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American Minute with Bill Federer
Lewis Cass & Michigan
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The Democrat candidate for President in 1848 was
Lewis Cass,
born OCTOBER 9, 1782.
In 1807,
Lewis Cass
became the US Marshal for Ohio.
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He was a
Brigadier-General
in the
War of 1812,
fighting in the decisive
Battle of Moravian Town,
or
Battle of the Thames,
where the British and their ally, Indian Chief Tecumseh, were defeated.
This secured the Territory for the United States.
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President James Madison
appointed
Lewis Cass
as
Governor-General of the Michigan Territory,
1813-1831.
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Cass
made Indian treaties, organized townships and built roads.
In 1820,
Lewis Cass
led an expedition to
northern Minnesota
in search of the
source of the Mississippi River
in order to define the border between the
U.S. and Canada.
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Cass' expedition
geologist
Henry Schoolcraft
was able to correctly identify the
source of the Mississippi River
as
Lake Itasca
in 1832.
President Andrew Jackson
appointed
Lewis Cass
as
Secretary of War
in 1831, then
minister to France
in 1836.
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Lewis Cass
was elected a
U.S. Senator
from
Michigan,
1845-48, 1849-57.
He was the
Democrat Presidential Candidate
in 1848.
Cass
was
Secretary of State
for
President James Buchanan,
1857-1860.
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Senator Lewis Cass
wrote from Washington, D.C. in 1846:
"God,
in His providence, has given us
a Book of His revealed will
to be with us at the commencement of our career in this life and at its termination;
and to accompany us during all chances and changes of this trying and fitful progress, to control the passions, to enlighten the judgment, to guide the conscience, to teach us what we ought to do here, and what we shall be hereafter."
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Cass
delivered a
Eulogy for Secretary of State Daniel Webster,
December 14, 1852:
"'How are the mighty fallen!' we may yet exclaim, when reft of our great and wisest;
but they fall to rise again from death to life, when such quickening faith in the mercy of God and
in the sacrifice of the Redeemer
comes to shed upon them its happy influence this side of the grave and beyond it ..."
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Lewis Cass
added regarding
Daniel Webster:
"And beyond all this he died
in the faith of the Christian
- humble, but hopeful -
adding another to the long list of eminent men who have searched
the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
and have found it to be
the word and the will of God."
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Seventeen States have places named for
Lewis Cass,
including:
- 1 building;
- 1 fort;
- 1 river;
- 2 lakes;
- 3 parks;
- 4 schools;
- 9 counties;
- 10 streets;
- 10 cities; and
- 30 townships.
Cass
stated:
"Independent of its connection with human destiny hereafter, the
fate of republican government
is indissolubly bound up with the
fate of the Christian religion,
and
a
people who reject its holy faith will find themselves the slaves
of their own evil passions and
of arbitrary power."
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The
State of Michigan
placed a statue of
Lewis Cass
in the
U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.
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The name
"Michigan"
is from the
Ojibwa Indian
word "mishigamaa" which means
"large lake."
Michigan
was originally governed under the
Northwest Ordinance
of 1787, which stated:
"SECTION 13. For extending the fundamental principles of civil and
religious liberty,
which form the basis whereon these republics ... are erected ...
SECTION 14. ARTICLE I. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode of
worship or religious sentiments
in the said territory ...
SECTION 14. ARTICLE III.
Religion, morality, and knowledge
being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall
forever be encouraged."
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Michigan's first State Constitution
was approved by the U.S. Congress and Michigan became the
26th State
in 1837.
The
Constitution of Michigan,
written in 1835, stated in Article I, Bill of Rights:
First. All political power is inherent in the people ...
4. Every person has a right to
worship Almighty God
according to the dictates of his own conscience ...
6. The civil and
religious rights,
privileges and capacities of no individual shall be diminished or enlarged on account of his opinions or belief concerning
matters of religion ...
13. Every
person
has a right to
bear arms
for the defense of
himself
and the state."
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The
Constitution of the State of Michigan,
1908, stated:
"Preamble. We, the people of the State of Michigan,
grateful to Almighty God
for the blessings of freedom ... establish this Constitution ..."
"Article II, Section 3. Every person shall be at liberty to
worship God
according to the dictates of his own conscience ..."
"Article XI, Section 1.
Religion, morality and knowledge
being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall
forever be encouraged."
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As recent as 1931, the M
ichigan Penal Code
stated (Act 328 of 1931, 750.102):
"Any person who shall wilfully
blaspheme the holy name of God,
by cursing or contumeliously
reproaching God,
shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor."
(CL 1948.)
"Any person who shall use any indecent, immoral, obscene, vulgar or insulting language in the presence or hearing of any woman or child shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." (CL 1948.)
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United States District Court
(1965) Western District of Michigan, in the case of
Reed v. van Hoven,
237 F. Supp. 48, 51 (W.D. Mich. 1965), rendered the opinion:
"The child is not the mere creature of the state."
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The Pew Survey (2018) listed Michigan as:
Christian: 73%, consisting of:
- Protestant: 51%
- Catholic: 18%
- Orthodox: <1%
- Other Christian: <1%
- Mormon: <1%
- Jehovah's Witness: 1%
Other:
- Jewish: 1%
- Muslim: 1%
- Buddhist: 1%
- Hindu: <1%
- Other faiths: 1%
- Unaffiliated (atheist, agnostic, non-religious, etc.): 22%
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In the 19th and early 20th century, immigrants came to Michigan from
Germany, Britain, Ireland, Poland, Belgium, Scandinavia, Finland,
and
Holland.
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In the early 20 century,
African-Americans
migrated north to Michigan.
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Asian
immigrants came from
Japan,
and after the Vietnam War, several thousand
Hmong
came to Detroit, as featured in the 2008 Clint Eastwood film
Gran Torino.
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Southeast Michigan has
one of the largest Middle Eastern communities outside of the Middle East,
estimated at over 300,000.
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Though a small number came in the late 1880s, a major wave began when the
Turkish genocide of Assyrians
took place in the early 1920s, causing
Chaldo-Assyrians
to flee
Syria
and
Iraq
to
Michigan.
Most were Christian, being
Chaldean,
Maronite, Melkite, and
Eastern Orthodox.
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In the 1970s and early 1980s, fundamental Muslims began a
civil war in Lebanon,
even blowing up the U.S. Marine barracks, causing many
Lebanese immigrated.
Many worked in the grocery, construction, and automotive industries. As of 2016, there are approximately 160,000
Chaldeans
in Michigan.
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A wave of Muslim immigration to Michigan can be traced to a legend that
Henry Ford, perhaps in an effort to undercut unions,
met a
Yemeni sailor at port,
and told him his automobile factory paid five dollars a day, which was a significant amount.
The sailor spread the word, beginning an
Arab Muslim chain of family migration
to
Detroit
from
Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine,
and other countries in
the Middle East.
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Henry Ford
hired more
Arabs
than
African-Americans
or
other minorities.
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An
Arab Muslim community
grew up
around Ford's first factory
in Highland Park, resulting in them building
one of the first mosques in the United States.
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When
Ford
opened his new factory in
Dearborn,
the Arab community moved with it.
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The largest mosque in America was dedicated in Dearborn, Michigan.
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With more immigrants arriving after the
Gulf War
in 1991 and the
Iraq War
in 2003, the Detroit area has become
one of the largest Arab Muslim populations outside the Middle East.
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Acknowledging the state's founding values,
Michigan Governor John Engler
signed a
Proclamation
in 1996:
"WHEREAS, the observance of
Christian Heritage Week
encourages Americans to affirm our nation's spiritual roots and is a time to renew and inspire the joy we find in our faith, friends, family, and community members
WHEREAS, It is eminently fitting and proper that we observe
CHRISTIAN HERITAGE WEEK
as a special time to acknowledge our many blessings and
express gratitude to God,
while recognizing the need for
strengthening religious and moral values
in our land; NOW,
THEREFORE, I,
John Engler, Governor of the State of Michigan,
do hereby declare November 24-30, 1996, as
CHRISTIAN HERITAGE WEEK
in
Michigan,
and I encourage the
citizens of the Great Lakes States
to recognize the
importance of Christian beliefs and values
to the life and culture of our state and nation.
Given under my hand on this first day of July in
the year of Our Lord
one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six and of the Commonwealth one hundred and fifty-nine.
John Engler, Governor."
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
wjfederer@gmail.com
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