biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1782–1862)
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| biography:
| US statesman and eighth president (1837–41), born in Kinderhook, New York, USA. After studying law in a law office, he began a local practice and soon became active in the Democratic-Republican party. He entered the New York state senate (1812–20), concurrently serving as state attorney general (1816–19). In 1821 he entered the US Senate and was elected governor of New York (1828), by which time he was a leader of the so-called Albany Regency. He was named secretary of state by President Andrew Jackson (1829), whom Van Buren had staunchly supported with his New York political machine. After effective service in the cabinet, he became Jackson's vice-president and heir apparent (1833–7). Elected president as a Democrat in 1836, he soon had to deal with the financial panic of 1837, to which he responded with the Independent Treasury Act. Meanwhile, he tolerated slavery but opposed its spread into the territories, and he maintained neutrality during the Canadian rebellion of 1837. Two unpopular policies - his refusal to annex Texas and his war against the Seminoles - contributed to his defeat (1840) by the anti-Jackson Whigs. His later political life was marked by several attempts to regain the presidency, but his opposition to the annexation of Texas and then to the spread of slavery left him on the sidelines. |
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