Man, I Don’t Know My Presidents #8 Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)

• Old Kinderhook (from Kinderhook, NY)
• Little Magician
• Machiavellian Belshazzar
• Martin Van Ruin (in office during the economic crisis 0f 1837)
• Petticoat Pet (after his fancy dress)
• The American Tallyrand (comparison to the devious Frenchman) 

Van Buren announced his intentions to follow in Jackson’s footsteps and therefore kept Jackson’s cabinet almost entirely intact (save one). Van Buren was a proponent of free trade and lower tariffs which helped to appease the South.  Generally, Van Buren was thought of as a savvy politician and made quite a few decisions for the “good of the country” rather than a select group. He denied Texas’ formal request to join the United States, giving a higher priority to sectional happiness rather than territorial expansion. He oversaw the “Trail of Tears,” which relocated the Cherokee tribe members from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina in an effort to avoid war. Van Buren also denied aid to the Latter Day Saint movement, 40,000 of whom were being forcibly removed from Missouri by an Executive Order (the “Extermination Order”) made by Gov. Lilburn Boggs (so as not to loose Missouri’s votes).

• First president born a US citizen (rather than a British subject) born 1782 after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
• Van Buren made three unsuccessful bids for reelection.
• Van Buren took $100,000, the sum of his salary of four years as a lump sum payment at the end of his term.
• Van Buren is the only incumbent president to run for reelection without a Vice Presidential running mate.
• The Only president of Dutch ancestry. He and his wife spoke dutch at home.
• In his autobiography, Van Buren doesn’t mention his wife a single time