VAN BUREN, MARTIN
\vˈan bjˈʊ͡əɹən], \vˈan bjˈʊəɹən], \v_ˈa_n b_j_ˈʊə_ɹ_ə_n]\
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(December 5, 1782-July 24, 1862), eighth President of the United States, was born at Kinderhook, N.Y. He rose to eminence in his State both as a lawyer and as a Democratic politician. He is noted as an adroit party manager, and was styled in his time the "Little Magician." He was a State Senator, U.S. Senator 1821-1828, Governor 1828-1829, and Secretary of State under Jackson 1829-1831. President Jackson, in 1831, appointed him U.S. Minister to England, but the Senate refused to confirm the nomination. He was elected with Jackson for the latter's second term, serving as Vice-President 1833-1837, and was the chosen heir to the succession. Elected by 170 electoral votes over the Whig candidate, Harrison, in 1836, he inherited the results of Jackson's measures. The two foremost places in President Van Buren's Cabinet were held by Forsyth in the State and Woodbury in the Treasury Department. Among the features of public interest in his administration were the disastrous panic of 1837, the independent treasury system and the preemption law. In 1840 he was pitted against his former antagonist, but with the opposite result; he received only sixty electoral votes. In 1844 Ex-President Van Buren had a majority, but not a two-thirds majority of votes in the Democratic National Convention; he opposed the annexation of Texas, and was discarded for Polk. In 1848 he was the Free Soil candidate, and diverted enough Democratic votes to defeat Cass and elect Taylor. Life by E.M. Shepard.
By John Franklin Jameson
Word of the day
Snake's-head
- Guinea-hen flower; -- so called in England because its spotted petals resemble the scales of a snake's head.