  1. General Lewis Cass1782 - 1866
m. 26 May 1806
  1. Isabella Cass
  2. Lewis Cass, Jr. - 1878
  3. Elizabeth Selden Cass - 1832
Facts and Events
Name[2][4] General Lewis Cass
Gender Male
Birth[1][3] 9 Oct 1782 Exeter, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States
Marriage 26 May 1806 Vienna, Wood, West Virginia, United States (probably)to Elizabeth Spencer
Occupation[2] From 1845 to 1848 Michigan, United StatesUnited States Senator
Death[1] 17 Jun 1866 Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States
Burial[1] Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States
Reference Number? Q503119?


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782June 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 slaveowner himself, he was a leading spokesman for the Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, which held that the people in each territory should decide whether to permit slavery.

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 Native Americans to open land for American settlement 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.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Lewis Cass. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
References
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lewis Cass, in Find A Grave.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lewis Cass, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
  3. New Hampshire, United States. New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900. (New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration).

    https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FLLD-Z2Y - Image available

    Name: Lewis Cass
    Birth Date: 09 Oct 1782
    Birthplace: Exeter, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States
    Father's Name: Jonathan Cass
    Mother's Name: Mary Gilman
    Registration Place: Exeter, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States
    GS Film number: 1000491
    Digital Folder Number: 4243725
    Image Number: 04753

  4. Life of General Lewis Cass: Comprising an Account of His Military Services in the North-West During the War with Great Britain, His Diplomatic Career and Civil History, to which is Appended A Sketch of the Public and Private History of Major-General W. O. Butler of the Volunteer Service of the United States. With Two Portraits. (Philadelphia, Pa.: G. B. Zeiber & Co., 1848).