Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren (born Maarten van Buren; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American statesman who served as the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A founder of the Democratic Party, he held a number of senior positions, including eighth Vice President (1833–1837) and tenth Secretary of State (1829–1831), both under Andrew Jackson. Van Buren won the presidency by promising to continue Jackson's policies. The Panic of 1837 which struck the nation combined with the growing political strength of the opposition Whig Party led to his defeat when he ran for reelection. During his half-century of public service, he built and perfected a new system of political parties at first the state and then the federal level; at the end of his life, he was seen as a major figure of the abolitionist movement defending Abraham Lincoln's policies during the American Civil War. Van Buren was the first President of the United States to be born a United States citizen. Of Dutch ancestry, he is however the only President in American history who spoke English as a second language. A delegate to a political convention at age 18, he quickly moved from local to state politics, gaining fame both as a political organizer and an accomplished lawyer. Elected to the U.S. Senate by the New York State Legislature in 1821, he reorganized the Democratic-Republican Party in New York and established the Albany Regency to keep it in power. Van Buren supported William H. Crawford for President in the 1824 electio