Eighth president of the United States. Van Buren was primarily educated by private tutors and became a highly successful lawyer at the age of 20. He was elected to the New York State Senate in 1812 and again in 1820 and served as the state attorney general from 1816 to 1819. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1821. Van Buren was instrumental in organising the present day Democratic Party during the 1828 election campaign of Andrew Jackson. Jackson appointed him Secretary of State, but he resigned in 1831 to become U.S. minister to Great Britain. Van Buren, nicknamed the "Fox" for his opportunistic political machinations encouraged a break between Jackson and Vice-President Calhoun which eventually led to Van Buren himself being put forward as vice-presidential candidate in 1832. With Jackson's support in 1836, Van Buren was elected president, the first New Yorker in that office.
Van Buren's term saw the nation experience a deep economic depression and the financial panic of 1837. He signed the Independent Treasury Bill in 1840 which separated government finance from the nation's banks, but this did little to alleviate the economic problems. In the subsequent election, he was soundly beaten by William Henry Harrison. He was passed over in the 1844 nomination due to his opposition to the annexation of Texas. Changing allegiance to the Free-Soil party in 1848, he was beaten in that election for president. |
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