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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—MichiganCASS, Lewis
(1782—1866)
Senate Years of Service:
1845-1848; 1849-1857
Party:
Democrat; Democrat
CASS, Lewis, (great-great-grandfather of Cass Ballenger), a Senator from Michigan; born in Exeter, N.H., October 9, 1782; attended Exeter Academy; moved with his parents to Wilmington, Del., in 1799 and taught school there; moved to the Northwest Territory in 1801 and settled on a farm near Zanesville, Ohio; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1802; member, State house of representatives 1806; United States marshal for the district of Ohio 1807-1812, when he resigned to enlist in the Army; served in the United States Army 1813-1814, attaining the rank of brigadier general; military and civil Governor of Michigan Territory 1813-1831; settled in Detroit; appointed Secretary of War by President Andrew Jackson and served from 1831 to 1836, when he resigned, having been appointed to a diplomatic post; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France 1836-1842; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1845, until May 29, 1848, when he resigned, having been nominated for President of the United States; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Thirtieth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for President on the Democratic ticket in 1848; again elected to the United States Senate on January 20, 1849, to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation; was reelected, and served from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1857; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Thirty-third Congress; appointed Secretary of State by President James Buchanan and served from 1857 until his resignation in 1860; returned to Detroit, Mich., and engaged in literary pursuits; died in Detroit, Mich., June 17, 1866; interment in Elmwood Cemetery.
Bibliography
Dictionary of American Biography
; Klunder, Willard C. Lewis Cass and the Politics of Moderation
. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1996; Wooford, Frank B. Lewis Cass: The Last Jeffersonian
. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1950.
Burns, Virginia. Lewis Cass, Frontier Soldier
. Bath, MI: Enterprise Press, 1980.
Dunbar, Willis Frederick. Lewis Cass
. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.
Ferris, Woodbridge N. “Lewis Cass, Michigan’s Hero of the War of 1812.” Michigan Historical Collections
39 (1915): 270-74.
Hewlett, Richard G. “Lewis Cass in National Politics, 1842-1861.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1952.
Klunder, Willard Carl. Lewis Cass and the Politics of Moderation
. Kent. OH: Kent State University Press, 1996.
___. “Lewis Cass.” Michigan History
75 (January/February 1991): 12-21.
___. “Lewis Cass and Slavery Expansion: ‘The Father of Popular Sovereignty’ and Ideological Infanticide.” Civil War History
32 (December 1986): 293-317.
___. “The Seeds of Popular Sovereignty: Governor Lewis Cass and Michigan Territory.” Michigan Historical Review
17 (Spring 1991): 65-81.
McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham. Lewis Cass.
1899. Reprint, with new introduction by Holman Hamilton. New York: Chelsea House, 1980.
Ranck, James B. “Lewis Cass and Squatter Sovereignty.” Michigan History Magazine
14 (Winter 1930): 28-37.
Smith, William L. G. Fifty Years of Public Life: The Life and Times of Lewis Cass
. New York: Derby Jackson, 1856.
Spencer, Donald S. “Lewis Cass and Symbolic Intervention: 1848-1852.” Michigan History
53 (Spring 1969): 1-17.
Stevens, Walter W. “Lewis Cass and the Presidency.” Michigan History
49 (June 1965): 123-34.
___. “Michigan’s Lewis Cass.” Filson Club History Quarterly
39 (October 1965): 320-25.
___. “The Scholarship of Lewis Cass.” Michigan History
44 (March 1960): 59-66.
___. “A Study of Lewis Cass and His United States Senate Speeches on Popular Sovereignty.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1959.
Woodford, Frank Bury. Lewis Cass: The Last Jeffersonian
. 1950. Reprint. New York: Octagon Books, 1973.
Young, William T. Sketch of the Life and Public Services of General Lewis Cass
. Detroit: Markham Elwood, 1852.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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