Martin Van Buren

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

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    Religion, like water, may be free, but when they pipe it to you, you’ve got to help pay for piping. And the Piper!
    —Abigail Van Buren (b. 1916)

    Today everything is different. I can’t even get decent food. Right after I got here I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce and I got egg noodles and catsup. I’m an average nobody, I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.
    Nicholas Pileggi, U.S. screenwriter, and Martin Scorsese. Henry Hill (Ray Liotta)

    Babe, you know how these things go, it’s like a crap game. When you’re hot you shoot everything, you shoot the works. Well, right now baby, I’m so hot I’m burning up all over.
    —Gus Van Sant, U.S. screenwriter, and Dan Yost. Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon)

    There is no end to the undeserved misery and mischief it could create.
    —Abigail Van Buren (b. 1918)