Martin Van Buren (Dutch: Maarten van Buren pronunciation ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth President of the United States (1837–1841). Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President (1833–1837) and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson (1829–1831).
Van Buren was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president not of British or Irish descent—his family was Dutch. He was the first president to be born a United States citizen, his predecessors having been born British subjects before the American Revolution. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, having grown up speaking Dutch, and the first president from New York.
As Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State and then Vice President, Van Buren was a key figure in building the organizational structure for Jacksonian democracy, particularly in New York State. As president, he did not want the United States to annex Texas, an act which John Tyler would achieve eight years after Van Buren's initial rejection. Between the bloodless Aroostook War and the Caroline Affair, relations with Britain and its colonies in Canada also proved to be strained.
His administration was largely characterized by the economic hardship of his time, the Panic of 1837. He was scapegoated for the depression and called "Martin Van Ruin" by his political opponents. Van Buren was voted out of office after four years, losing to Whig candidate William Henry Harrison.
In the 1848 election Van Buren ran unsuccessfully for president on a third-party ticket, the Free Soil Party.
Read more about Martin Van Buren: Early Life, Early Political Career, The Jackson Cabinet, Election of 1836, Later Life, Memorials
Famous quotes containing the words martin, van and/or buren:
“Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone:
But when she got there
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.”
—Sarah Catherine Martin (1768–1826)
“It’s not that we want the political jobs themselves ... but they seem to be the only language the men understand. We don’t really want these $200 a year jobs. But the average man doesn’t understand working for a cause.”
—Jennie Carolyn Van Ness (b. c. 1890–?)
“There is no end to the undeserved misery and mischief it could create.”
—Abigail Van Buren (b. 1918)