#8 Martin Van Buren: He Should Have Stayed in the Senate (1836-1840)

"Martin Van Buren" by Ted Widmer, 2005.

Martin Van Buren’s most lasting impact on American history

actually happened when he was a senator. His creation and master manipulation of the two-party system, still has a stranglehold on our political system to this day.  With nicknames like “sly fox” or “little magician” you can picture him wheeling and dealing his way up the political ladder.  Ironically, his other lasting impact resulted from his nickname “Old Kinderhook” which became the basis for the word OK! But he is a hard guy to pin down and even harder guy to get interested in… trust me.

Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, NY to a Dutch family.  He is the only president to have English as a second language and the first president actually born in the U.S.  His father and mother ran a tavern/inn with the help of their 8 kids and six slaves.  Since there was little money, after he was grown, Martin apprenticed with a lawyer.  When his boss commented on his “poor clothing”, Martin immediately went and bought the fanciest suit in town. For the rest of his life he became a flashy, dresser… often called a dandy. Van Buren was always described as a bit of a flirt and considered good looking.  (HUH??!)  He was always a bit self-conscious about his lack of education or family money background.  He joined the Democratic-Republican party and was a huge fan of Jefferson (and ironically also Aaron Burr). He believed in a very limited government and states’ rights.

After passing the bar, Van Buren opened a law office in Kinderhook and did pretty well, not the most intelligent lawyer but always the best prepared. He married a distant cousin, Hannah, and they had four sons.  There is virtually no information about Hannah since she died after their first 12 years of marriage. However, Martin must have loved her as he spoke fondly of her and never remarried.

VB wearing the sorting hat.. I bet he was a Ravenclaw.

He started in politics at the state level and discovered he had a knack for creating coalitions of people- using wealthy donors, local party bosses and newspapers to create a group known as the “Albany regency”.  While it has always been a historical mystery how he did this, he traveled to and wrote to people constantly.   He was also quick to switch sides so he could be on the winning side. Van Buren was a master at not giving away his opinions (political double talk), often accused of refusing to take a stand on issues. He even convinced New York to rewrite their state constitution.

Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet- VB  in there

In 1821, he was elected to the US senate and quickly worked his wiles again, becoming the chairman of the finance and judiciary committees. Andrew Jackson, who’s forthright personality and quick temper were the exact opposite of Van Buren, was impressed with Van Buren’s ability to get things done in the Senate.   The combination of Jackson’s popularity and Van Buren’s coalition of power led them to split the democratic-republican party to create the Democratic party, based on southern slave/economic issues joined with northern “plain men”.   Van Buren also created the nominating convention, party caucus and worked the electoral college like no one else had. So, when Jackson won the presidency in 1828, he made Van Buren his Secretary of State, a job he only kept for 43 days.  Jackson wanted to do a whole “cabinet shakeup” but Van Buren became Jackson’s closest informal adviser in his “kitchen cabinet”.

For the 1832 election, Jackson dropped Calhoun as his VP and added Van Buren to the ticket. They won by a landslide.  Together they worked to dismantle the national bank and any government constraints on the banking or financial sector… a move that would bite Van Buren in the butt later. When Jackson’s second term was ending, he anointed Van Buren as his successor, certain that Van Buren would do exactly as he had.

Van Buren won the presidential election in 1836 with a lot of help from his home state of NY and the southern states.  While he never openly supported slavery, he did believe that it was constitutional and legal, a stance that tried to please northern and southern voters.

Less than three months after Van Buren took office, the Panic of 1837 happened.  This was our nation’s worst economic disaster until the Great Depression.  Jackson’s freewheeling, hands off approach to the banking sector led to massive borrowing and banks began to fail.  Van Buren spent most of his term trying to create an independent treasury system, finally succeeding in 1840, but it really was too little, too late.  He did almost nothing to alleviate the misery, starvation and unemployment during the Panic. Meanwhile, he was criticized for his lavish entertaining at the White House and fancy, expensive clothes.

Other dubious events in his presidency were the Trail of Tears removal of the Cherokee… something he seemed pretty proud of.  He also helped eliminate/exterminate most of the Seminole Indians from Florida. Van Buren also got involved in the escaped slave case of the Amistad ship, favoring the return of the slaves to their owners in Spain.  Thank goodness John Quincy Adams prevented that by arguing their case in the supreme court.

I think Anthony Hopkins is VB

In 1840, the Republican half of the old democratic-republican party, now called the Whigs, nominated Harrison to run for president.  But really Van Buren lost almost all support from his own party because the economy was so crappy. After losing a second term to Harrison, Van Buren returned to his overly fancy house in Kinderhook called Lindenwald.

Through the years he became more and more openly opposed to slavery, alienating his southern supporters.  He actually accepted the 1848 presidential nomination of a group call the “free state party”- losing badly in the election.  (It is soooooooooooo ironic for a man who created the two-party system to be defeated by his own creation.) He spent his remaining years trying to influence slave laws and traveling extensively to Europe to search for a cure for one of his sons who eventually died.