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Martin Van Buren
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Martin Van Buren (1782–1862) was the eighth President of the United States, serving from 1837 until 1841.[1]
Van Buren is a bit of an odd one out among Presidents, even to this day. He was the only person to live in the White House that did not have English as his first language, although that didn't stop him from coining the English phrase "OK."[2] Van Buren is also the first person to run for President after leaving the White House, attempting to gain the Democratic nomination in 1844 and running on the Free Soil ticket in 1848 despite his loss to William Henry Harrison in 1840.[3]
Presidency[edit]
The major topic of the Van Buren administration was the Panic of 1837, putting him in a position not unlike that of Herbert Hoover and George H.W. Bush. In all three cases, the economic agendas of previous President[note 1] caused a massive economic downturn under the administration of their handpicked successors. Unsurprisingly, all three of these Presidents also only managed to serve one term in the White House, losing their bids for re-election.
Scholarship today typically puts the blame on Jackson, largely because of his destruction of the National Bank and his decision to issue the Specie Circular.[4] Still, if Jackson's economic policies were wrong, that doesn't mean Van Buren was entirely innocent of what occurred next. "Van Buren followed a course of action consistent with his Jacksonian belief in the limited powers of the federal government and a suspicion of paper money and easy credit," writes Joel Silbey.[5] Essentially, unlike Hoover and Bush who were at least willing to break from the economic ideals of the previous administrations once it became clear those failed to produce the intended results, Van Buren remained a firm believer in Jacksonian economics during his time in the White House. Going back to Silbey, he noted "Van Buren blamed the current problems not on the Jackson administration's policies, but instead on what he viewed as greedy American and foreign business and financial institutions, as well as on the overextension of credit by U.S. banks."[5]
Van Buren attempted to find a bizarre middle ground between his beliefs that Jackson was right and his understanding that something was going wrong after eight years of Jackson. One of his ideas, announced in September 1837, was "a controversial proposal to establish an independent treasury system, in which the federal government would deposit its funds in a series of subtreasuries."[5] Those who supported a national bank were confused as to why he just didn't reestablish one, while those who were against it found this idea, a total contradiction of Jackson's policy, to be too close for comfort.
Trail of Tears[edit]
Another area where Van Buren continued the policy of Jackson involved the forced relocating of Native Americans. The most infamous part of the entire situation, when "the U.S. military began to force Cherokee people from their homes, often at gunpoint,"[6] occurred under orders from Martin Van Buren, who "sent General Winfield Scott and 7,000 soldiers to expedite the removal process."[7]
Free Soil run[edit]
Van Buren's hometown of Kinderhook,
New York had 638 slaves living in it at the time of his birth despite being located in a northern state, and six of those slaves belonged to his father.[8] Van Buren appears to have personally owned a slave himself. The main evidence of this is a letter sent to him that claimed the sender found a slave owned by Van Buren that had escaped earlier and that the seller was willing to buy the slave from Van Buren, although no records establishing that Van Buren ever purchased the slave have ever been found; nevertheless, Van Buren certainly did take advantage of slave labor throughout his political career.[9] Despite this history, he was the 1848 candidate for the newly-formed Free Soil Party, which was not an officially abolitionist party (although there were abolitionists in its ranks) but rather was a splintering off of some Democrats who opposed expansion of slavery into the territories. Why he chose to join this movement is unclear, but some theories include him wanting to screw over the Democrats for failing to nominate him in 1844, him wanting to help his son's political career as he was also a Free Soiler, or him simply worrying that slavery would eventually tear the country apart if allowed to grow unchecked; regardless of his reasons, him joining the party as a former president gave it legitimacy and it would end up having the best performance of any third-party run up to that point, with him receiving 10% of the vote.[10]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Andrew Jackson in Van Buren's case, Calvin Coolidge in Hoover's case, and Ronald Reagan in Bush's case
References[edit]
- ↑ Martin Van Buren Britannica
- ↑ New York National Guard honors President Martin Van Buren, who gave the world 'OK' National Guard
- ↑ 4 Ex-Presidents Who Ran Again — And What They Mean for Trump Politico
- ↑ The Panic of 1837 Digital Public Library of America
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 MARTIN VAN BUREN: DOMESTIC AFFAIRS Miller Center
- ↑ Trail of Tears Britannica
- ↑ Trail of Tears History
- ↑ The Enslaved Households of President Martin Van Buren, Matthew Costello, The White House Historical Association 27 November 2019
- ↑ Martin Van Buren and the Politics of Slavery, National Park Service
- ↑ The Election of 1848: Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, National Park Service