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Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren (b. on December 5, 1782, in Kinderhook, New York) was the eighth president of the United States. He served from 1837 to 1841 and died on July 24, 1862, at the age of 79.
Van Buren was a member of the Democratic Party. His vice president was Richard Mentor Johnson.
Van Buren was president during the Panic of 1837, a recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. He was also president during the forced removal of Native Americans from their homes, a process begun under President Andrew Jackson which became known as the Trail of Tears. After running for re-election as a Democrat in 1840, Van Buren sought the presidency again in 1848 as a member of the anti-slavery Free Soil Party.
Prior to serving as president, Van Buren served as the vice president of the United States, secretary of state of the United States, governor of New York, and served in the United States Senate and the New York State Senate.[1]
Biography
Timeline of life events
Below is an abbreviated outline of Van Buren's professional and political career:[1]
- 1782: Born in Kinderhook, New York
- 1803: Admitted to the Bar, after serving an apprenticeship with a lawyer
- 1812: Elected to the New York State Senate
- 1815: Appointed attorney general of New York
- 1821: Elected to the United States Senate
- 1828: Elected governor of New York
- 1828: Appointed secretary of state of the United States by President Andrew Jackson
- 1832: Elected vice president of the United States on the ticket of President Andrew Jackson
- 1836: Elected president of the United States
- 1840: Ran for re-election, but was defeated by William Henry Harrison of the Whig Party
- 1848: Ran for the presidency under the anti-slavery Free Soil Party
- 1862: Died in Kinderhook, New York
Before the presidency
Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782, in Kinderhook, New York, to Abraham and Maria Van Buren, who were of Dutch descent. His father was a farmer and ran a tavern. Van Buren became an apprentice to a lawyer when he was 14 years old. Soon after being admitted to the Bar in 1803, he started his own legal practice.
Van Buren was elected to the New York State Senate in 1812, where he served two terms. In 1815, he was appointed attorney general of New York. Then a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Van Buren was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1821. The Democratic Party emerged from the Van Buren-led coalition that helped elect Andrew Jackson as president in 1828. Van Buren was elected governor of New York in 1828 but left the office after a few months when Jackson appointed him secretary of state. Van Buren was Jackson's running mate in the 1832 election, and served as vice president from 1833 to 1837.[1][2]
Supported by Jackson, Van Buren was elected president in 1836, defeating William Henry Harrison and two other Whig Party candidates, as well as an independent candidate. He won 45 percent of the vote and 170 of the 294 electoral votes.[3]
Presidency
The Panic of 1837 began during the spring of Van Buren's first year in office and lasted until the mid-1840s. The financial crisis was set in motion during Jackson's presidency, who took federal funds from the Bank of the United States and redistributed them to state banks. Many banks across the country printed paper money and gave out loans that they could not back up with silver and gold. The bubble from the increase in lending burst in 1837. Van Buren proposed the creation of an independent treasury to house federal funds, but this legislation was not passed during his time in office.[4]
Van Buren continued the policy of forcibly removing Native Americans from their homes, which was enacted under President Andrew Jackson and became known as the Trail of Tears. Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 and began relocating Native Americans to present-day Oklahoma. In 1938, Van Buren ordered the removal of remaining Cherokees in Georgia. It is estimated that over 5,000 Cherokees died during this relocation.[5]
Van Buren was also president during the Amistad trial. The case concerned 53 Africans who were illegally enslaved by two Spanish men. En route to Cuba, the slaves took over the ship, killing two crew members and ordering the rest to sail to Africa. When the ship was intercepted by an American ship, the slaves were imprisoned. Van Buren was in favor of extraditing the slaves to Cuba, as Spain had requested, but the lobbying of abolitionists resulted in a trial for the slaves. The case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of granting their freedom.[6]
In his re-election bid in 1840, Van Buren lost to William Henry Harrison of the Whig Party. He was defeated 53 to 47 percent and received 60 electoral votes to Harrison's 234. Van Buren was succeeded by Harrison, who died a month after being sworn in. Harrison's vice president, John Taylor, then took office. Van Buren sought the Democratic nomination in 1844, which was instead given to James K. Polk. Van Buren then left the Democratic Party and sought the presidency in 1848 as a member of the anti-slavery Free Soil Party.[1]
Post-presidency
After Van Buren's last presidential run in 1848, he traveled and wrote his autobiography. He died in Kinderhook, New York, in 1862.[1]
Personal
Van Buren married his cousin Hannah Hoes in 1807 and the couple had four sons. Hannah died of tuberculosis in 1819. Van Buren did not remarry. Born of Dutch parents, Van Buren is the only president for whom English was learned as a second language. He was also the first president of the United States that was born a citizen of the United States, not a British subject.[2]
Elections
1848 presidential election
In 1848, Van Buren, running for the Free Soil Party, was defeated by Zachary Taylor in the general election for the United States presidency.
| U.S. presidential election, 1848 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Whig |  Zachary Taylor/Millard Fillmore |
47.4% | 1,360,099 | 163 | |
| Democratic | Lewis Cass/William Butler | 42.5% | 1,220,544 | 127 | |
| Free Soil | Martin Van Buren/Charles Adams | 10.1% | 291,501 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 2,872,144 | 290 | |||
| Election results via: 1848 official election results | |||||
1840 presidential election
In 1840, Van Buren was defeated by William H. Harrison in the general election for the United States presidency.
| U.S. presidential election, 1840 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Whig | William Henry Harrison/John Tyler |
52.9% | 1,275,583 | 234 | |
| Democratic | Martin Van Buren/Richard M. Johnson | 46.8% | 1,129,645 | 60 | |
| Liberty | James G. Birney/Thomas Earle | 0.3% | 7,453 | 0 | |
| Other | Others | 0% | 13 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 2,412,694 | 294 | |||
| Election results via: Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections | |||||
1836 presidential election
In 1836, Van Buren defeated William H. Harrison, Hugh L. White, Daniel Webster, and W.P. Mangum in the general election for the United States presidency.
| U.S. presidential election, 1836 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Martin Van Buren |
45.2% | 762,678 | 170 | |
| Whig | William H. Harrison | 43.6% | 735,651 | 73 | |
| Whig | Hugh L. White | 8.7% | 146,107 | 26 | |
| Whig | Daniel Webster | 2.4% | 41,201 | 14 | |
| Independent | W.P. Mangum | 0% | 0 | 11 | |
| Total Votes | 1,685,637 | 294 | |||
| Election results via: 1836 official election results | |||||
State of the Union addresses
Every year in office, the president of the United States addresses Congress on the present state of affairs as well as the administration's goals for the coming year.[7] Following are transcripts from Van Buren's State of the Union addresses.
See also
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Official White House biography
- C-Span video on the Van Buren presidency
- Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Biography.com, "Martin Van Buren," accessed July 5, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 History.com, "Martin Van Buren," accessed July 5, 2018
- ↑ 270towin.com, "1836 Presidential Election," accessed July 5, 2018
- ↑ Digital Public Library of America, "The Panic of 1837," accessed July 5, 2018
- ↑ History.com, "Trail of Tears," accessed July 5, 2018
- ↑ History.com, "Amistad Case," accessed July 5, 2018
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The President’s State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications," January 24, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Andrew Jackson (D) |
President of the United States 1837-1841 |
Succeeded by William Henry Harrison (Whig) |
| |||||||
