Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) is the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841.

 A founder of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the ninth Governor of New York, the tenth U.S. Secretary of State, and the eighth Vice President of the United States.

He wins the 1836 presidential election with the endorsement of popular outgoing President Andrew Jackson and the organizational strength of the Democratic Party.

He loses his 1840 reelection bid to Whig Party nominee William Henry Harrison, due in part to the poor economic conditions of the Panic of 1837.

Later in his life, Van Buren emerges as an elder statesman and important anti-slavery leader, who leads the Free Soil Party ticket in the 1848 presidential election.

Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York to a family of Dutch Americans; his father was a Patriot during the American Revolution.

Raised speaking Dutch, he learned English at school, making him the only U.S. President who speaks English as a second language.

He trains as a lawyer and quickly becomes involved in politics as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party.

He wins election to the New York State Senate and becomes the leader of the Bucktails, the faction of Democratic-Republicans opposed to Governor DeWitt Clinton.

Van Buren establishes a political machine known as the Albany Regency and in the 1820s emerges as the most influential politician in his home state.

He is elected to the United States Senate in 1821 and supports William H. Crawford in the 1824 presidential election.

John Quincy Adams wins the 1824 election and Van Buren opposes his proposals for federally funded internal improvements and other measures.

Van Buren's major political goal is to re-establish a two-party system with partisan differences based on ideology rather than personalities or sectional differences, and he supports Jackson's candidacy against Adams in the 1828 presidential election with this goal in mind.

To support Jackson's candidacy, Van Buren runs for Governor of New York and resigns a few months after assuming the position to accept appointment as U.S. Secretary of State after Jackson takes office in 1829.

Van Buren is a key advisor during Jackson's eight years as President of the United States and he builds the organizational structure for the coalescing Democratic Party, particularly in New York.

He resigns from his position to help resolve the Petticoat affair, then briefly serves as the American ambassador to Britain.

At Jackson's behest, the 1832 Democratic National Convention nominates Van Buren for Vice President of the United States, and he takes office after the Democratic ticket wins the 1832 presidential election.

With Jackson's strong support, Van Buren faced little opposition for the presidential nomination at the 1835 Democratic National Convention, and he defeatd several Whig opponents in the 1836 presidential election.

Van Buren's response to the Panic of 1837 centers on his Independent Treasury system, a plan under which the Federal government of the United States will store its funds in vaults rather than in banks.

He also continues Jackson's policy of Indian removal; he maintains peaceful relations with Britain but denies the application to admit Texas to the Union, seeking to avoid heightened sectional tensions.

In the 1840 election, the Whigs rally around Harrison's military record and ridicule Van Buren as "Martin Van Ruin," and a surge of new voters helps turn him out of office.

At the opening of the Democratic convention in 1844, Van Buren is the leading candidate for the party's nomination for the presidency.

Southern Democrats, however, are angered by his continued opposition to the annexation of Texas, and the party nominates James K. Polk.

Van Buren grows increasingly opposed to slavery after he leaves office, and he agrees to lead a third party ticket in the 1848 presidential election, motivated additionally by intra-party differences at the state and national level.

He finishes in a distant third nationally, but his presence in the race most likely helps Whig nominee Zachary Taylor defeat Democrat Lewis Cass.

Van Buren returns to the Democratic fold after the 1848 election, but he supports Abraham Lincoln's policies during the American Civil War.

His health begins to fail in 1861 and he dies in July 1862 at age seventy-nine.

He has been generally ranked as an average or below-average U.S. President by historians and political scientists.

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