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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: VAN-VIR |
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VAN BUREN, MARTIN (1782-1862) , eighth president of the United States, was born at Kinderhook, New York
York
His career in the Senate covered two terms (1812-1820). In 1815 he became attorney-general, an office which he held, still as a member of the Senate, until 1819, when he was displaced to make room for a Federalist. He had already, in 1808, removed from Kinderhook to Hudson, and in 1816 he took up his residence in Albany, where he continued to reside until he entered Jackson's cabinet in 1829. As a member of the state Senate he supported the War of 1812 and drew up a classification act for the enrolment of volunteers. He was chosen to draft the resolution of thanks voted by the legislature to General Andrew Jackson after the battle of New Orleans. He broke with De Witt Clinton in 1813, but nevertheless favoured, in 1817, Clinton's plan for the Erie Canal. His attitude towards slavery at the moment was shown by his vote, in January 1820, for a resolution opposing the admission of Missouri as a slave state. In the same year he was chosen a presidential elector. It is at this point that Van Buren's connexion began with so-called "machine politics," a connexion which has made his name odious to some historians of the period. He was a leading member of the " Albany regency," a group of politicians who for more than a generation controlled the politics of New York and powerfully influenced those of the nation, and which did more than any other agency to make the " spoils system ". a recognized procedure in national, state and local affairs. Van Buren did not originate the system, for it was already well developed when he entered public life; but the nickname of " Little Magician " which presently attached to him testifies to the skill with which he exploited it, and to the popular impression which his political methods produced. In February 1821 he was elected to the United States Senate. Before taking his seat he served also as a member of the state constitutional convention, where he opposed the grant of universal suffrage. His course in the Senate was not altogether consistent, though in this respect he is not to be judged more harshly than some of his associates. He at first favoured internal improvements, and in 1824 proposed a constitutional amendment to authorize such undertakings, but the next year took ground against them. He voted for the tariff of 1824, then gradually abandoned the protectionist position. In the presidential election of 1824 he appeared as a strong sup- porter
but his more important speeches show careful preparation and his opinions carried weight; and the oft-repeated charge that he refrained from declaring himself on crucial questions is hardly borne out by an examination of his senatorial career. In February 1827 he was re-elected to the Senate by a large majority. He was now one of the recognized managers of the Jackson campaign, and a tour of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia in the spring of 1827 won support for Jackson from Crawford.In 1828 Van Buren was elected governor of New York for the term beginning on the 1st of January 1829, and resigned his seat in the Senate. But on the 5th of March he was appointed by President Jackson secretary of state, an office which probably had been assured to him before the election, and he resigned the governorship. As secretary of state he took care to keep on good terms with the " kitchen cabinet," the group of politicians who acted as Jackson's advisers, and won the lasting regard of Jackson by his courtesies to Mrs John H. Eaton, wife of the secretary of war, with whom the wives of the cabinet officers had refused to associate. He did not oppose Jackson in the matter of removals from office, but was not himself an active '' spoilsman," and protested strongly against the appointment of Samuel Swartwout (17831856), who was later a defaulter to a large amount as collector of the port of New York. He skilfully avoided entanglement in the Jackson-Calhoun imbroglio. No diplomatic questions of the first magnitude arose during his service as secretary of state, but the settlement of long- standing
touch of bravado, for a bill offered in 1836 to subject abolition literature in the mails to the laws of the several states. Calhoun, bitterly hostile to the last, objected to the usual vote of thanks to the retiring vice-president, but withdrew his objection. In the election Van Buren received 1,70 electoral votes against 73 for William Henry Harrison, his principal opponent; butthe popular vote showed a plurality of less than 25,000 in' a total vote of about 1,500,090. The election was in fact a victory for Jackson rather than for Van Buren.The details of Van Buren's administration belong to the history of the United States (see UNITED STATES). He announced his intention " to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor," took over all but one of Jackson's cabinet, and met with statesmanlike firmness the commercial crisis of 1837, already prepared for before he took office. No exhibition of ability or courage, however, nor yet the most skilful manipulation of the political machinery of the party, could prevent continued hostility to him and to the methods for which he was widely believed to stand. The state elections of 1837 and 1838 were disastrous for the Democrats, and the partial recovery in 1839 was offset by a second commercial crisis in that year. Nevertheless, Van Buren was unanimously renominated by the Democrats in 184o. Charged with being " a Northern man with Southern principles," he was frequently interrogated during the campaign, and his nomination obviously failed to arouse enthusiasm or even inspire confidence. The revolt against Democratic rule was undoubtedly serious, but a study of the popular vote shows that the election of Harrison, the Whig candidate, was less of a revolution than many affected to think. On the expiration of his term Van Buren retired to his estate at Kinderhook, but he did not with-draw from politics or cease to be a figure of national importance, It was even proposed to make him a member of the Federal Supreme Court in order to get him out of political life. He confidently expected to be nominated for president in 1844, and his famous letter of the 27th of April, in which he frankly opposed the immediate annexation of Texas
Van Buren's son ABRAHAM (18071873) graduated at West Point in 1827, served under General Winfield Scott against the Seminole Indians in 1836, and was made captain of the First Dragoons. In 1837 he resigned from the army to become his father's private secretary, but in 1846, at the outbreak of the war with Mexico, he was reappointed with the rank of major and paymaster. In August 1847 he was breveted lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct at Contreras and Churubusco. In 1854 he retired to private life. Another son, JOHN (18101866), graduated at Yale in 1828, was admitted to the bar at Albany in 1830 and was attorney-general of New York in 18451846. He was popularly known as " Prince John " because of his manners and appearance. The best biography of Van Buren is by Edward M. Shepard, in the " American Statesmen Series " (revised .ed., Boston, 1899). The Life by George Bancroft (New York, 1889) is highly eulogistic. Von Hoist's United States, MacDonald's Jacksonian Democracy, Garrison's Westward Extension and T. C. Smith's Parties and Slavery (the last three in the " American Nation Series ") give much attention to Van Buren's public career. The Van Buren manuscripts are in the Library of Congress. (W. MAID.*)End of Article: VAN BUREN, MARTIN (1782-1862) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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