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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 7641928, member: 101855&quot;]Unless you grew up or have lived in Michigan, you probably have not heard of Lewis Cass (1782 – 1866). He was an important figure in the early history of the state having served as the governor when the state was a territory. Later he represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate. He was the Secretary of War in Andrew Jackson’s cabinet and carried out Jackson’s Indian Removal program in the early 1830s.</p><p><br /></p><p>After missing out on the Democratic presidential nomination in 1844 because of a convention deadlock between him and former president Martin Van Buren, Cass won the nomination in 1848. This piece is from his 1848 campaign.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1314052[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>All Lewis Cass presidential medals are scarce to rare. The reason is that the Democratic Party discouraged in the issuance of “campaign trinkets” in 1844 and 1848 because they were “an insult to the dignity of the people.” That was in reaction to the 1840 campaign when William Henry Harrison’s supporters flooded the market with tokens. As a result, all campaign tokens from the 1844 James Knox Polk and 1848 Lewis Cass campaigns are very tough. In the 19th century, the great political tokens collections were judged by the number and quality of the Polk and Cass tokens a collector had.</p><p><br /></p><p>Lewis Cass was the first of three Democratic Party presidential candidates who was very supportive of the slaveholders. He advocated the concept of “squatter’s rights” which allowed the residents of a territory to vote on whether or not they would allow slavery in their future state. Later, in the 1850s, Stephen Douglas would give this concept the more elegant name, “Popular Sovereignty.”</p><p><br /></p><p>The Cass campaign also issued this token which has the now obscure slogan, “The constitution and the freedom of the seas.”</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1314053[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Britain outlawed the importation of slaves by British vessels in 1807. British sea captains who were found to be carrying slaves faced a fine of ₤100 per slave. To enforce this law the British Navy established the West African Squadron, which patrolled the African coast looking for violators. The British ended slavery in almost all of the British Empire with Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Despite these reforms the slave trade continued. One ruse that slave trading captains used was to fly the American flag, even if their ships had no connection to The United States. This was an effective strategy because slavery was still legal in the U.S.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the early 1840s the British Government sent Lord Ashburton to The United States. His assignment was to address political differences between the two countries and to facilitate economic trade. In 1841 Lord Ashburton, asked secretary of state, Daniel Webster, to accept the right of British ships to board vessels under the American flag that were suspected of transporting slaves illegally. In what some historians have called pure demagoguery presidential candidate Lewis Cass strongly opposed this measure comparing it to the impressments of American sailors which helped to touch off the War of 1812.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cass lost the 1848 presidential election to General Zachary Taylor. If you agree with historians that Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe were Democrats, Lewis Cass was the only Democratic presidential candidate between 1796 and 1856 who did not win at least one term as president. After his loss, the Michigan Legislature re-elected Cass to be one of their senators. In 1857, James Buchanan appointed Cass to be his secretary of state. Cass resigned that position in December 1860 because he disagreed with Buchanan’s lack of action against the southern states that were threatening secession. After that, he retired from public life until his death in 1866.</p><p><br /></p><p>This Lewis Cass medal is a restrike of the piece shown above. It is scarce enough in its own right. After coin collecting became popular in 1857 with the passing of the large cents, number of the earlier medals were restruck for collectors. Note that this piece does not have a hole, and there is a die break on the reverse by the &quot;T&quot; in &quot;THE.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1314060[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The edges are also different. The restrike, which is on the left is thicker and the edges are squared off more sharply. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1314061[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>When I first started collecting 19th century presidential campaign medalets about 30 years, I read that there are only five examples of the original medal that I posted above. I don&#039;t believe that, but I do know the piece is very scarce. I recalled seeing only one other one in an auction.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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