8. Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren was the first in a string of what my niece calls the “Forgotten Presidents”.  Of course it was difficult to follow a president with the stature of Andrew Jackson.  Much of his term in office was taken up with the Panic of 1837, the first major economic crisis to hit the United States.  This crisis was not due to anything that Van Buren did, but rather it had more to do with the vetoing of the re-chartering of the 2nd Bank of the United States by Jackson.  In those days, the president did not have many tools at his disposal to combat a  financial crisis, and they just had to wait it out and hope for the best, which is what Van Buren did.  He did establish the Independent Treasury System to try to control federal funds in 1840.  This was disbanded by W. H. Harrison, but revived later in the 1840’s and ultimately was replaced by the current Federal Reserve System.

Van Buren was born in 1782 in the small village of Kinderhook, New York.  His father owned a tavern and young Martin would listen to the political discussions going on.  Martin became a gifted politician and is credited with creating the Democratic Party and was instrumental in getting Jackson elected to two terms.  Van Buren helped create the system of campaigning that we see today with local committees that organize volunteers and grass roots campaigning.

Van Buren was twice elected a US Senator from New York and then elected Governor of New York in 1828.  His term as Governor of New York is the second shortest on record; he took office in January 1829 and resigned in March of 1829 to become Jackson’s Secretary of State.  While Secretary of State, Van Buren helped craft Jackson’s speech explaining his veto of the Maysville Road Bill that would have used federal money to build a road within the state of Kentucky.  Because the road did not link multiple states together (although supporters claimed it was part of the Cumberland Road system) Jackson did not support the use of federal money for a state improvement project.

Van Buren sided with Jackson in the Petticoat Affair.  Jackson was very unhappy with his cabinet over the whole Eaton affair and wanted to replace most of them.  Van Buren helped him save face by resigning first.  This allowed Jackson to ask the entire cabinet to resign (with the exception of the Postmaster).  Because of his support of the Eatons (and Jackson) he was appointed Minister to the Court of St. Jame’s (UK).  Although when he arrived in England to take over the post, he found out that the Senate had rejected his nomination, due in large part to the influence of John Calhoun, the vice president.  During his reelection run in 1832 Jackson replaced Calhoun with Van Buren as his vice president.

In the election of 1836 Van Buren won pretty easily (170-73) over William Henry Harrison due in large part to the endorsement of Jackson who was still very popular.  During his presidency he continued the policies of Jackson with respect to the Native American expulsion from Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina to Oklahoma.  During this forced march thousands of Native Americans died in what has become known as the Trail of Tears.

During the election of 1840 Van Buren was soundly defeated by William Henry Harrison.  In the election of 1840 he was in the lead at the Democratic convention for the nomination, however he did not have the required two-thirds.  His opposition to the annexation of Texas led to his defeat and the nomination went to James K. Polk.  He ran again in 1848 as a Free Soil candidate, but received no electoral votes.  His running mate in the election of 1848 was Charles Francis Adams, the son of John Quincy Adams.

Van Buren’s major lasting legacy is the creation of the system of electioneering that we have today.  The concept of local party chair’s and organizing volunteers to promote a candidate was created by Martin Van Buren.

Party Favors:

• There are 5 towns (Indiana, Arkansas, Maine, Michigan, New York) and 3 counties (Iowa, Arkansas, Tennessee) named after Van Buren.  I lived in Van Buren, Indiana from birth until we moved to Michigan just before I turned 5.
• Van Buren is one of only two people to serve as Secretary of State, Vice-President and President; the other was Jefferson
• He was the first president who was not of British descent; he was Dutch
• He is the only president not to have spoken English as his first language; he grew up speaking Dutch
• He was the first president born an American, all previous presidents were born British subjects
• The term O.K. is generally traced back to Van Buren’s 1840 reelection campaign.  One of his nicknames was “Old Kinderhook” and OK clubs were started around the country to support his reelection bid.
• Van Buren is one of two widowers elected president; Chester Arthur was the other.  Jackson’s wife died after the election but before he took office.
• He is probably the president with the most nicknames.  The most common were Old Kinderhook, the Magician, Matty Van and Martin Van Ruin.
• When he wrote is autobiography he did not mention his wife of 12 years

Vital Stats:

• Wife: Hannah Hoes, died in 1819 at the age of 35
• Children: 5 sons, one daughter (one son died as an infant and the daughter was stillborn)
• Party affiliation: Democratic-Republican Party (before 1825), Democratic Party (1828-1848), Free Soil Party (1848-1854)
• Presidency: 1836-1840
• Born: Dec 5th, 1782 (Kinderhook, New York)
• Died: Jul 24th, 1862 (Kinderhook, New York)

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson is a giant among the presidents.  Many of our chief executives have either been weak, ineffective or viewed the presidency as merely a caretaker, secondary to Congress.  Jackson believed that the president had not only the right, but the responsibility, to set the agenda and make sure that the government was enacting policies benefitting the common people.  Jackson viewed all six of his predecessors as part of an American aristocracy.  He was the head of a political dynasty that lasted for 20 years; historians refer to the period from 1828 to 1848 as the “Age of Jackson” and he shaped the modern Democratic party.  Jackson was born in South Carolina (although there is a dispute that he was actually born in North Carolina) to a couple that had emigrated from Ireland.  His father died just before his birth.  During the American Revolution, his oldest brother died in 1779 during the battle of Stono Ferry.  He and his remaining brother were both captured by the British (he was serving as a courier at the age of 13).  His brother died of small pox while a POW, and Jackson was struck with a sword by a British officer for refusing to clean the officers boots.   After Andrew was released by the British, his mother went to work as a nurse on a POW ship and died of Cholera.  She was buried in an unmarked grave and later in life Andrew tried unsuccessfully to locate her grave site (her grave site was located in 1949 and a marker placed there).  In the span of two and a half years he lost both his brothers and his mother in a war with the British.  That, coupled with the scars on his face and arm, gave him an intense hatred of the British.

Soon after Jackson moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1788 he rented a room from the Donelson family.  It was here that he first met Rachel Donelson Robards, who had moved back to her parents’ house to escape her violent husband, Captain Lewis Robards.  In 1790, Rachel and Lewis agreed to a divorce and it was granted pending some minor paperwork.  Andrew was ecstatic and married Rachel in 1791.  Unfortunately Lewis Robards had never filed the minor paperwork.  This led to a scandal that would follow Jackson throughout his life; he had wedded a married women.  The divorce from Lewis was ultimately completed, and Andrew and Rachel remarried in 1794.  However, the damage was done.  Over the years, Andrew would get into bar fights and duels to defend Rachel's honor.  He fought 13 duels throughout his life, most in response to slander against his wife (some sources put the number of duels as high as 100, but 13 seems like a more common response).  In 1806 he shot and killed Charles Dickinson, who was known to be an excellent shot.  Dickinson got off the first shot and hit Jackson in the chest.  Jackson took his time and then leveled his pistol, shooting and killing Dickinson.  This was a slight breach of etiquette since they were supposed to fire at the same time.  If the first person fires early, the proper courtesy is for the second to fire into the air.  The bullet lodged in Jackson’s chest was too close to his heart for safe removal, so it stayed there until his death in 1845.

When Jackson first moved to Tennessee, he worked as a frontier lawyer.  He worked his way up the political ladder and was elected as Tennessee’s first US Representative, where he served only one term.  Then he was elected the senator of Tennessee in 1797, only to serve for one year because he didn’t like being a senator and wanted to return to Tennessee to take care of his personal business and deal with some debts.

In 1801 Jackson was appointed commander of the Tennessee militia.  He volunteered to lead a raid into British controlled Canada during the War of 1812, but instead was sent to defend the important port city of New Orleans.  Jackson added local blacks, creoles and militia to his force of 2,000.  When the British attacked with 7,500 men Jackson had a total of 5,000 with which to defend the city.  He set up 3 lines of defense and when the British launched a major assault, they found themselves exposed to fire from a remarkably entrenched defensive force.  In the end, the British had 2,037 casualties (291 dead, 1,262 wounded, 484 captured) to the American loss of 71 casualties (13 dead, 39 wounded, 19 missing).  They also had 3 senior generals killed.  The staggering success of the battle launched Jackson into national prominence.

During the First Seminole War in 1817, Jackson was ordered to Georgia by President Monroe to fight the Seminole and Creek Indians.  The mission was complicated by the fact that the Indians would launch raids into Georgia from Spanish-held Florida.  Jackson decided naturally that the best way to accomplish his mission was to take Florida from the Spanish!  He was given orders from President Monroe that were ambiguous.  It’s possible that what Jackson did was exactly what Monroe wanted, but the orders weren’t that clear, giving Monroe deniability (it depends on the meaning of the word “is”).  He defeated the Seminoles in pretty brutal fashion (this would become his standard manner of handling Indian affairs).  Once he captured Pensacola, he ousted the Spanish governor.   In one final controversial act he executed two British subjects who had been giving aid to the Indians.   The whole affair led to an international incident with both Spain and Britain.  The Spanish were basically told in diplomatic speak, if you can’t keep control of Florida then give it to us, which they did.  This argument also led James K. Polk to launch the Mexican-American War.  Many in Congress felt that Jackson should be censured for his actions, but John Quincy Adams convinced Monroe not to give any formal punishment.  This was a bit ironic given the later animosity between Q and Jackson.

Once again Jackson was elected to the Senate by the Tennessee legislature in 1823, and once again, he resigned before completing his term.  That probably makes him the only president to resign from the Senate twice.  He resigned from the Senate in 1825 to run for president in 1828.  As you’ll recall from my posting on John Quincy Adams, the election of 1824 was ugly and ended up being decided by the House of Representatives.  The decisive action was when Henry Clay threw his support to Q making him the first president elected without the majority of the popular vote.   Jackson was a bit peeved (to say the least).  He labeled Clay’s actions and Q’s posting him to the Secretary of State’s office as a corrupt bargain that had led to the stealing of the election of the “man of the people” by the “corrupt aristocrat's of the East”.  Jackson believed that the will of people had been thwarted and immediately started running for the 1828 election.  Throughout Q’s term in office Jackson’s supporters in congress stalled and denied most of his wishes. 

If the 1824 election was ugly, then the 1828 was its uglier sister.  The attacks from both sides was brutal and very personal.  Q’s supporters dredged up stories of Jackson’s wife and Adams was called an elitist.  In the end, Jackson beat Adams pretty easily 178-83 electoral votes.  Rachel, Jackson’s wife, died of a heart attack before the inauguration.  Jackson believed that the strain of the campaign, and having to endure the slander, was the cause of his wife’s death.

Jackson was the last president to be elected to two terms until Abraham Lincoln.  What followed him were a series of ineffective presidents and presidents that only wanted one term.  During his presidency there were 3 major issues that arose: the re-charter of the 2nd Bank of the United States, the Nullification Crisis and the Indian removals.

At that time the funds of the United States were held in a national bank, the 2nd Bank of the United States.  Jackson felt that the bank needed to be abolished for several reasons, but among them:

• concentrated all of the nations finances into one institution
• favor of northeastern states over southern and western ones
• too much control of the country’s finances to a handful of rich people

Jackson vetoed the re-charter of the bank in 1832 and withdrew the government’s money in 1833, placing it into local and state banks.  The banks would issue paper bank notes that were not backed by gold or silver reserves to drive up inflation.  Jackson then issued an order that anyone buying government land had to pay in “specie” (gold or silver coins).   This led to the collapse of many of these banks because they did not have enough specie and led directly to the Panic of 1837.  Congress voted to censure Jackson for his actions in removing the money from the 2nd Bank of the United States (although this was later expunged).

The Nullification Crisis was trigged by Jackson’s Vice President, John Calhoun.  Calhoun was from South Carolina and the southern states were being hurt by the “Tariff of Abominations” that was passed during Q’s presidency.  Calhoun issued a statement he called his “Theory of Nullification,” which basically stated that any state could ignore, or nullify, any federal law that it felt was not in the states best interest.  Jackson was a supporter of a strong union and did not believe that the states had the right to nullify federal laws.  In 1832 it really heated up when South Carolina not only state that it intended to nullify a new tariff, but it threatened to secede.  Jackson threatened to send federal troops in to enforce the tariff if necessary.  A compromise was reached, but not before Congress passed the “Force Bill” which authorized the president to send troops in order to support the enforcement of the tariff.

Jackson’s presidency is especially tarnished by his treatment of the Native Americans.  After his election, he signed an act allowing the president to purchase land from the Indians in exchange for land in the West.  The removal act became very popular in Georgia when gold was discovered on Cherokee lands.  This culminated in the Supreme Court decision of Worcester vs. Georgia in which ruled that Georgia could not impose it’s laws on Native American lands.  This led to Jackson stating “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!”.  Jackson’s decisions ultimately led to the forced removal of over 45,000 Native Americans, most famously in the “Trail of Tears” where 4,000 Cherokees died during the forced march.

 

Party conversation starters:

• His relationship with Congress was so bad (especially Henry Clay) that he had the Treasury building built just east of the White House so he wouldn’t have to look at the Capital. 
• Saying “now I can’t see the Capital anymore”
• Only president to have shot and killed a man.
• Killed Charles Dickinson in a duel for spreading gossip about his wife, Rachel
• He is the only president to have been prisoner of war.
• Was serving as a courier at the age of 13, thus the distinction that Monroe was the only president wounded during the American Revolution
• Jackson (1767-1845) was reportedly involved in over 100 duels, most to defend the honor of his wife, Rachel. He had a bullet in his chest from the 1806 duel and another in his arm from a barroom fight in 1813 with Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton.
• The first attempt to assassinate a president was on Jackson by Richard Lawrence, a house painter. Both of their guns misfired—an event that statisticians say could occur only once in 125,000 times. Andrew Jackson then chased after Lawrence with his walking stick.
• President Jackson remains the only president in United States history to have paid off the national debt.
• John Quincy Adams’ supporters also referred to Jackson as a “jackass”, which Jackson liked and used as a symbol for a time.  It was later popularized by Thomas Nast and became the symbol for the Democratic party.  Nast also created the modern version of Santa Claus, Uncle Sam and the elephant of the Republican party.
• Jackson never had any children of his own, but did adopt his nephew and a Creek Indian orphan, Lyncoya.
• The Petticoat Affair occurred during his 1st term.  Basically, Eaton, his Secretary of War, had married Peggy Timberlake soon after her husband died (oh the scandal!).  All of the wives of Jackson’s cabinet members shunned Peggy and refused to associate with her.  This reminded Jackson of the treatment his wife received, so he ordered his cabinet and their wives to play nice. They refused.  He purged his cabinet and formed a more informal advisory group that became known as the “Kitchen Cabinet.”
• Jackson vetoed more bills than all of his predecessors combined (12-9).
• He is quoted as saying "My only two regrets in life are that I did not hang [John] Calhoun and shoot [Henry] Clay."

John Quincy Adams

If you saw the mini-series on John Adams you’ll recall that a young John Quincy Adams (age 7) watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from a distance with his mother.  He is the first president not considered one of the Founding Fathers.  Imagine trying to live up the expectations of that Greatest Generation!  His mother was very strict with her children, but especially with Q since he was the oldest son.  Q spent a lot of his youth traveling throughout Europe.  First for 3 years traveling with his father in England and the Netherlands (age 11-14) and then serving as an aide to Francis Dana for almost 3 years on a mission to Russia to gain recognition of the United States.  He also spent time in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.  During these years he mastered French and Dutch and picked up some German.

Many of our presidents had very successful careers prior to achieving the highest elected office in the US.  John Quincy Adams would have to be on this list, with the most international experience of virtually any president.   During his career in international diplomacy, he was the US Minster (Ambassador) to 4 different countries:

• The Netherlands (1794 – 1797), appointed by George Washington
• Prussia (1797 – 1801) appointed by John Adams
• Russia (1809 – 1814) appointed by James Madison
• The United Kingdom (1814 – 1817) appointed by James Madison

He was recalled from his post in Russia to serve as the chief American negotiator for the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812.  During the time that Jefferson was president, Q served one term as a senator from Massachusetts.  At that time, there were pretty bad feelings between Jefferson and John Adams (the father), so Jefferson would not appoint the son to any official post.

Monroe appointed Q to the post of Secretary of State.  It was during this time that the Monroe Doctrine was written (actually just a portion of the State of the Union address).  There is some disagreement over whether Q or Monroe wrote the policy.  While he was Secretary of State, he negotiated the Treaty of Florida, which resolved some border disputes with Spain left over from the Louisiana Purchase, and turned over Florida to the United States.

The Presidential election of 1824 was a real doozy.  Andrew Jackson won a plurality in both the popular vote and the electoral college.  He did not, however, have enough electoral votes to win outright.  Per the Constitution, the contest was thrown into the House of Representatives to be decided (which has only happened twice; 1800 and 1824).  It was a 4 man race; Adams, Jackson, William Crawford and Henry Clay.  The rule stated that the top 3 candidates were eligible at this point.  William Crawford had a stroke during the campaign, rendering him not fit for service.  Henry Clay came in 4th place, thus not being considered.  Clay really did not like Jackson so he threw his support behind Adams and gave Adams the victory.  Shortly thereafter Adams appointed Clay Secretary of State, a deal that Jackson called a “corrupt bargain”.  The uproar over the appointment led Clay to believe that it put a permanent stain on his political career.

By most accounts, John Quincy Adams’ presidency was unremarkable.  He was ineffective due in part to the way that he came to office.  Q pushed for increased federal funding for infrastructure improvements for roads and canals.  A federal observatory was one of the improvements that he championed to no avail (it would be 20 years before a national observatory would be built).  The congress did pass the Tariff of 1828 (or Tariff of Abominations as it was called).  It increased tariffs that he supported, but the Jacksonians amended the bill to include higher taxes on imported raw materials as well (thinking there was no way it would pass).  It did but the bill was very unpopular, especially in South Carolina.

He lost in a landslide to Andrew Jackson in 1828 in one of the ugliest elections  in American history.  Jackson believed that the personal attacks on his wife, Rachel, led to her premature death before he took office.

In 1830, Q won a seat in the House of Representatives from Boston.  During his time in the House he earned the nickname “Old Man Eloquent” for his passionate oratory.  There are two things that stand out during his time in the House; the Amistad case and the repeal of the gag rule.  The Amistad case (as portrayed in the movie by Anthony Hopkins) involved a slave uprising on a ship.  The slaves were then tricked into sailing to New York instead of back to Africa.  Their case made it all of the way to the US Supreme Court where Q. served as a codefendant for the slaves.  His closing argument came down to the fact that the United States by that time had outlawed the international slave trade (even though slavery was still legal) and that the slaves should be set free instead of returned to Spain. He won the case.

The second item involved the gag rule, the rule in place from 1836 – 1844 and barring any discussion of slavery on the House floor.  The House (primarily the Southern contingency) voted to eject him for high treason after he read a petition calling for breaking up the union on the grounds that federal money was being used to support slavery.  He successfully defended himself in the judicial committee.

Q also opposed the Mexican War and in 1848 rose in the House to give a speech opposed to presenting special awards to generals who had fought in that war.  He collapsed (probably due to a stroke) and died in the office of the Speaker of the House in the Capitol building.  This term of Congress also saw a young freshman congressman from Illinois who only served one term, Abraham Lincoln  So in his lifetime, he saw the birth of his nation and met the man who would become president during its greatest crisis.

Try these out the next time you’re at a party:

• Adams became the first President to win without winning the popular vote.  It has only happened 4 times so far: John Q. Adams (1824), Hayes (1876), B. Harrison (1888) and George W. Bush(2000).
• As president, John Quincy Adams would often skinny dip in the Potomac.  One morning, a reporter named Anne Royal took his clothes and wouldn’t give them back until he promised her an interview, which of course he did.
• He was the first president with a middle name.  It was not a common practice to give people middle names in the US until the mid 1800’s.
• Until Martin van Buren failed to be reelected in 1840, J. Q. Adams and his father were the only two presidents not elected to two terms.
• He was the first of 8 future or former US Presidents to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court (J.Q. Adams, Polk, Lincoln, Garfield, Cleveland, Harrison, Taft, Nixon).
• Only former president to serve in the House of Representatives after being president.  He was elected to 9 terms, serving 17 years and dying in the Capital building.
• His wife, Louisa Catherine Johnson, is the only foreign-born first lady.  Her father was an American living in England.
• In 1779 Adams began a diary that he kept until just before he died in 1848.
• When he showed up at the gates of Berlin for his post as minister to Prussia, the guard would not let him through the gates because he had never heard of the United States.
• After his death, his son Charles Francis Adams had the first presidential memorial library built to hold his father’s 14,000 books.  The library is located in Quincy outside Boston.  In Q’s will, he specified that a fireproof structure be built to house his books and papers.