VAN BU'REN, MARTIN ( 1782-1862). Eighth President of the United States, lie was born at Kinderbook, N. Y., December 5. 1782. studied law with William P. Van Ness in New York City, and was admitted to the bar iu 1803. He early developed a fondness for polities and held suecessively the offices of Surrogate and State Senator, in the latter capacity being recognized as the leader of the Tompkins faction of the Republican Party. In 1315 he became Atto•ney General of the State, a position from which he was removed in 1819 on account of hi-. rupture with the administration of Governor DeWitt Clinton. In February, 1S21, lie was elected to the United States Senate, and in the same year served as a delegate in the State Constitutional Conven tion. In the Senate, to which he was rePlected in 1827, he served for a number• of years as eliairman of the Judiciary Committee, supported the tariff bills of 1824 and 1828, opposed internal improvements by the Federal flovernment, and became a strong advocate of States' rights (q.v.). He resigned from the Senate to accept the office of Governor of New Yo•k, to At hieh lie was elected in 1828. Van Ilaren was an en thusiastic supporter of General Jackson for the Presidency in 1828, and became .Taekson's Secre tary of State the following year, but resigned in 1831 to accept the lost of Minister to England. The refusal of the Senate, for a trivial reason, to confirm his nomination after lie had sailed only brought increased popularity to Van Buren. and with the support of daekson easily seenred his nomination and election to the Vivi-Presidency in 1832. During all the vicissitudes of dacksmes administration Van Buren sueveeded in retain ing his confidence unimpaired, winning especial favor from the President because of his attitude in the Peggy ('Neill episode (set- EaToN, MAR. o.itcr;V O'NEILL ) , and soon came to 1)e regarded as his logical successor. in 1835 he was nominated by the Democratic Party, and in the following year was elected President, receiving 170 elec toral votes, as against 73 given to his prin cipal opponent, the Whig. candidate, General W.
11. llarrison. Van Buren's term was made notable by a widespread financial panic re suiting partly from certain measures of Presi dent Jackson's Administration, and partly from the spirit of reckless speculation which prevailed at the dine. The chief measure of his Admin istration was the estahlishment of the independ ent treasury system for the safekeeping and dis bursement of the piddle moneys. This system, after a short interruption during the Whig supremacy, became a part of the permanent policy of the country. President Van Buren was renominated in 1840 for the Presideney, chiefly on account of the financial distress of the time, for which he sins to a consider able extent held responsible in the popular mind, he was overwhelmingly defeated by the Whig candidate, General Harrison. In 1844 he was again a candidate for the Democratic nomina tion, but OD account of his opposition to the annexation of Texas he was opposed by the Southern Democrats, and was defeated. In 1S48 he was nominated for the Presidency by the newly formed Free-Soil Party (q.v.1. IIis ticket diverted sufficient votes in New York from Gen eral Cass, the Democratic candidate for Presi dent, to insure the latter's defeat and the tri mnph of the Whigs. He supported Pierce in 1852 and Buchanan in 1856, and remained to the day of his death a Democrat except on the question of slavery extension. Ile died at Kin derhook, his birthplace• on July 24. 1862.
Van Buren attained eminence at the bar, but never practiced after his election to the United States Senate in 1821. As a politician he was sur passed by few, if any. men of the time, and for many years was the controlling spirit of the Al bany Regency (q.v.). He was the author of a fragmentary work entitled An Inquiry into the Origin and Cause of Political Parties in the Unitcd Slott's, published in 1867. A number of biographies have been published, the latest and most valuable one to students being that of Edward M. Shepard ( Boston. I888 , in the "American Statesmen Series." (See UNITED