Van Buren, Martin (1782-1862), ran for president three times but won only the first time. He served during the nation’s first great depression, the Panic of 1837 . The panic brought financial ruin and misery to millions. Many turned to the government for aid. But Van Buren refused to help. He believed in Thomas Jefferson’s idea that government should play the smallest possible role. “The less government interferes,” Van Buren explained, “the better for general prosperity.”
Van Buren’s erect bearing and high, broad forehead gave him a dignified appearance. He had served as vice president under Andrew Jackson. As president, Van Buren inherited much of Jackson’s popularity. But during the three years of the panic, Van Buren bore the anger of a disappointed people. His enemies accused him of being a sly, scheming politician. They called Van Buren “The Little Magician” and “The Fox of Kinderhook.” They ridiculed his courteous manners. When he continued to deal politely with his political rivals, his enemies said this approach showed his lack of deep convictions.
By defending his Jeffersonian ideals, Van Buren demonstrated that actually he had both deep convictions and courage. Partly because he refused to compromise, he was defeated for reelection in 1840 by William Henry Harrison. Van Buren ran again for president in 1848 but finished a poor third.
In Van Buren’s time, Washington, D.C., was still a city of muddy streets and few trees. One traveler said: “It looks as if it had rained naked buildings upon an open plain.” But life in the capital reflected the excitement of a growing country. The first railroad into Washington was completed in time to bring visitors to Van Buren’s inauguration. Frontiersmen such as Sam Houston mingled with courtly Southerners and proper New Englanders. Washington hostesses sought out the popular author Washington Irving for their dinner parties. Out West, the frontier town of Chicago became an incorporated city. The Republic of Texas began its fight for statehood.
Early life
Childhood and education.
Martin Van Buren was born in the Dutch community of Kinderhook, New York, on Dec. 5, 1782. He was the third of the five children of Abraham and Maria Hoes Van Buren. Martin had an older brother and sister. He also had two younger brothers. His mother was the widow of Johannes Van Alen. She had three other children by her first marriage. Abraham Van Buren ran a truck farm and a tavern. As a child, Martin enjoyed listening to the tavern patrons as they argued politics in the Dutch language.
Martin attended the village school. At the age of 14, he began to study law under Francis Sylvester, a local attorney. He showed great talent. Sylvester soon let him work in court. Martin first took part in a court trial at the age of 15. Another lawyer from Sylvester’s office had tried the case. As he was about to sum up his arguments, he turned to Martin and said: “Here, Mat, sum up. You may as well begin early.” The boy was rewarded that day with a silver half dollar. He soon became a familiar sight in the village court.
In 1801, Van Buren moved to New York City to continue his studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1803. He opened a law office in Kinderhook with his half brother, James I. Van Alen.
Van Buren’s family.
On Feb. 21, 1807, Martin Van Buren married Hannah Hoes (March 8, 1783-Feb. 5, 1819).. She was his distant cousin and childhood sweetheart. Mrs. Van Buren died 18 years before her husband became president. The couple had four sons. Abraham, the oldest, was his father’s White House secretary. Abraham later served on the staff of General Zachary Taylor during the Mexican War (1846-1848). John, the second son, became attorney general of New York.
Political and public career
Van Buren’s enthusiasm for the ideas of Thomas Jefferson took him into politics as a Democratic-Republican (see Democratic-Republican Party ). He was elected to the New York Senate in 1812. Shortly after his reelection to the Senate in 1816, Van Buren was appointed attorney general of New York. In this post, Van Buren helped form the first modern political machine. A political machine is an organization that does favors for citizens in return for votes. His machine was known as the Albany Regency.
U.S. senator.
In 1820, a split in the Democratic-Republican Party of New York gave Van Buren a chance to display his new political power. Governor De Witt Clinton tried to get John C. Spencer into the U.S. Senate through a special election. Van Buren opposed Clinton. He successfully managed the election of Rufus King, an independent Federalist. A year later, the other Senate seat was vacated. Van Buren’s standing had so increased that the Legislature elected him.
Van Buren took his seat in the Senate on Dec. 3, 1821. He became a leader in the fight against imprisonment for debt. In 1828, Congress passed a law abolishing such imprisonment. Van Buren also tried to stop the extension of the slave trade. He introduced a bill forbidding the importation of slaves into Florida unless they were owned by settlers. This bill was defeated. Van Buren won reelection to the Senate in 1827. That year, he created an alliance between the Albany Regency and Virginia’s powerful Democratic machine, the Richmond Junto. The two organizations backed Andrew Jackson for president. They thought he was likely to preserve states’ rights.
Secretary of state.
Late in 1828, Van Buren resigned from the Senate. He resigned because he had been elected governor of New York. He served as governor only two months. Then he resigned to become secretary of state under President Jackson. Van Buren successfully pressed claims for damages to American shipping by French and Danish warships during the Napoleonic Wars (1796-1815). Under his leadership, the United States reestablished trade with the British West Indies. The British had closed West Indian ports to American shipping in 1826 in retaliation for high American tariffs on British goods.
Vice president.
In 1831, Jackson appointed Van Buren U.S. minister to the United Kingdom. But the Senate, by one vote, refused to confirm the appointment. By this act, Van Buren’s enemies thought they had destroyed his career. Jackson took the Senate’s action as an insult. In 1832, he supported Van Buren’s nomination to the vice presidency. Jackson also made it clear that Van Buren was his choice to be the next president. As vice president, Van Buren reluctantly backed Jackson’s decision to withdraw federal deposits from the Bank of the United States (see Bank of the United States ). Van Buren also hesitated to support Jackson’s actions to enforce federal authority after South Carolina declared a federal law unconstitutional (see Nullification ).
Election of 1836.
In spite of Van Buren’s political beliefs, he retained Jackson’s support. He easily won the Democratic nomination for president in 1836. He defeated William Henry Harrison, the main Whig candidate, by 97 electoral votes. In the vice presidential race, no candidate won a majority of the electoral votes. The United States Senate then chose Van Buren’s running mate, Representative Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky. No other vice president has ever been elected by the Senate.
Van Buren’s administration (1837-1841)
The Panic of 1837.
Van Buren owed the presidency to Jackson. But many of the problems that faced him as president had developed during Jackson’s administration. Congress had failed to limit the sales of public lands to settlers. Jackson urged such action during his last year in office. Everyone was speculating in public lands, even clerks and shoeshine boys. State banks and branches of the Bank of the United States had joined the speculative splurge. They made vast loans without security in gold or silver. Unable to limit land sales, Jackson had issued his Specie Circular of July 11, 1836. It required the government to accept only gold and silver in payment for public lands. Banks could no longer make loans without security. The speculation ended. A financial crash was inevitable. It came on May 10, 1837, just 67 days after Van Buren took office. Banks in Philadelphia and New York City closed. Soon every bank in the country did likewise. The first great depression in U.S. history had begun.
The independent treasury.
The Panic of 1837 placed Van Buren in a politically dangerous situation. He had pledged to limit the use of federal power. But he acted decisively to protect government funds, which were on deposit in private banks. He called Congress into special session and proposed that a treasury be created to hold government money. A bill putting this plan into effect was defeated twice but finally passed Congress on July 4, 1840. The battle over the treasury cost Van Buren the support of many bankers and bank stockholders. He especially lost support in the strong Democratic states of New York and Virginia. This loss crippled his bid for reelection.
Life in the White House.
Van Buren avoided extravagant White House parties because of the depression. He limited his entertaining to simple dinners. Many visitors to the Executive Mansion found the atmosphere formal and austere, even with Van Buren’s four sons present. The people of Washington admired the modesty and personal charm of the youths, all in their 20’s. But many, especially Dolley Madison, regretted the lack of a woman in the household. She introduced the president’s oldest son, Abraham, to Angelica Singleton of South Carolina. A romance soon developed. The young people married in late 1838. Angelica Van Buren assumed the role of White House hostess.
Growing unpopularity.
The depression was only one of many disturbances during Van Buren’s administration. Border disputes developed with Canada. In 1839, a boundary dispute between Maine and New Brunswick nearly resulted in open warfare. Van Buren handled the problem with tact. The dispute was settled peacefully. However, he received little credit for his efforts. See New Brunswick (The Aroostook War) .
Antislavery leaders blamed Van Buren for the expensive war to drive the Seminole Indians from Florida. They feared the region might become a new slave state. Proslavery leaders attacked the president for not working to annex Texas. The proslavery people believed that Van Buren did not want to admit a new slave state into the Union.
Election of 1840.
The Democrats nominated Van Buren for reelection in 1840 in spite of his unpopularity. Vice President Johnson had so many enemies that he failed to gain renomination. The Democrats could not agree on any vice presidential candidate. As a result, Van Buren became the only presidential candidate in American history to seek election without a running mate. The Whigs again nominated William Henry Harrison for president. They chose former Senator John Tyler of Virginia as his running mate.
Harrison launched a campaign in which he attacked Van Buren as an aristocrat. He claimed that Van Buren had no interest in the unemployment caused by the depression. Using the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” Harrison campaigned on the basis of his military career. Few people were surprised when Van Buren lost by an electoral vote of 234 to 60. But many were amazed by the close popular vote. Of 2,400,000 votes cast, Van Buren lost by fewer than 150,000. See Harrison, William Henry (Elections of 1836 and 1840) .
Later years
Van Buren retired to his country estate, Lindenwald, near his birthplace. He remained active in politics for more than 20 years. In 1848, the antislavery Free Soil Party nominated him for president (see Free Soil Party ). He lost the election but took many New York votes from Democrat Lewis Cass. As a result, the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor, was elected.
As the slavery disputes grew hotter, Van Buren made his antislavery position clear. But he remained a loyal Democrat. He supported Franklin Pierce in 1852 and James Buchanan in 1856. Van Buren died at Lindenwald on July 24, 1862. He was buried beside his wife in Kinderhook. The Lindenwald estate became the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in 1974.
