Stevens Mason

This article deals with the governor of Michigan; the Virginia Senator is found under Stevens Thomson Mason .

Stevens Mason

Stevens Thomson Mason (born October 27, 1811 in Leesburg , Virginia , † January 4, 1843 in New York City ) was an American politician and from 1835 to 1840 the first governor of the state of Michigan .

origin

Stevens Mason came from a prominent Virginia family of politicians. His ancestors were judges, US senators, and members of various state parliaments. Other relatives by law were elected to the US House of Representatives or were territorial governors in various US territories .

Early years

Stevens Mason came to Kentucky with his father as a toddler in 1812 . There the father wanted to build his own existence. His business was rather poor and in the 1820s the family was almost financially ruined. Stevens attended elementary schools in Kentucky and then Transylvania University . But he left this university prematurely without having graduated.

Political rise

Because of his family's good political ties, Mason's father was named Secretary of State in the Michigan Territory by President Andrew Jackson in 1830 . Stevens Mason, who was more politically gifted than his father, supported him in the exercise of this office despite his youth. In 1831, President Jackson sent the father on a special mission to Mexico . He assigned the position of State Secretary that became vacant to his son, although he was only 19 years old at the time and not even eligible to vote. Due to the frequent absence of the actual Territorial Governor George Bryan Porter , Mason often had to represent him and practically served as Territorial Governor for most of the time until 1835. Because of his youth he was nicknamed "The Boy Governor".

During this time, Mason forced the territory to become a state in the United States. To support his position, a referendum was held in 1834, in which over 60,000 of the 86,000 eligible voters voted for membership. In Michigan, work began at the same time to draft a state constitution, which was ratified by the electorate in October 1835. The accession could not yet be completed because a border conflict with the neighboring state of Ohio had not yet been resolved. This involved an area known as the "Toledo Strip" which both states claimed. The conflict came to a head around 1834 and 1835 and there was even the threat of civil war. The matter went down in American history as the Toledo War . A mediation commission convened by President Jackson was initially unsuccessful. Due to his adamant position on the matter, Stevens Mason was removed from office by Jackson and replaced by John S. Horner .

Michigan governor

Meanwhile in Michigan, after the passage of the state constitution, the first gubernatorial elections had taken place in which Mason had been elected to this office. This election had taken place in 1835 and was not recognized by the federal government in Washington because Michigan had not yet been accepted into the Union. On December 14, 1836, a specially convened meeting approved a compromise proposed by Congress on the Toledo issue. Accordingly, the disputed area should fall to Ohio, but Michigan should be compensated with two thirds of the peninsula in the northwest of the country. This resolved the border conflict and opened the way for acceptance into the Union. On January 26, 1837, President Jackson signed the deed of accession.

Stevens Masons was re-elected governor. After another election in 1837, he remained in office until January 7, 1840. He had already started to build the country's infrastructure in 1835. At that time, three railway lines and two new canals were planned. An education system was also set up and a location for the later University of Michigan was determined. The national economic crisis that broke out in 1837 also left its mark on Michigan. Both the companies commissioned with the construction of the canal and the banks providing financial security had to file for bankruptcy. Mason tried to improve the situation by selling government bonds worth $ 5 million. This attempt also failed. In view of the crisis and increasing criticism of the budgetary situation, Mason decided in 1839 not to run for governor again. Therefore, he resigned from this office in January 1840.

Another résumé

Mason's successor as governor, William Woodbridge , an old political rival of Michigan’s first governor, accused him of corruption and blamed him for the poor state of the state’s finances. Mason defended himself, but his reputation remained marred. In 1841, Stevens left Mason Michigan for New York City, where his wealthy father-in-law Thaddeus Phelps lived. There he tried to set up a law firm. In the winter of 1842 he developed pneumonia, from which he died in January 1843. He was first buried in New York, his remains were transferred to Detroit in 1905 and reburied there. Stevens Mason was married to Julia Elizabeth Phelps since November 1, 1838, with whom he had three children.

Web links

• Stevens Mason in the National Governors Association (English)
• Stevens Mason at the Michigan Historical Museum (English)

• Stevens Mason in the database of Find a Grave (English)