In 1828 Van Buren was elected governor of New York for the term beginning Jan. I, 1829, and resigned his seat in the Senate. But on March 5 he was appointed by President Jackson secretary of State and he resigned the governorship. As secretary of State he took care to keep on good terms with the "kitchen cabinet," the group of politicians who acted as Jackson's advisers, and won the lasting regard of Jackson by his courtesies to Mrs. John H. Eaton, wife of the secretary of War, with whom the wives of the cabinet officers had refused to associate. He did not oppose Jack son in the matter of removals from office, but was not himself an active "spoilsman," and protested strongly against the appoint ment of Samuel Swartwout (1783-1856), who was later a de faulter to a large amount as collector of the port of New York. He skilfully avoided entanglement in the Jackson-Calhoun im broglio. m broglio. In the controversy with the Bank of the United States he sided with Jackson. After the breach between Jackson and Calhoun, Van Buren was clearly the most prominent candidate for the vice presidency. Jackson, in Dec. 1829, had already made known his own wish that Van Buren should receive the nomi nation. In April 1831 Van Buren resigned and in August he was appointed minister to England, arriving in London in September. He was cordially received, but in February learned that his nomi nation had been rejected by the Senate on Jan. 25. The rejection was in fact the work of Calhoun, the vice president; when the vote was taken enough of the majority refrained from voting to produce a tie and give Calhoun his longed-for "vengeance." No greater impetus than this could have been given to Van candidacy for the vice presidency. In May the Democratic con vention, the first held by that party, nominated him for vice presi dent on the Jackson ticket. No platform was adopted, the wide spread popularity of Jackson being relied upon to win success at the polls. Van Buren's declarations during the campaign were vague regarding the tariff and unfavourable to the United States bank and to nullification, but he had already somewhat placated the South by denying the right of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia without the consent of the slave States. In the election he received 189 electoral votes, while Jack son received 219 for president. Jackson now determined to make Van Buren president in 1836. In May 1835 Van Buren was unan imously nominated by the Democratic convention at Baltimore. He expressed himself plainly during the canvass on the questions of slavery and the bank. In the election Van Buren received 170 electoral votes against 73 for William Henry Harrison, his prin cipal opponent ; but the popular vote showed a plurality of less than 25,00o in a total vote of about 1,500,000. The election was in fact a victory for Jackson rather than for Van Buren.
The details of Van Buren's administration belong to the history of the United States (see UNITED STATES). He took over all but
one of Jackson's cabinet, and met with statesmanlike firmness the commercial crisis of 1837. No exhibition of ability or courage, however, nor yet the most skilful manipulation of the political machinery of the party could prevent continued hostility to him and to the methods for which he was widely believed to stand. Nevertheless, he was unanimously renominated by the Democrats in 1840. Charged with being "a Northern man with Southern principles," his nomination obviously failed to arouse enthusiasm or even inspire confidence. Yet the election of Harrison, the Whig candidate, was less of a revolution than many affected to think. On the expiration of his term Van Buren retired to his estate at Kinderhook, but he did not withdraw from politics or cease to be a figure of national importance. He confidently expected to be nominated for president in 1844 but in the Democratic convention, though he had a majority of the votes, he did not have the two thirds which the rule of the convention required, and after eight ballots his name was withdrawn. In 1848 he was again nominated, first by the "Barnburners" faction of the Democrats, then by the Free Soilers, with whom the "Barnburners" coalesced, but no electoral vote was won by the party. In the election of 186o he voted for the fusion ticket in New York which was opposed to Abraham Lincoln, but he could not approve of President Buch anan's course in dealing with secession, and later supported Lin coln. He died in Kinderhook on July 24, 1862. His memoirs, to 1834, remain unpublished, but an Inquiry into the Origin and Course of Political Parties in the United States was compiled from it by his sons and published in 1867.
The best biography of Van Buren is by Edward M. Shepard, in the "American Statesmen Series" (rev. ed., Boston, 1889). The life by George Bancroft (5889) is highly eulogistic. Von Hoist's United States, MacDonald's Jacksonian Democracy, Garrison's Westward Ex tension and T. C. Smith's Parties and Slavery (the last three in the "American Nation Series") give much attention to Van Buren's public career. The Van Buren mss. are in the Library of Congress. See also James Schouler, "The Calhoun, Jackson and Van Buren Papers," Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 2nd ser., vol. xviii., p. 459-465 (Boston, 1905) ; "Correspondence Between George Bancroft and Martin Van Buren," Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 3rd ser., vol. ii., p. 381-442 (Boston, 1909) ; Elizabeth Howard West, Calendar of the Papers of Martin Van Buren, prepared from the original manuscripts in the Library of Congress (Iwo) ; Bernard C. Steiner, "Taney's Letters to Van Buren in 1860," Maryland Hist. Mag., vol. x., p. 15-24 (Baltimore, 1915) ; and "Autobiography of Martin Van Buren," Amer. Hist. Assoc. Ann. Rep., 1918, vol. 2, p. 7-808 (192o) ; Denis Tilden Lynch, Martin Van Buren (1929).