Biography

Served as eighth President of the United States (1837-1841). He was one of the founders of the Democratic Party. He was the eighth Vice President of the United States (1833-1837) He was also the tenth Secretary of State. Martin Van Buren was the first President of the United States of the United States to actually be born in the United States. He was a major factor in the abolitionist movement.
- IMDb mini biography by: Robert W. Anderson

Van Buren worked on the farm as a child and attended the local school. At the age of 14, he began working in a law firm, first in his hometown and then in New York City. From 1803 he practiced law in Kinderhook. In 1807 Van Buren married Hannah Hoes, with whom he had four sons. When his wife died in 1819, he remained a widower without ever marrying again. In 1813 Van Buren was elected to the New York State Senate, where he served until 1820. He also held the position of Minister of Justice there from 1816 to 1819. He campaigned for expansion of voting rights.

In 1821, Van Buren was elected to the US Senate, where he campaigned for the rights of the individual states and against concentrated central power until 1828. After a short term as governor of New York, he joined the cabinet of President Andrew Jackson in 1829, whose election campaign he had recently supported. Van Buren was Secretary of State from 1829 to 1831 and Vice President from 1833 to 1837. As the most influential member of the government, he also had a power of integration within the party, which allowed him to unite the ideologically fragmented Democratic Party. For the election campaign of 1836, Van Buren was nominated as a presidential candidate. With Jackson's support, he won the election.

During his US presidency, starting in 1837, Van Buren tried to continue his predecessor's policies. However, a severe economic depression destroyed his popularity early in his term. In the area of foreign policy, Van Buren did not pursue an expansionist course. In 1840, Van Buren lost to Whig candidate William Henry Harrison. Due to his lack of expansionist orientation, he was not chosen as a presidential candidate in 1844, when James Knox Polk successfully campaigned for the Democrats. It was not until 1848 that Van Buren ran again for the US presidency. Now he campaigned for the Free Soil Party, which spoke out against the expansion of slavery.

Despite some voting successes in New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, he lost to the Whig opponent, Zachary Taylor. By returning to the Democratic Party, Van Buren lost the support of the anti-slavery movement in the 1850s. In subsequent campaigns he supported the Democratic candidates Franklin Pierce (1852), James Buchanan (1856) and Stephen A. Douglas (1860). However, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, Van Buren, with the support of Abraham Lincoln's administration, once again sided with the anti-slavery side. However, he was no longer able to experience their ultimate victory.

Martin Van Buren died on July 24, 1862 in Kinderhook.
- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth