Martin Van Buren

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Martin Van Buren
December 5, 1782, at Kinderhook, NY July 24,
1862, at Kinderhook, NY

• Democrat, the 8th President (1837-1841)

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The First President

• Born an American citizen rather than a British
  subject
• Who did not speak English
• To belong to the Dutch Reformed Church

And also the first politician - To create a
political machine - To secure a trade agreement
with Turkey
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The Unique President

• To keep the country out of wars
• with Mexico
• with Britain
• To stick to principles in office as much as out
  of it
• The strongest commitment to free market, civil
  liberties, nonintervention

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Personal Facts

• The Fox of Kinderhook, the Little Magician,
  American Talleyrand, Van Ruin
• Great-grandfather Cornelius Maesen emigrated in
  1631 from Buurmalsen
• A distant relative of T. Roosevelt
• Small but sturdy, and a dandy
• Married 24, widowed 36, 4 sons

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Something to be proud of

• A man of principles at 15, an ardent
  anti-Federalist
• Politician at 18 in 1800 campaigned for
  Jefferson
• Admitted to the bar in 1803 without higher
  education

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Irony of History

• Presided over the Senate with 2 loaded pistols
• Made O.K. popular
• Reduced the workday of governmental laborers to
  10 hours
• Lost re-election to William Harrison because of
  economic crisis (Panic of 37)

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Political Career

• New York State Senator, 1812-1820
• US Senator, 1821-1828
• Governor of New York, Jan-March 1829
• Secretary of State, 1829-1831
• Not minister to Great Britain, 1831
• Vice President, 1833-1837

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Foreign Policy

• The Caroline Affair, 1837
• The Aroostook War, 1839
• The Texas Question, 1836-1845
• The Russian Connection

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Van Buren praised

• People find in him a true friend and protector of
  their rights and liberty (Andrew Jackson)
• One of the gentlest and most amiable men I have
  ever met with (W. Irving)
• Lami de tout le monde, his principle is the
  talisman of democracy (John Quincy Adams)

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See you in Nüremberg

• The Trail of Tears
• The Second Seminole War
• VPOTUS Richard Mentor Johnson

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Prez says (1st Annual Message to Congress, Dec
5, 1837)

• Between Russia and the US sentiments of good will
  continue to be mutually cherished. Our minister
  has been received with a frankness and cordiality
  and with evidences of respect for his country
  which leave us no room to doubt the preservation
  in future of those amicable and liberal relations
  which have so long and so uninterruptedly existed
  between the 2 countries.