History of Martin Van Buren - Term Paper Example

?Nichole Schubert History of Martin Van Buren Politicians are plentiful in both history and today as they are a direct link and product ofthe government and its people. However, due to the fact that there are so many, only special and impressionable individuals remain intact through time. Like with most influential men in politics, Martin Van Buren impacted the lives of those around him in such a way that he became immortalized in United States history. Martin Van Buren was born in 1782 and died at the age of 79 in 1862, a short man at approximately 5’6”, but professionally dressed and impeccably polished in his mannerisms (Martin Van Buren, 2010). He had a very busy life following in the footsteps of other leaders. Yet, his life did not begin that way. Initially, Van Buren resided from a humble home. He was descended from a Dutch background, the son of a farmer and a tavernkeeper in Kinderhook, New York (Martin Van Buren, 2010). What inspired him to become a politician stemmed from his career as a lawyer. Van Buren got into New York politics and climbed his way up to become the “Albany Regency,” which was an effective political organization in New York (Martin Van Buren, 2010). He utilized his position in his favor by commencing actions that were considered shrewd in reference to dispensing public offices as well as establishing a system to encourage voters to vote in his favor (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Van Buren did not stop there. He was not a man to settle on just any career, in fact, he set his rights on higher political standings to which he successfully attained. Van Buren was elected into the States Senate in 1821 (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Since he excelled, he caught the attentions of President Andrew Jackson just six years later. From there, Van Buren became the principal northern leader, then immediately advanced into the position of Secretary of State (Martin Van Buren, 2010). President Jackson’s cabinet consisted of members who were initially loyal to John C. Calhoun because he appointed them, so this presented an opportunity to Van Buren to become Jackson’s most trusted advisor (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Unfortunately, this presented a problem, a riff between the cabinet members at Van Buren who was favored as Jackson’s right hand man, so-to-speak. Specifically, Van Buren and Calhoun clashed. The solution arose when Calhoun and the Secretary of War, Eaton, resigned, which allowed the rest of the cabinet to follow suit (Martin Van Buren, 2010). This enabled Jackson to appoint a whole new cabinet, thus rendering Van Buren into the position of Vice President through votes brought on by the election in 1836. Beforehand, President Jackson attempted to reward Van Buren’s diligent work and loyalty by making him the Minister to Great Britain, yet this vote was outdone by Calhoun who declared a martyr of Van Buren (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Van Buren’s political life up to the point of 1837 appeared to be nothing less than a series of accomplishments and moments of great pride. After all, he carried himself in immaculate fashion and become the only individual who carried President Jackson’s trust to the extent in which it was given. Shortly after Van Buren announced his course as newly appointed Vice President was devote himself to the American experiment as an example to the remainder of the world through his Inaugural Address; every thing came to a crashing halt. Trouble ensued in the form of the cyclical economy “boom and bust” phenomenon (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Karl Marx discovered a pattern to how depressions come about. Before the Industrial Revolution, there were little to no cycles of inflation and recession, which Marx inherited it to mean, that the business cycles were an inherent factor of the capitalist market economy (Rothbard, 1969). The point of understanding the causes and effects of depressions help politicians to uncover the solution. With Van Buren’s case, President Jackson actually contributed to the event by destroying the Second Bank of the United States, which took away its restrictions on inflationary utilizations of a few state banks (Martin Van Buren, 2010). When Van Buren succeeded him as the eighth president of the United States, he inherited Jackson’s mistake. Based on easy bank credit, what this did was encourage outlandish speculations across the U.S., thus impacting society members as a whole in the worst way (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Thousands of people lost their lands as hundreds of banks closed, failing to survive in the destroyed economy. Massive unemployment rates racked the country. Van Buren fought to remedy the situation for years, knowing, in short, the government needed to intervene on a massive level (Rothbard, 1969). However, the specific solutions that which are utilized today in similar crises were not thought of by Van Buren or his counterparts. The only solution to which Van Buren knew of was to continue to implement Jackson’s deflationary policies like requiring lands be purchased by gold or silver only (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Unfortunately, Van Buren’s decision to continue Jackson’s reign cost the country a great deal by prolonging, even deepening the depression. The five year cost Van Buren favoritism among the American people. His solution was to advocate for lower tariffs and free trade, maintaining his support for the South for the Democratic party (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Van Buren set up a bonds system for the national debt and proposed the “Independent Treasury” system that, although it did not pass until 1840, it gave the treasury complete control of all of the federal funds and legal tender clause that made it a requirement that all payments be issued in specie (Martin Van Buren, 2010). This caused controversial arguments and debates among politicians, but Van Buren did not allow it to affect him. The next decision was his boldest; Van Buren reversed Andrew Jackson’s policies. He desired a peaceful solution between the United States and Mexico over financial disputes to the extent that he denied Texas’ request to join the U.S. (Martin Van Buren, 2010). His reasoning was that it helped stop the expansion of slavery, and war with Mexico. Many of the foreign slaves were returned home under Van Buren’s reign, but he was not an incredibly compassionate man. The reason for that being he ran the “Trial of Tears” that basically kicked out multiple Indian nations from the Cherokee to the Seminoles from U.S. states like Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, and anywhere in between (Martin Van Buren, 2010). It was seen to people as a way to encourage slavery, ironically enough, and therefore criticized. Van Buren ended up taking the majority of the blame for the boom and bust period. Due to the fact that he was labeled as the president who did little to relieve the American citizens of the boom and bust depression, Van Burden was ridiculed. His competition from the Whigs renamed him Martin Van Ruin among other things, and this phenomenon became disastrous for the Democratic Party in 1837-1838 (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Despite the second economic disaster in the same year the economy began to recover, Van Buren was successfully renominated by the Democrats for his ability to control his party during hard times (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Van Buren went back to his home in Lindenwald, Kinderhook, New York shortly following his presidency (Martin Van Buren, 2010). At that time, he was far from retirement. Van Buren continued to immerse himself in politics, even planning his reappearance to the White House. What issued his defeat was his very own decision to deny the annexation of Texas in a letter he wrote, which directly contributed to the lack of two-thirds votes in the Democratic convention (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Van Buren was even nominated twice more by two different parties: the Barnburners and the Free Soilers, although he did not win in 1848 (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Initially, Van Buren denied support of Abraham Lincoln. But, in 1960, he determined that Lincoln was the lesser of the two evils as President Buchanan’s plan for secession was not shared by Van Buren (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Finally, in 1861, Van Buren retired to his estate in Kinderhook (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Unfortunately he did not have a long time to enjoy it. He passed away on July 24, 1982 after being bedridden with pneumonia, which caused him to suffer from bronchial asthma and ultimately heart failure (Martin Van Buren, 2010). Martin Van Buren was not a renowned president, but he certainly had an impact on the citizens of the United States during his time of position of authority. The fact that he held so many titles renders him influential. In short, Buren held the following offices: Surrogate of his country, State Senator, Attorney of General of the State of New York, Regent of the University, Member of a Convention to revise the Constitution of the State, Governor of the State, Senator in Congress, Secretary of State of the U.S., Minister to England, Vice President, and President of the United States (Van Buren, 1919). His impressive record immortalizes his identity for all time. References Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) (2010). In The White House. Retrieved April 26, 2011, from http://m.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/martinvanburen Rothbard, M. N. (1969). The Economic Depression: Their Cause & Cure. Lansing, MI: Constitutional Alliance. Van Buren, M. (1919). The Autobiography of Martin Van Buren. In J. C. Fitzpatrick (Ed.). Washington, DC: American Historical Assocation. Read More