VOLUME II

NUMBER 7

C

OMPARATIVELY few Americans today know that there was a president of the United States by the name of Martin Van Buren. And yet when his life and times are studied with the same interest given to men who have stood out in the nation's history, it brings to light a brilliantly able and faithful public servant. Our school children revel in the history and anecdotes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. There are perhaps transcendant reasons why their careers should be a more open book than the lives of men who lived in less exciting times. It remains true, however, that the public service of Martin Van Buren is more deserving of the attention of the people than is usually given it.

The memory of Martin Van Buren has recently been honored and brought to the attention of New York citizens by a visit of Josephus Daniels, secretary of the navy, to his grave in the

little village of Kinderhook, 30 miles south of Albany. Secretary Daniels was the principal speaker at the Flag Day exercises in Albany, June 14. He remembered that he was near the obscure home of the eighth president of the United States. Kinderhook, a village of 600 or 700 inhabitants on the east side of the Hudson river, has a history that long antedates the Revolution. It is one of the beauty rural spots in that section of New York State and is celebrated

for having given the State and nation several men of ability and prominence. Secretary Daniels, accompanied by Mrs. Daniels, Martin H. Glynn, former governor of the State, and Mrs. Glynn, journeyed from Albany to the little cemetery Sunday afternoon, June 15. Mr. Daniels placed a wreath of flowers on the grave of the most distinguished son of Kinderhook. Mr. Glynn himself, is a native of Valatie, an adjoining village of Kinderhook.

When it is remembered that Martin Van Buren was

is said to have appreciated and valued in his advisers. He was able to utilize Van Buren when these qualities were necessary to the successful carrying on of his administration. There is no doubt that Van Buren was the balance wheel in the Jackson administrations. Mr. Van Buren has the distinction of having been the first New York man to be elected president of the United States. From the time that George Washington was inaugurated in 1789 until the election of Van Buren in 1837 an intervening period of 46 years only two northern men had been elected president, whereas four had come from Virginia and one from Tennessee.

The old aristocratic line of presidents was broken when Andrew Jackson of Tennessee was elected. He typified the west of that time with all of its ruggedness and intense Americanism. Jackson, although a southern born man was not afraid to throw his powerful support to a New Yorker who was not considered of the southern or New England type of conservatism. Van Buren's nomination and election as vice-president and president were, therefore, considered events of epochal importance. John Adams and

John Quincy Adams had been the only other northern men elected to the presidency since the beginning of the Republic.

That the south or slavery interest at that time did not take kindly to the inauguration of a northern man to the presidency was proved by the decisive defeat of Van Buren for reelection in 1840 and the swinging back of the center of political power to the southern states. After President Harrison came Tyler, Polk and Taylor, all southern men Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire was elected in 1852 as a pro-slavery man as was also James Buchanan of Pennsylvania in 1856. Buchanan's administration ended the slave power in the White House and at the national capital.

When Lincoln was elected in November, 1860, Mr. Van Buren was still living at his quiet home in Kinderhook. He was ardently in favor of Mr. Lincoln's cause, although all his life nominally a Democrat. In fact, most of his friends in New York and the north helped to organize the new Republican party. He died July 24, 1862, 56 years ago this month, at the age of nearly 80 years. He was born before the Revolution was over

and lived to see the civil war begun but not ended. During all of his extraordinary public life he was able to see the constantly rising storm against the giant evil of that day chattel slavery. Like Washington and Jefferson, he had the vision to foresee that its doom was sealed on United States territory. He was an ardent supporter of Andrew Jackson in his celebrated fight against the United States bank, one of the menacing monopolies of that period. His heart was with the common people, and, although he lacked the dashing and fascinating personality of Andrew Jackson, his was the quiet but powerful influence constantly exerted for equal rights and better government.

One of the interesting chapters in Van Buren's life was his brief official experience in England. He was nominated by President Jackson as minister to Great Britain in 1831 after he had been United States senator and secretary of state. The nomination was what was known as a recess appointment, not being confirmed by the senate. Mr. Van Buren sailed for England early in the year and was received by the British public with enthusiasm. At that time Washington Irving held a public office in England under President Jackson through the influence of his friend Van Buren. The two men traveled through rural England and from all accounts the American minister and his friend had the most enjoyable time of their lives. While in the midst of the gaieties and pleasures word came from the United States that the senate, led by Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, had refused to confirm Van Buren's appointment. The action of the senate was humiliating to Van Buren as it was intended to be by his political enemies, but the British people took it cheerfully and some of the distinguished statesmen of England ventured to congratulate him. One of them declared that to be insulted by the opposition was a distinct political asset. This it proved to be, as before Van Buren

reached home the Democratic convention, summoned a year and a half ahead of time at Baltimore, Md., nominated him for vicepresident. It should be remembered that Calhoun was the rival in the party of Van Buren as a candidate for president to succeed Andrew Jackson. That a northern man should get in the way of his ambition and be encouraged in it by a southern president was to Calhoun and his admirers incomprehensible, engendering bitterness and breaking of party ties. Van Buren was elected vice-president and to preside over the senate which had rejected his nomination. If ever a public man had his political revenge on those who deliberately humiliated him in the eyes of the world it was the patient man from Kinderhook. Not only was he triumphantly elected vice-president for Jackson's second term, but was easily the successor of Jackson four years later with Senator Calhoun leading a faction in the South against him.

during the two

John Quincy Adams, who was elected president as a Democrat, said that Van Buren was the great electioneering manager for General Jackson. This summed up the prevailing opinion of the New York men throughout the country Jackson administrations. He made a reputation for himself in New York State as one of the most accomplished political leaders in the United States and yet he passed through it all without having his honor smirched in any way - a remarkable achievement from the viewpoint of the ordinary citizen. He was a power in what was known as the Albany Regency, an effective and well regulated political machine of that time. By his political opponents he was dubbed "the Kinderhook fox."

The campaign of 1840, when he was renominated for the presidency, is declared to have been the most spectacular in presidential contests. Van Buren was bitterly assailed by the Whigs who had nominated William

Henry Harrison, an ancestor of President Benjamin Harrison, elected to the same office in 1888. The purpose of the Whigs was to prove to the people that Van Buren had been corrupted by his friends in England. One of the stories diligently circulated was that he had purchased for the White House expensive furniture to imitate the British aristocracy. He was accused of having bought gold spoons for daily use. This campaign yarn is said to have had a tremendous effect on the electors and helped to defeat him.

Lindenwald, the home of the former president, with its farm of 250 acres is still cultivated as one of the best properties in Columbia county. It is located on the old Albany post road. The house was built in 1797 by Judge William R. Van Ness who was himself a distinguished character and contemporary of Van Buren. In addition to the political significance attached to Lindenwald, it has the added charm of having been the place

where Washington Irving wrote many of his most famous works. Here he wrote part of the "Sketch Book" and most of his "Knickerbocker's History of New York" while he was a guest of Judge Van Ness, and prior to the occupancy of the house by Van Buren. It was in Kinderhook that Irving found his characters of Ichabod Crane and Katrine Van Tassell. Jesse Merwin, the old school teacher in the country near Lindenwald, often rambled in the woods in that region and was accompanied frequently in his fishing trips by Washington Irving. He is the original Ichabod Crane and his grave may be seen in the village cemetery close to that of Van Buren.

James A. Reynolds, a banker and native of Kinderhook, was a boy when the former president had retired to his country home. Mr. Reynolds recalls that Mr. Van Buren rode horseback between his estate and the village and that his bearing was that of the typical country gentleman.