Martin Van Buren: The Eighth President – A Bit of a Character
Alright, let’s talk about Martin Van Buren, the eighth President of the United States. Now, this guy wasn’t your typical president. He was a lawyer, a statesman, and before he landed the top job, he was Andrew Jackson’s right-hand man as Secretary of State and then Vice President.
Here’s a fun fact: Van Buren was the first president born after the American Revolution. Talk about a new generation! And get this, English wasn’t even his first language. Yep, he’s the only president who spoke English as a second language. Plus, he was the first president who didn’t have any British ancestors. How about that for a diverse background?
From Kinderhook to the White House
Martin Van Buren (born Maarten Van Buren) came into the world on December 5, 1782, in a little town called Kinderhook, New York. His parents, Abraham and Maria Hoes Van Buren, were Dutch through and through. His dad was a patriot during the Revolution and later got involved with the Democratic-Republican Party. Abraham ran an inn and tavern – basically, the local hangout – and was even the town clerk for a while.
Abraham married Maria, a widow with three kids, back in 1776. Together, they had five more children, with Martin being number three. Growing up in Kinderhook, Van Buren’s first language was Dutch. He picked up English in school. His childhood was pretty interesting, thanks to his dad’s inn. He got to meet all sorts of people from different backgrounds, which turned out to be a great training ground for his future political career.
Becoming "Little Van"
At the ripe old age of 14, Van Buren started studying law with Peter Silvester and his son Francis. At first, he wasn’t exactly dressed for success, sporting some pretty rough, homemade clothes. The Silvesters told him to smarten up his appearance if he wanted to be a lawyer. He took their advice to heart and started imitating their style. As he climbed the political ladder, he became known for his friendly demeanor and sharp looks.
Even though Kinderhook leaned heavily towards the Federalist Party (the Silvesters were big supporters), Van Buren followed in his dad’s footsteps and sided with the Democratic-Republicans. To round out his education, he spent a year in New York City working for William P. Van Ness, who was tight with Aaron Burr. Van Ness showed Van Buren the ropes of New York politics.
Love and Loss
In 1803, Van Buren passed the bar and went back to Kinderhook. Standing at just 5 feet 6 inches, he was nicknamed "Little Van." He teamed up with his half-brother, James Van Alen, to start a law practice. Soon enough, he was doing well enough to focus more on politics. In 1807, he married Hannah Hoes, his childhood sweetheart. She was the daughter of his mom’s first cousin, Johannes Dircksen Hoes. Like Martin, Hannah grew up speaking mostly Dutch and had a bit of an accent when she spoke English. They had six children together, though sadly, only four lived to adulthood.
Looking for a better place to grow his career, Van Buren moved his family to Hudson, the county seat of Columbia County, in 1808. His law practice kept booming, and he traveled all over the state representing clients. That same year, he became Surrogate of Columbia County, and in 1812, he snagged a seat in the State Senate.
In 1815, he became the state’s attorney-general and moved to Albany, the state capital. There, he partnered up with Benjamin Butler in a law practice. In 1816, he won re-election to the state senate, juggling both roles as state senator and attorney general.
Tragedy struck in 1819 when his wife Hannah passed away from tuberculosis at just 35 years old. Martin Van Buren never remarried.
The Albany Regency and Rise to Power
By the 1820s, Van Buren had become a major player in New York politics. He even started a political machine called the Albany Regency, which pretty much ran the state for two decades. After the 1824 presidential election, Van Buren wanted to bring back the two-party system, with clear differences in ideology instead of just personal squabbles. He stayed in the Senate until 1827 when he became the governor of New York after Dewitt Clinton passed away. While governor, he came up with the Safety Fund banking system, which later became a reality.
Around 1827, Van Buren became Andrew Jackson’s main guy in the North. He backed Jackson in the 1828 presidential election. In 1829, Jackson brought him into his cabinet as Secretary of State. Van Buren was a key advisor and helped build the Democratic Party’s structure. Jackson called him "a true man with no guile."
He left the job in 1831 and, a year later, headed to England as the American Minister at the British Court. But his nomination was rejected by the Senate after only three months, so he came back home.
From VP to POTUS
In 1832, when Jackson ran for president again, Van Buren was his running mate as the vice president. With Jackson’s strong support and the Democratic Party’s organization, Van Buren won the 1836 presidential election. But his time in office wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. The Panic of 1837 hit, and his response, the Independent Treasury system, didn’t exactly win him any fans. He called a special session of Congress to push through the financial measure. The Second Seminole War also caused problems, and his refusal to let Texas join the Union as a slave state to avoid more tensions didn’t help either.
The Democratic Party had been in charge for a while, but things changed when Van Buren, the Democratic nominee in 1840, was defeated by William Henry Harrison of the Whig Party.
Later Years and Legacy
In 1844, he tried to get another nomination in Baltimore, but the pro-slavery folks rejected him, and James Polk got the nod instead. Four years later, the "Free-Soil Democracy" nominated him for president. The Democratic Party was split on the issue of slavery, and Zachary Taylor, the Whig candidate, won the election.
After 1848, Van Buren went back to the Democratic Party but became more and more against slavery. He even became an outspoken abolitionist. He mostly lived in Kinderhook, except for trips to Europe in the 1850s. During the Civil War, he supported Abraham Lincoln and was all for keeping the Union together.
He passed away from asthma at his home in Kinderhook on July 24, 1862, at the age of 79.
How’s He Remembered?
Historians and political scientists tend to see Van Buren as an average or below-average president, mainly because of how he handled the Panic of 1837.
There you have it – a quick look at the life and times of Martin Van Buren, the eighth President of the United States. A bit of a character, wouldn’t you say?