Return to Presidents List
U.S Presidents — Martin Van Buren | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OVERVIEW
Name: Martin Van Buren
President: # 8 Term Number(s): 13 Term Length: 4 Took Office: March 4, 1837 Left Office: March 4, 1841 Age when Elected: 54 Party: Democratic Also Known As: "The Little Magician, The Red Fox of Kinderhook" BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Education: Kinderhook Academy
Occupation: Lawyer Other Governmental Position: 8th Vice President of the United States, 10th United States Secretary of State, 9th Governor of New York, United States Senator from New York, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 14th New York State Attorney General. Military Service: None Religion: Dutch Reformed Spouse(s): Hannah Hoes Van Buren (February 21, 1807) Children: Abraham Van Buren; John Van Buren; Martin Van Buren, Jr.; Smith Thompson Van Buren
Birthdate: December 5, 1782
Birthplace: Kinderhook, New York Deathdate: July 24, 1862 Deathplace: Kinderhook, New York Age at Death: 79 Cause of Death: bronchial asthma and heart failure Place of Internment: Kinderhook Cemetery in Kinderhook, New York  Signature FIRST ELECTION
Election Year: 1836
Main Opponent: William Henry Harrison Voter Participation: N/A
CABINET AND COURT APPOINTMENTS
Vice President: Richard Mentor Johnson
Secretary of State: John Forsyth (1837–1841) Secretary of the Treasury: Levi Woodbury (1837–1841) Secretary of War: Joel R. Poinsett (1837–1841) Secretary of the Navy: Mahlon Dickerson (1837–1838), James K. Paulding (1838–1841) Attorney General: Benjamin F. Butler (1837–1838), Felix Grundy (1838–1840), Henry D. Gilpin (1840–1841) Postmaster General: Amos Kendall (1837–1840), John M. Niles (1840–1841) Supreme Court Assignments: John McKinley (1838), Peter Vivian Daniel (1841) PRESIDENT'S BIOGRAPHY As a young lawyer, Van Buren became involved in New York politics. As leader of the Albany Regency, an effective New York political organization, he shrewdly dispensed public offices and bounty in a fashion calculated to bring votes. Yet he faithfully fulfilled official duties, and in 1821 was elected to the United States Senate. By 1827 he had emerged as the principal northern leader for Andrew Jackson. President Jackson rewarded Van Buren by appointing him Secretary of State. As the cabinet members appointed at John C. Calhoun's recommendation began to demonstrate only secondary loyalty to Jackson, Van Buren emerged as the president's most trusted adviser. Jackson referred to him as, "a true man with no guile." The rift in the cabinet became serious because of Jackson's differences with Calhoun, a presidential aspirant. Van Buren suggested a way out of an eventual impasse: he and Secretary of War Eaton resigned, so that Calhoun men would also resign. Jackson appointed a new cabinet, and sought again to reward Van Buren by appointing him Minister to Great Britain. Vice President Calhoun, as President of the Senate, cast the deciding vote against the appointment-—and made a martyr of Van Buren. The "Little Magician" was elected vice president on the Jacksonian ticket in 1832, and won the Presidency in 1836.  Basically the trouble was the 19th-century cyclical economy of "boom and bust," which was following its regular pattern, but Jackson's financial measures contributed to the crash. His destruction of the Second Bank of the United States had removed restrictions upon the inflationary practices of some state banks; wild speculation in lands, based on easy bank credit, had swept the West. To end this speculation, Jackson in 1836 had issued a Specie Circular requiring that lands be purchased with hard money—gold or silver. In 1837 the panic began. Hundreds of banks and businesses failed. Thousands lost their lands. For about five years the United States was wracked by the worst depression thus far in its history. Programs applied decades later to alleviate economic crisis eluded both Van Buren and his opponents. Van Buren's remedy, continuing Jackson's deflationary policies, only deepened and prolonged the depression. Declaring that the panic was due to recklessness in business and overexpansion of credit, Van Buren devoted himself to maintaining the solvency of the national government. He opposed not only the creation of a new Bank of the United States, but also the placing of government funds in state banks. He fought for the establishment of an independent treasury system to handle government transactions. As for federal aid to internal improvements, he cut off expenditures so completely that the fovernment even sold the tools it had used on public works. Inclined more and more to oppose the expansion of slavery, Van Buren blocked the annexation of Texas because it assuredly would add to slave territory—and it might bring war with Mexico. Defeated by the Whigs in 1840 for reelection, Van Buren was an unsuccessful candidate for president on the Free Soil ticket in 1848. He died in 1862. FIRST LADY'S BIOGRAPHY Hannah Hoes Van Buren Van Buren omitted even her name from his autobiography; a gentleman of that day would not shame a lady by public references. A niece who remembered "her loving, gentle disposition" emphasized "her modest, even timid manner." Church records preserve some details of her life; she seems to have considered formal church affiliation a matter of importance. A son was born in Kinderhook, and three others in Hudson, where Martin served as county surrogate; but the fourth son died in infancy. In 1816 the family moved to the state capital in Albany. Soon the household included Martin's law partner and three apprentices; relatives came and went constantly, and Hannah could return their visits. Contemporary letters indicate that she was busy, sociable, and happy. She gave birth to a fifth boy in January 1817. But the following winter her health was obviously failing, apparently from tuberculosis. Not yet 36, Mrs. Van Buren died on February 5, 1819. The Albany Argus called her "an ornament of the Christian faith." Her husband never remarried; he moved into the White House in 1837 as a widower with four bachelor sons. Now accustomed to living in elegant style, he immediately began to refurbish a mansion shabby from public use under Jackson. Across Lafayette Square, Dolley Madison reigned as matriarch of Washington society; when her young relative-by-marriage Angelica Singleton came up from South Carolina for a visit, Dolley took her to the White House to pay a call. Angelica's aristocratic manners, excellent education, and handsome face won the heart of the president's eldest son, Abraham. They were married in November 1838; next spring a honeymoon abroad polished her social experience. Thereafter, while Abraham served as the president's private secretary, Angelica presided as the lady of the White House. The only flaw in her pleasure in this role was the loss of a baby girl. Born at the White House, she lived only a few hours. In later years, though spending much time in South Carolina and in Europe, Angelica and her husband made their home in New York City; she died there in 1878. MAJOR EVENTS
1837: The Panic of 1837. An economic depression begins when banks closed in Philadelphia and New York City. It would last throughout Van Buren's term.
1838: Van Buren administers the "Trail of Tears," the forced expulsion of the Cherokee tribe from Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina to the Oklahoma territory.
1839: The renegade slave ship La Amistad is seized by the U.S.S. Washington off the coast of New York. Agreeing with the Spanish Government, Van Buren returns the kidnapped slaves to Africa
1840: Van Buren is soundly defeated in the election by Whig William Henry Harrison partly because he is opposed to the annexation of Texas.
TRIVIA
1. The etymology of the term "O.K." is uncertain, but it is sometimes credited to Martin Van Buren. Van Buren was raised in Kinderhook, New York, and after he went into politics, became known as "Old Kinderhook." Soon people were using the term O.K. referring to Van Buren.
2. Van Buren was the first U.S. president born in the United States. The presidents preceding Van Buren were born in colonies that later became states. Van Buren was the first to be born after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
3. Van Buren was the first president of Dutch ancestry. He and his wife spoke Dutch at home.
| |||||||||||||||||
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder