General lewis cass family tree

Lewis cass significance

Lewis Cass October 9, June 17, was an American military officer, politician, and statesman. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He was also the 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.

After serving in the Ohio House of Representatives , he was appointed as a U. 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 and was appointed to govern Michigan Territory in 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 to accept appointment as Secretary of War under Andrew Jackson. After serving as ambassador to France from to , he unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention ; a deadlock between supporters of Cass and former President Martin Van Buren ended with the nomination of James K.

In , the Michigan Legislature elected Cass to the Senate, where he served until