Charlie Gephart
For Cass Explanation
Joel Silbey, in Party Over Section; The Rough and Ready Presidential Election of 1848, writes that “the Democratic campaign [for Lewis Cass] was neither innovative nor adventurous” (115). The campaign almost wholly avoided the polarizing subject of slavery, instead focusing on other issues. To his base, Cass was a true Democrat, a committed expansionist, and a man with a decorated history of service (both as a veteran and a public official) to his country. Credited for coining the term “popular sovereignty,” Cass believed in each state’s ability to decide on the issue of slavery. However, he never specified when or how settlers in new states should make a decision about the peculiar institution.
Cass entered the election of 1848 as the American West’s leading political figure. He had also served his country in the War of 1812 gallantly and effectively—though some in the opposition parties enjoyed poking fun at his role in the surrender of Detroit to the British. Further, Cass was an active and committed Democrat throughout his career. I wanted to stress all of the latter aspects of Cass in my video, because they directly answered critiques of him from opposition parties and they also implicitly illustrate Zachary Taylor’s shortcomings.
I start the video by calling Lewis Cass “General Lewis Cass.” Taylor garnered most of his own popularity based strictly off of his military accomplishments in the Mexican-American War. I wanted to play up Cass’ military achievements, because they were indeed numerous and impressive. Later on in the video, I display two quotes—“[Always] to be found where the shot flew thickest,” and “An officer of the highest merit”—to stress his military record, and thus the fact that Cass was also a war hero. The second quote, about Cass’ merit, comes from William Henry Harrison, the late Whig President. Because this quote from a Whig President supports a man running on the Democratic Party’s ticket, I think it would capture the American public’s attention at the time. Further, the image at the background of this quote is a map of the northern US and Canada. Cass distinguished himself as a soldier during the War of 1812 on the Great Lakes Frontier.
In addition to stressing Cass’ military record, I focused on his public, known political history. Zachary Taylor admittedly had never even voted before the election of 1848, and his political principles were incredibly vague and unclear (although Cass was also criticized for being two-faced regarding the Wilmot Proviso—praising it in the company of some Northerners but knocking it amongst Southerners). Cass, however, was fairly stable in his politics. I used a quote from George Hickman, in The Life of General Lewis Cass with His Letters and Speeches on Various Subjects (Baltimore, 1848), to illustrate this point. In The Life, which was essentially a campaign pamphlet for Cass, Hickman wrote that Cass “requires no censor to ask his principles, or to ascertain his qualifications …He is…clear and manly in the exposition of his principles.” I thought this quote illustrated Cass’ aptitude for the Presidency well, and I also thought it was effective in implicitly labeling Taylor as unmanly for having no clear principles. I also inserted two other quotes into the video— “A perfect embodiment of progressive democracy” (from a correspondence between Thomas W. Thomas to Howell Cobb on June 5, 1848) and “If you vote for General Cass, you vote to continue and perpetuate the Democratic policy, which has brought the country to such a high state of prosperity” (from Campaign 20, a pamphlet supporting Cass on October 11, 1848)—which directly connect him to the Democratic party and its recent successes in the oval office. The second quote of the two explicitly describes Cass as a man who could further the success of Jacksonian Democracy in the United States. Cass’ ability to do so was a major attribute for him to his base.
The video features three images of Cass. The first two are portraits of him that I found on the Library of Congress webpage. The third picture also comes from that site, but it features Cass in a campaign poster. Here, he is surrounded by the 11 previous US Presidents. I thought that this image was quite effective to end on, as my video figuratively placed Cass into office with that picture. Another significant aspect of that section of the video was the quote I included: “On Tuesday, November 7, Unite, vote for Cass.” Though this seems like a fairly standard call to action to a modern audience, it would have been significant to the audience of the time. The election of 1848 was the first Presidential election to have a unified national election day. Previously, dates varied amongst states. Thus, I wanted to call on the nation as a whole to unite behind Cass on the seventh of November.
For the video’s music, I chose a clip from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, also known as “The Pastoral Symphony.” The music has a light, energetic feel to it, and I wanted my audience to see Cass in the most positive light possible. I also thought that the cheery, carefree spirit of the symphony mirrored the nature of Cass’ campaign, which altogether avoided the serious issue of slavery and instead focused on his more redeeming, less polarizing qualities. The music also picks up—in terms of tempo and volume—during the two most important quotes of the video: Harrison’s quote about Cass’ military record, and Cass’ ability to continue the Democratic tradition of leading the country towards prosperity. The music helps the flow and feel of the video, and it accents exactly what I wanted to accent.