During the Second Party System (1830-1854), Michigan saw highly developed political parties mobilize the great mass of adult men. The Democratic Party dominated politics before the Civil War. It comprised numerous competing factions, including the federal officeholders who tried to control party affairs, local political organizations with their state legislators and postmasters who managed affairs locally; young anti-slavery activists, typically energized by pietistic ministers in the Baptist and Methodist churches—they fueled the Free Soil Party in 1848–52; Jacksonian Democrats who opposed taxes and government spending; Catholics, Episcopalians and liturgical Germans annoyed at the moralistic pietists; and residents in the newer western districts who resented the elitism and power of Detroiters. The outstanding Democratic leader was Lewis Cass, (1782-1866) who held numerous high offices and was the Democratic party's losing candidate for president in 1848. Cass was best known for his moderation and support for democracy through popular sovereignty. Nativism flared up briefly when the Democrats proposed to allow recent immigrants to vote before they became citizens, and the Whigs opposed. Fifteen of Michigan's first eighteen governors were of Yankee origins, either being from New England or being born in upstate New York to parents who were from New England.