December 5, 1782, at Kinderhook, New York
Occupation: Lawyer
Party: Democrat
Vice President: Richard M. Johnson
Wife: Hannah Hoes Died: June 24, 1862
On March 4, 1837, Martin Van Buren succeeded his close friend Andrew Jackson as president of the United States. At the time, the country was prosperous, the Democratic Party was supreme, and the incoming president seemed superbly trained for his office. Van Buren had been vice president and secretary of state under Jackson, minister to Great Britain, United States senator, and governor and attorney general of New York. He had been nominated unanimously by his party's convention. In the election of 1836 he had been swept into power, defeating William Henry Harrison by 170 to 73 electoral votes.
But within a matter of weeks President Van Buren had a major depression on his hands. The Panic of 1837 began with the collapse of business and the wholesale failure of banks. Thousands of city people were out of work in a country that had never been through such an experience. The United States had no government machinery to underwrite loans, create jobs, feed the hungry, or bolster the farm market. In the rural sections people continued to lead normal lives. But in the cities mobs stormed the warehouses for food, flocked to the poorhouses, and committed crimes so they could go to jail, where they could at least survive. "Where will it all end?" wrote Philip Hone, a former mayor of New York City, in his diary. "In ruin, revolution, perhaps civil war!"
Fortunately the United States had a beckoning frontier, which absorbed some of the unrest, and Van Buren acted with courage and dignity to restore confidence. He believed that the panic had been caused by too much land speculation (buying and selling land for a quick profit) and that it would run its course. He was right. Within two years prosperity was returning, but too late to save him politically. Van Buren was badly defeated by Harrison in the election of 1840. He suffered what to him was the disgrace of being a one-term president.
Van Buren was the first president to be born under the American flag; the first New Yorker to hold the office of president; and the first man to be nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party under that name. He was a short, plump, jolly man with side-whiskers. His personal charm earned him many friends, even among his political opponents. He probably had more comic nicknames than any other occupant of the White House -- the Red Fox, the Little Magician, the Careful Dutchman, and variations on these themes. He was not a statesman, but he was a thoroughly honest, generous, and incredibly clever politician.
In his autobiography, published after his death, Van Buren good-humoredly recounts his youthful adventures and climb to power. He makes no secret of his life's ambition. He wanted to become president. He called that office "the glittering prize" and "my most earnest desire."
Van Buren's career can be understood only by taking him at his word. Every office he held was a stepping stone to the White House. In 1821 he went to Washington as a United States Senator. He left his unfinished second Senate term to run for governor of New York in 1828. He remained governor only 10 weeks, returning to Washington to be near President Jackson as his secretary of state and political manager.
Once Van Buren reached the White House, he did leave "politics" alone. The Panic of 1837 was no fault of his, coming when he had barely reached office. President Jackson's financial policies had sowed the whirlwind that his successor had to reap. As the first president from the West, Jackson had reason to feel that the Eastern money interests held the frontier areas in a financial vise.
Van Buren was not heartless, although his enemies painted him as such. His administration enacted legislation that established the independent treasury system and made sound money loans available through local banks. Foreign relations were troubled during his term by a boundary dispute with Canada and by difficulty with Mexico over the secession of Texas. Van Buren skillfully negotiated the dispute with Canada. He refused to accept Texas into the Union because that would mean an additional slave state as well as war with Mexico. He was a good president who dared to be unpopular.
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