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Senate Years of Service: 1845-1848; 1849-1857 Party: Democrat; Democrat
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Library of Congress |
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.
BibliographyDictionary 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.
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