James C. Welling

“ His anti-slavery views on that question were held by Van Buren to “conceal no plot” against the Republicans, who, he engaged, would give “a true direction” to that momentous issue. What the “true direction” was to be he did not say, except as it might be inferred from his concurrence in a resolution of the legislature of New York instructing the senators of that state “to oppose the admission, as a state in the Union, of any territory not comprised within the original boundaries of the United States without making the prohibition of slavery therein an indispensable condition of admission.” ”

“ Always prudent in his habits and economical in his tastes, he none the less maintained in his style of living the easy state of a gentleman, whether in public station at Albany and Washington, or at Lindenwald in his retirement. As a man of the world he was singularly affable and courteous, blending formal deference with natural dignity and genuine cordiality. ”

“ During the canvass Van Buren had been opposed at the north and championed at the south as “a northern man with southern principles.” As vice-president, he had in 1835 given a casting-vote for the bill to prohibit the circulation of “incendiary documents” through the mails, and as a candidate for the presidency he had pledged himself to resist the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia without the consent of the slave-states and to oppose the “slightest interference” with slavery in the states. ”

“ As governor he opposed free banking and advocated the “safety-fund system,” making all the banks of the state mutual insurers of each other's soundness. He vainly recommended the policy of separating state from Federal elections. After entering on the office of governor he never resumed the practice of law. Van Buren was a zealous supporter of Andrew Jackson in the presidential election of 1828, and was called in 1829 to be the premier of the new administration. ”

“ His friends brought to Polk a loyal support, and secured his election by carrying for him the decisive vote of the State of New York.
Van Buren continued to take an interest in public affairs, and, when in 1847 the acquisition of new territory from Mexico raised anew the vexed question of slavery in the territories, he gave in his adhesion to the “Wilmot proviso.” In the new elective affinities produced by this “burning question” a redistribution of political elements took place in the chaos of New York politics. ”

“ In June, 1848, a Barnburner convention met at Utica to organize resistance to the nomination of Gen. Lewis Cass, who, in his “Nicholson letter,” had disavowed the “Wilmot proviso.” To this convention Van Buren addressed a letter, declining in advance a nomination for the presidency, but pledging opposition to the new party shibboleth. In spite of his refusal, he was nominated, and this nomination was reaffirmed by the Freesoil national convention of Buffalo, August 9, 1848, when Charles Francis Adams was associated with him as candidate for the vice-presidency. ”

“ Mackenzie's book is compiled in part from surreptitious letters, shedding a lurid light on the “practical politics” of the times. Butler's sketch was published immediately after the ex-president's death. Shepard's biography is written with adequate learning and in philosophical spirit, which may also be said of a brief and appreciative biography that appeared from the practised pen of the venerable historian of the United States, in his ninetieth year, entitled “Martin Van Buren to the End of his Public Career, by George Bancroft” (New York, 1889) . ”

“ The asperities of personal rivalry estranged him for a time from Calhoun, after the latter denounced him in the senate in 1837 as “a practical politician,” with whom “justice, right, patriotism, etc., were mere vague phrases,” but with his great Whig rival, Henry Clay, he maintained unbroken relations of friendship through all vicissitudes of political fortune. ”

“ But, combining the statesman's foresight with the politician's tact, he showed his sagacity rather by seeking a majority for his views than by following the views of a majority. Accused of “non-committalism,” and with some show of reason in the early stages of his career, it was only as to men and minor measures of policy that he practised a prudent reticence. On questions of deeper principle — an elective judiciary, negro suffrage, universal suffrage, etc. ”

“ He favored in 1826 the passage of a general bankrupt law, in opposing the pending measure, sharply accentuated the technical distinction of English law between “bankrupt” and “insolvent” acts — a distinction which, in the complexity of modern business transactions, Chief-Justice Marshall had pronounced to be more metaphysical than real, but which to Van Buren was vital because the constitution says nothing about “insolvent laws.”
He was re-elected to the senate in 1827, but soon resigned his seat to accept the office of governor of New York, to which he was elected in 1828. ”

“ She was devoted to her domestic cares and duties, and took little interest in social affairs, but was greatly beloved by the poor. When Mrs. Van Buren learned that she could live but a few days, she expressed a desire that her funeral be conducted with the utmost simplicity, and the money that would otherwise have been devoted to mourning emblems be given to the poor and needy.
Their son, Abraham, soldier, born in Kinderhook, N. Y., November 27, 1807; died in New York city, March 15, 1873, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1827, and attached to the 2d infantry as 2d lieutenant. ”

“ He was removed from the office of attorney-general in 1819. He opposed the election of Clinton in 1820. Clinton was re-elected by a small majority, but both houses of the legislature and the council of appointment fell into the hands of the anti-Clinton Republicans. The office of attorney-general was now tendered anew to Van Buren, but he declined it. The politics of New York, a mesh of factions from the beginning of the century, were in a constant state of swirl and eddy from 1819 till 1821. ”

“ In the ensuing presidential election this ticket received only 291,263 votes, but, as the result of the triangular duel, Gen. Cass was defeated and Gen Zachary Taylor, the Whig candidate, was elected. The precipitate annexation of Texas and its natural sequel, the war with Mexico, had brought their Nemesis in the utter confusion of national politics. Van Buren received no electoral votes, but his popular Democratic vote in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York exceeded that of Cass. ”