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Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July
24, 1862), nicknamed Old Kinderhook, was the
eighth President of the United States|President of
the United States. He was the first President born
after the signing of the United States Declaration
of Independence|Declaration of Independence, the
first of non-England|Anglo descent, and the only
whose first language was not English
language|English (It was Dutch language|Dutch).

==Biography==
Van Buren was born in the village of Kinderhook
(village), New York|Kinderhook, New York, twenty
miles south of Albany, New York|Albany, the state
capital. His great-great-great-grandfather
Cornelis had come to the New World in 1631 from
the Netherlands. Martin's father was Abraham van
Buren (February 17, 1737–April 8, 1817), a
farmer and popular tavern-keeper. His mother was
Maria Hoes (February 27, 1747–February 16,
1817) who also had children from a previous
marriage.

Martin's education was limited to that which could
be obtained in the common schools and at
Kinderhook Academy.  In 1796 he began the study of
law, completing his preparation in 1802 in New
York City|New York, where he studied under William
Peter van Ness (1778-1826), an eminent lawyer and
later Aaron Burr's second in the duel with
Alexander Hamilton. Van Buren made the
acquaintance of Burr, but did not fall under his
influence. In 1803 he was admitted to the
bar_(law)|bar and continued in active and
successful practice for twenty-five years. 

His practice made him financially independent, and
paved the way for his entrance into politics. New
York politics after 1800, the year of the election
of Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson and the downfall of
the United States Federalist Party|Federalists,
were particularly bitter and personal. The United
States Democratic-Republican Party|Republicans
were divided into three factions: followers of
George Clinton (politician)|George Clinton (and
later of his nephew, De Witt Clinton), Robert R.
Livingston and Aaron Burr. Federalist control
after 1799 depended upon coalition with one or
other of these groups. Van Buren, who allied
himself early with the Clintonians, was surrogate
of Columbia County, New York|Columbia County from
1808 until 1813, when he was removed. In 1812 he
entered the state Senate, and he also became a
member of the Court for the Correction of Errors,
the highest Court (judicial)|court in New York
until 1847.

==Early political career==
His career in the New York Senate covered two
terms (1812-1820). In 1815 he became the state
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, moved from Kinderhook to Hudson,
New York|Hudson, and in 1816 he took up his
residence in Albany, New York|Albany, where he
continued to reside until he entered Andrew
Jackson|Jackson's United States Cabinet|cabinet in
1829.

As a member of the state Senate he supported the
War of 1812 and drew up a classification act for
the enrollment 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 favored, 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 connection began with so-called "machine
politics". 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, but won the nickname of
"Little Magician" for the skill with which he
exploited it.


In February 1821, Van Buren was elected to the
United States Senate. Before taking his seat he
served also as a member of the state
constitutional convention_(political
custom)|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.
Van Buren at first favored internal improvements
and in 1824 proposed a constitutional amendment to
authorize such undertakings, but the next year he
took ground against them. He voted for the tariff
of 1824 then gradually abandoned the protectionist
position. 

In the U.S. presidential election,
1824|presidential election of 1824, he appeared as
a strong supporter of William H. Crawford and
received the electoral vote of Georgia (U.S.
state)|Georgia for Vice President of the United
States of America|vice-president, but he shrewdly
kept out of the acrimonious controversy which
followed the choice of John Quincy Adams as
President. He recognized early the potential of
Andrew Jackson as a presidential candidate. 

After the election, Van Buren sought to bring the
Crawford and Jackson followers together and
strengthened his control as a party leader in the
Senate. Always notably courteous in his treatment
of opponents, he showed no bitterness either
towards John Quincy Adams or Henry Clay and voted
for Clay's confirmation as United States Secretary
of State|Secretary of State, notwithstanding the
"corrupt bargain" charge. At the same time he
opposed internal improvements and declined to
support the proposal for a Panama Congress. As
chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he brought
forward a number of measures for the improvement
of due process|judicial procedure and in May 1826
joined with Thomas Hart Benton (senator)|Benton in
presenting a report on executive patronage. In the
debate on the "Tariff of 1828|tariff of
abominations" in 1828, he took no part but voted
for the measure in obedience to instructions from
the New York State legislature|legislature —
an action which was cited against him as late as
the U.S. presidential election, 1844|presidential
campaign of 1844. 

Van Buren was not an orator, but his more
important speeches show careful preparation and
his opinions carried weight; 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 (U.S.
state)|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 January 1, 1829,
and resigned his seat in the Senate. On March 5,
he was appointed by President Jackson as United
States Secretary of State|secretary of state, an
office which probably had been assured to him
before the election, and he resigned the
governorship. 

As Secretary of State, Van Buren 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 (Peggy
Eaton), wife of the United States Secretary of
War|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 he protested strongly against the appointment
of Samuel Swartwout (1783-1856), who was later a
defaulter to a large amount as collector of the
port of New York City|New York. He skillfully
avoided entanglement in the Jackson-John C.
Calhoun|Calhoun imbroglio. 

No diplomatic questions of the first magnitude
arose during Van Buren's service as Secretary of
State, but the settlement of long-standing claims
against France was prepared for, and trade with
the British West Indies colonies was opened. In
the controversy with the Second Bank of the United
States |Bank of the United States, he sided with
Jackson. After the breach between Jackson and
Calhoun, Van Buren was clearly the most prominent
candidate for the Vice President of the United
States|vice-presidency. 

Jackson in December 1829 had already made known
his own wish that Van Buren should receive the
nomination. In April 1831, Van Buren resigned,
though he did not leave office until June. In
August, he was appointed minister to England, and
arrived in London in September. He was cordially
received, but in February learned that his
nomination had been rejected by the Senate on
January 25. The rejection, ostensibly attributed
in large part to Van Buren's instructions to Louis
McLane, the American minister to England,
regarding the opening of the West Indies trade, in
which reference had been made to the results of
the election of 1828, was in fact the work of John
C. Calhoun|Calhoun, the vice-president; and when
the vote was taken enough of the majority
refrained from voting to produce a tie and give
Calhoun his longed-for "vengeance." No greater
impetus than this could have been given to Van
Buren's candidacy for the vice-presidency. 

After a brief tour on through Europe, Van Buren
reached New York on July 5. In May, the United
States Democratic Party|Democratic Democratic
National Convention|convention, the first held by
that party, had nominated him for vice-president
on the Jackson ticket, despite the strong
opposition to him which existed in many states. No
platform was adopted, the widespread popularity of
Jackson being relied upon to win success at the
polls. His declarations during the campaign were
vague regarding the tariff and unfavorable to the
United States Bank and to nullification, but he
had already somewhat placated the South by denying
the right of Congress to abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia without the consent of the
slave states. 

During Van Buren's presidential campaign the
Democratic Party popularized his nickname "Old
Kinderhook," which was abbreviated as "OK."
Supporters' groups known as "OK Clubs" were set
up. This is one possible origin of the expression
"Okay|OK," although there are many other possible
origins and the topic is much disputed.

In the U.S. presidential election, 1832|election
of 1832 he received 189 electoral votes, while
Jackson received 219 for President. Jackson was
now determined to make Van Buren president in
1836, and bent all his energies to that end. In
May 1835 Van Buren was unanimously nominated by
the Democratic convention at Baltimore,
Maryland|Baltimore. He expressed himself plainly
on the questions of slavery and the bank, at the
same time voting, perhaps with a 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. Van Buren's presidential victory
represented more of a victory for Jackson rather
than for Van Buren.

==Presidency==
Van Buren 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 1840. 

Charged with being "a Northern man with Southern
principles," he was frequently interrogated and
attacked with the nickname Martin Van Ruin 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 U.S. presidential election, 1840|election
of William Henry Harrison|Harrison, the United
States Whig Party|Whig candidate, was less of a
revolution than many affected to think. 

On the expiration of his term, Van Buren retired
to his estate, Lindenwald, in the town of
Kinderhook (town), New York|Kinderhook, but he did
not withdraw 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 of
the United States|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 April 27, in which he frankly
opposed the immediate annexation of Texas, though
doubtless contributing greatly to his defeat, was
not made public until he felt practically sure of
the nomination. In the Democratic convention,
though he had a majority of the votes, he did not
have the two-thirds which the convention required,
and after eight ballots his name was withdrawn. 

In 1848 he was again nominated, first by the
"Barnburner" faction of the Democrats, then by the
Free Soil Party|Free Soilers, with whom the
"Barnburners" coalesced, but no electoral vote was
won by the party. In the election of 1860 he voted
for the Electoral fusion|fusion ticket in New York
which was opposed to Abraham Lincoln, but he could
not approve of James Buchanan|President Buchanan's
course in dealing with secession, and eventually
supported Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln. 

Martin Van Buren died of bronchial asthma and
heart failure at his Lindenwald estate in
Kinderhook at 2:00 a.m. on July 24, 1862. His last
words were: "There is but one reliance..."

===Cabinet===
{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4"
style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;"
align="left"
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|OFFICE||align="left"|NAME||align="le
ft"|TERM
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|President of the United
States|President||align="left" |Martin Van
Buren||align="left"|1837–1841
|-
|align="left"|Vice President of the United
States|Vice President||align="left"|Richard M.
Johnson||align="left"|1837–1841
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of
State|Secretary of State||align="left"|John
Forsyth||align="left"|1837–1841
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of the
Treasury|Secretary of the
Treasury||align="left"|Levi
Woodbury||align="left"|1837–1841
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of
War|Secretary of War||align="left"|Joel
Poinsett||align="left"|1837–1841
|-
|align="left"|Attorney General of the United
States|Attorney General||align="left"|Benjamin
Franklin Butler (lawyer)|Benjamin
Butler||align="left"|1837–1838
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Felix
Grundy||align="left"|1838–1840
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Henry D.
Gilpin||align="left"|1840–1841
|-
|align="left"|Postmaster General of the United
States|Postmaster General||align="left"|Amos
Kendall||align="left"|1837–1840
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|John M.
Niles||align="left"|1840–1841
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of the
Navy|Secretary of the Navy||align="left"|Mahlon
Dickerson||align="left"|1837–1838
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|James K.
Paulding||align="left"|1838–1841
|}



=== Supreme Court appointments ===
Van Buren appointed the following Justices to the
Supreme Court of the United States:

* John Catron - 1837
* John McKinley - 1838
* Peter Vivian Daniel - 1842

==Trivia==
Van Buren had several different nicknames during
his lifetime, including Martin Van Ruin, Log Cabin
Democrat and The Little Magician. One of his most
well known nicknames was Old Kinderhook, claimed
to be a possible origin for Okay|OK, the popular
expression in the English language and other
languages of the Western world|West.

== Related articles ==
* U.S. presidential election, 1832
* U.S. presidential election, 1836
* U.S. presidential election, 1840

== External links ==
Wikisource author
*http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/mb8.
html White House biography
*http://www.kinderhookconnection.com/history4.htm
Van Buren biography from Kinderhook Connection
*http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/
vanburen.htm Inaugural Address
*RootsWeb.com:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dutchappl
es/vbcmdesc1.html The van Buren Family, since the
17th century
*http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/vanburen-1.h
tml First State of the Union Address of Martin Van
Buren
*http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/vanburen-2.h
tml Second State of the Union Address of Martin
Van Buren
*http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/vanburen-3.h
tml Third State of the Union Address of Martin Van
Buren
*http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/vanburen-4.h
tml Fourth State of the Union Address of Martin
Van Buren
*http://www.nps.gov/mava/Main.htm Martin van Buren
National Historic Site (Lindenwald)

start box
succession box| title=List of United States
Senators from New York|U.S. Senator (New York)|
before=Nathan Sanford| after=Charles E. Dudley|
years=1821-1828
succession box| title=List of Governors of New
York|Governor of New York| before=Nathaniel
Pitcher| after=Enos T. Throop| years=1829
succession box| title=United States Secretary of
State| before=Henry Clay| after=Edward Livingston|
years=March 28, 1829 – May 23, 1831
succession box| title=U.S. Ambassador to the
United Kingdom|U.S. Minister to Britain|
before=Louis McLane| after=Aaron Vail
(Chargé
d'Affaires)| years=1831-1832
succession box| title=Democratic Party (United
States)|Democratic Party Vice President of the
United States|Vice Presidential :