The Boy Governor: Stevens T. Mason and the Birth of Michigan Politics

In 1831, Stevens T. Mason was named Secretary of the Michigan Territory at the tender age of 19, two years before he could even vote. The youngest presidential appointee in American history (a record unlikely to ever be broken), Mason quickly stamped his persona on Michigan life in large letters. After championing the territory’s successful push for statehood without congressional authorization, he would defend his new state’s border in open defiance of the country’s political elite and then orchestrate its expansion through the addition of the Upper Peninsula—all before his official election as Michigan’s first governor at age 24, the youngest chief executive in any state’s history.

The Boy Governor tells the complete story of this dominant political figure in Michigan’s early development. Capturing Mason’s youthful idealism and visionary accomplishments, including his advocacy for a strong state university and legislating for the creation of the Soo Locks, the book renders a vivid portrait of Michigan’s first governor—his conflicts, his desires, and his sense of patriotism. This book will appeal to anyone with a love of American history and interest in the many larger-than-life personalities that battled on the political stage throughout the Jacksonian era.