STEVENS THOMSON MASON

A biography of Michigan's first governor, the Boy Governor, who was discredited and ruined, but whose early death helped to clear his name. Stevens Thomason Mason, backgrounded by an unsuccessful father, stood by to help his father when the latter, as a plum from the Jackson grab-bag, was given the job of Territorial Secretary under Cass in Michigan; he took over his father's job when he was but nineteen, and fighting for statehood, for education, against cholera, he became the first governor of the new state. His popularity could not however stand up to the accusations and scandals that followed the wildcat banking of the day, his personal power was no match for the opposition; his early death cut short his living with his disgrace. An expanded, personalized portrait of the man which spotlights him against the issues of his times, and brings to light a forgotten figure. A natural for largely regional interest; a lengthy footnote to American political biography. Fairly limited.