Eighth U.S. President Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, was born on December 5th, 1782, in Kinderhook, New York. His parents were Abraham Van Buren, a farmer and tavern keeper, and Maria Hoes Van Alen, both of Dutch descent. Van Buren attended the village school and then the Kinderhook Academy before he began to read law with Francis Silvester, a local attorney, in 1796, when he was only 14. Consequently, he was admitted to the state bar when he was only 21 (Encyclopedia Americana) and opened his own practice in Kinderhook in 1803. He married his cousin Hannah Hoes in 1807 and they had four children together. Van Buren's successful law practice and involvement in local politics eventually provided a strong base for his launch into national politics.

Van Buren's success as a local politician was demonstrated by his two successive elections to the New York Senate (1812-20), during which time he was appointed state attorney general. He was an extremely skilled politician and he would eventually be credited with being one of the founders of the Democratic Party. In fact, in recognition of his cunning and skill as a politician, his friends called him "Little Magician" but his enemies referred to him as "Sly Fox" (Britannica.com). Van Buren also developed a reputation for "non-committalism," and there exist many stories of his propensity for evasion and double-talk (Encyclopedia Americana). Still, many who have studied his life and political career conclude that Va

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7, less than 25 years before the start of the Civil War. Consequently, the issue of the treatment of slavery within the states was becoming increasingly significant for any politician's success. Van Buren's treatment of the issue demonstrates his prowess for politics, but it also demonstrates the seeming inevitability of the Civil War. Van Buren's actions and political history before he ascended to the national stage imply that his personal beliefs tended toward an anti-slavery bent, which would not have been unusual given that he was from New York in the North. However, as a politician with national aspirations, he recognized that he could not enjoy national success without the support of the slave-holding states in the South. Consequently, Van Buren's slavery policy demonstrated an internal inconsistency that reflects the history of the United States' treatment of racial issues. Moreover, given that southern states would begin seceding from the Union in the 1860s due to economic issues surrounding slavery, Van Buren's decision to couch what may have been his true feelings appears to have been a shrewd political decision. The situation in the United States in 1836 concerning slavery required that national politicians compr

Category: Government - E