[1][2] In addition, his uncles by marriage, Benjamin Howard (1760–1814) and William Taylor Barry (1784–1835), both served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and were U.S.

[3] John Mason was appointed secretary of the Michigan Territory and superintendent of Indian affairs in 1830 by President Andrew Jackson.

Young Stevens was more politically savvy than his father and helped to protect him from schemes launched by anti-Jackson forces.

In 1831, President Jackson sent the elder Mason on a mission to Mexico and named Stevens to replace his father as secretary, at the age of 19 before he could even vote.

As the territorial secretary traditionally served as acting governor, young Mason held that role until George Bryan Porter, who was named to replace Cass in August 1831, arrived in Detroit in 1832.

President Jackson appointed Benjamin Chew Howard of Baltimore and Richard Rush of Philadelphia to arbitrate the dispute, but Mason was not satisfied with the proposal and refused to back down.

Not wanting to alienate his political support in Ohio, President Jackson removed Mason as territorial secretary in August 1835 and appointed John S. ("Little Jack") Horner as his replacement.

Earlier in 1837, Mason had negotiated to fund the internal improvements program through the sale of $5,000,000 (equivalent to $140 million in 2023[6]) in bonds.

This arrangement fell apart in 1837 and following bankruptcies by both the company building the canal and the bank backing the loans, the state was left with over $2,000,000 (equivalent to $56 million in 2023[6]) in bad debt.

During his business trips to New York to finance his internal improvements program, Mason became acquainted with Julia Phelps and the two married on November 1, 1838.

In early 1838, Mason led the state militia in helping to thwart the Patriot War, an attempt by irregulars to invade and annex parts of Canada.

Mason met with the Patriot leaders at Gibraltar, but the captured steamship Ann continued on toward Fort Malden on the Canadian shore.

The ship drifted until it ran aground, at which point the Canadian militia boarded it, encountered no resistance, and captured the crew.

Rather than risking a contentious campaign and the possibility of an embarrassing defeat in the elections of 1839, Mason instead decided to give up politics and attempt a private law practice.

[13] On the 199th anniversary of his birth, October 27, 2010, Mason was reburied for the fourth time in a newly built vault in the pedestal beneath the bronze statue designed by Albert Weinert.

The current Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, where funeral services were held for Mason in 1843, officiated at the ceremony.