Politics / Military / City history
Lewis Cass
1782–1866 · territorial governor, U.S. senator, secretary of state
Governor of Michigan Territory from Detroit for 18 years and 1848 Democratic presidential nominee; Cass Avenue and Cass Tech bear his name, and he rests at Elmwood.
- Born
Exeter, New Hampshire- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 83- Detroit years
- 1813–1866
- Field
- Politics, Military, City history
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Lewis Cass came to Detroit as an Ohio militia officer in the War of 1812 and was among the troops surrendered with the town in 1812. After the American recapture, President Madison named him governor of Michigan Territory in 1813, and he ruled from Detroit until 1831. He negotiated a series of treaties under which Native nations ceded vast lands, opening Michigan to settlers, and led an 1820 expedition into the upper Great Lakes. As Andrew Jackson's secretary of war he carried out Indian removal. He then served Michigan as a U.S. senator, ran for president in 1848 on the doctrine of popular sovereignty over slavery, and was secretary of state under Buchanan until he resigned in 1860. A slave owner himself, he remains a contested figure. He died in Detroit in 1866 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
Highlights
- Governor of Michigan Territory, 1813–1831
- U.S. secretary of war (1831–1836) and secretary of state (1857–1860)
- Democratic presidential nominee in 1848
- U.S. senator from Michigan, 1845–1848 and 1849–1857
- Namesake of Cass Avenue and Cass Technical High School
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 1866
Elmwood Cemetery
Detroit's oldest continuously operating cemetery, where he was buried in 1866.
Memorial
Cass Avenue
Major Midtown street named after him; it gave its name to the Cass Corridor neighborhood.
Memorial
Cass Technical High School
Detroit's renowned public magnet high school, named in his honor.