Lewis Cass

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Lewis Cass
Signature of Lewis Cass

Lewis Cass (born October 9, 1782 in Exeter , New Hampshire , † June 17, 1866 in Detroit , Michigan ) was an American officer and politician who belonged to the Democratic Party .

During his political career he was Governor (1813–31) and Senator (1845–57) for the Michigan Territory, Secretary of War (1831–36), Ambassador to France (1836–1842) and Secretary of State (1857–60) of his country. He ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States in 1848 . He advocated in his position the "resettlement" of the Indians and the individual right of states to keep slavery.

Life

Cass was born in Exeter and studied at Phillips Exeter Academy ; then he moved to Ohio and settled on a farm near Zanesville . His first political office he held in 1806 as a member of the House of Representatives from Ohio ; subsequently he served from 1807 to 1812 as US Marshal for the Ohio District. During the war of 1812 he served as a brigadier general in the US Army . In 1813 he was appointed governor of the Territory of Michigan by President James Madison , which he remained until 1831. During his time as governor (1813–31) for the Michigan Territory, Cass forced the Indians to surrender their land. In an article for the North American Review in 1830, he justified the repressions by stating that the Indians were barbarians and an obstacle to freedom and religion, i.e. the progress of civilization. Since 1826 he was a member of the American Philosophical Society .

In 1831 he resigned and became Secretary of War in President Andrew Jackson's cabinet ; he remained this until 1836. In 1836 he received an honorary doctorate from Harvard University . He then went to France as ambassador until 1842 .

After his return to the USA, Cass represented the state of Michigan as a senator in the US Senate and was a candidate for the Democratic presidency in 1848, but could not prevail in the elections . He was the first Democratic candidate who was not elected to the highest office. After the tenure of President Zachary Taylor , he was again a US Senator from 1849 to 1857. After the successful presidential candidacy of James Buchanan this brought Cass into his cabinet and made him Foreign Secretary on March 6, 1857 as successor to William L. Marcy . After differences of opinion with the president about how to proceed against the southern states , he resigned from office on December 14, 1860. He was succeeded by Jeremiah S. Black .

Appreciations

literature

  • William Klunder: Lewis Cass. In: Edward S. Mihalkanin (Ed.): American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell . Greenwood Publishing 2004, ISBN 978-0-313-30828-4 , pp. 105-115.
  • Willard Carl Klunder: Lewis Cass and the Politics of Moderation. Kent State University, Kent 1996, ISBN 0-87338-536-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ wisconsinhistory.org: Cass, Lewis, 1782-1866
  2. ↑ Lewis Cass in the Notable Names Database (English)
  3. ↑ a b Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States , Harper Perennial, 2005, pp. 131-132 ISBN 0-06-083865-5
  4. ^ Member History: Lewis Cass. American Philosophical Society, accessed June 1, 2018 .
  5. ^ Cass City Hydrograph for the Cass River from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website
  6. ^ Cass City, Michigan at InfoMI.com

Web links

Commons : Lewis Cass  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Cass, Lewis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American officer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1782
PLACE OF BIRTH Exeter , New Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH June 17, 1866
Place of death Detroit , Michigan