Martin Van Buren's Life

Martin Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782 in Kinderhook, New York. He was the first President to be born under the American flag. His father owned a tavern that also served as a polling place so he heard politics discussed at an early age. He was a student at the Kinderhook Academy until he took a job in a local law office when he was 13. At age 18 he had a job in a law office in New York City. When he was 21 he returned home to practice law; he was a very successful lawyer. Martin Van Buren married Hannah Hoes, his childhood sweetheart, in 1807; together they had four sons.  Van Buren was elected to the Senate in 1812. He interrupted his second term in the Senate to run for governor. Van Buren served as governor of New York for ten weeks  and then moved to Washington to perform the duties of Secretary of State in 1829. He was elected to the office of Vice President under Andrew Jackson in 1832 after John Caldwell Calhoun resigned while in office. Van Buren was elected President in 1836, the first President to be elected as a member of the Democratic Party. He became President on March 4, 1837- the same year the U.S. entered a major depression. During his administration he instituted the Department of the Treasury. to protect government funds due to the economic depression caused by investment in land speculation that was not backed by gold of silver. He was not reelected in 1840 because he did not believe the government should help people who had lost their jobs. Van Buren tried again for the presidency in 1848 as a Free Soil candidate but lost to Zachary Taylor. Martin Van Buren died in Kinderhook, New York on July 24, 1862. Note: Martin Van Buren was President from 1837 through 1841 and the Vice President was Richard Mentor Johnson.