Recent purchase - a Lewis Cass original issue presidential campaign medalet

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.

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.



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.

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.”

The Cass campaign also issued this token which has the now obscure slogan, “The constitution and the freedom of the seas.”



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.

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.

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.

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 "T" in "THE."



The edges are also different. The restrike, which is on the left is thicker and the edges are squared off more sharply.



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't believe that, but I do know the piece is very scarce. I recalled seeing only one other one in an auction.

 

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One of the factors that convinced 19th century collectors to buy restrikes of these political pieces was reported rarity.

Here is an original strike of an 1852 Winfield Scott presidential campaign medal. This piece is holed and made of the usual white metal with was fairly soft, cheap and not intended to last very long after the election.



Scott was a genuine military American hero. He fought in all of the wars from 1812 to the Mexican War. He would have fought in the Civil War if he had not become too old and fat. His "Anaconda Plan" which blockaded the South and went a long way to defeating it, was his main contribution to the war effort.

Scott was the last Whig Party presidential candidate. The party was breaking over the slavery issue when he ran. In 1856, Millard Fillmore, who became president when Zachary Taylor died in office, ran as the American Party or "Know Nothing Party" candidate.

Here is restrike of the medal shown previously in copper. This piece was struck circa 1860. Most of the restrikes were on white metal and were thicker than the original pieces. These copper medalets were only made in as restrikes. The was the mintage in copper was limited to 25 pieces.

 

Thanks JM for another very informative history lesson illustrated with items from your extensive collection. Interesting reading on the restrikes.

 

Allen Leonard engraved the dies that struck your Cass medal. This Sept 20, 1848 ad from The Lancaster Examiner shows you could purchase these for $50 per thousand. I'd love to see what the glass medals looked like!

 

Awesome! Here’s one of those Harrison tokens you mentioned

 

I would love to get into Presidential campaign material, if I wasn't into so many things already! Thanks for sharing.