MARTIN VAN BUREN.

TH

HE Presidents of the United States whose terms antedated the year 1837, may be said to have belonged to the formative period of American history. The testing of the new and entirely original machinery of government was daily going on; here a wheel and there a joint was found to need alteration, and the necessary changes were the work of some of the greatest minds of the century, from Washington to Jackson. Every President of this period had been in personal contact with the men and events of revolutionary days, though the nature of their association with that epoch widely varied. The attainment of a position in relation to foreign powers was largely predominant among the public duties of the day, and it required a vast amount of diplomatic effort and the fighting of one bloody war to convince the powers of the world that the uniting of the American states under a republican form of government was anything else than an experiment, which could not be more than temporary.

It is not surprising that such a period-which was wonderfully short for the framing and setting in operation of so complicated and nicely adjusted a system as that of the United States government, should have left as a legacy to future years many errors and that organic weaknesses should have been overlooked. Before Jackson's retirement there had been a hint that the bands which bound the states together, were not universally regarded as indissoluble. The nullifiers of South Carolina had given this hint and had been brought speedily into subjection by the iron hand of the Spartan President. Some few persons-John Quincy Adams among the rest-saw the inherent weakness of a system by which a national sin, practiced only within a limited and definite portion of the United States, and contrary to the fundamental germs of our institutions, received a constitutional guaranty of perpetuation. They saw, and freely asserted, that the time would come when, as new states were carved from the vast un

organized areas of the west, contests, fatal to a national spirit and menacing national unity, must certainly arise, and the freesoil spirit was strong among the best class of northern men. There had, however, been but few and slight encounters upon the subject as yet; slavery had not taken alarm and the free sentiment lacked form and directness of motive, so that when Van Buren succeeded Jackson, in 1837, the slavery question was a perplexity, but not yet an issue. Most men had theories upon the subject, but, among the majority, these theories could be calmly discussed as matters very unlikely to take practical form.

There was, however, in the financial condition of the United States, a problem immediately pressing and apparently of more permanent importance than any other. The account of the circumstances leading up to the year of Van Buren's induction to office* is before the reader of this volume, and he can scarcely fail to appreciate that the new President was heir to difficulties under which he was foreordained to sink. There is a very large class of people who revenge the misfortunes of the hour by the political death of those who are in power at the time of their culmination, not considering that they arise from causes for which the blame belongs to other men of earlier years.

Martin Van Buren, to whom came the fatal task of reaping Jackson's financial whirlwind, was born at Kinderhook, Columbia county, New York, December 5, 1782, and was the first of the new school of Presidents of the second period, Buchanan being the last. His parents were of the old Dutch stock, which then, as now, held so high a place in the society of the Empire state, and were descended from ancestors whose settlement in New Amsterdam was made at a very early day. Abraham Van Buren, his father, was a farmer at Kinderhook, a man of moderate means, but of the highest character for intelligence and honesty. His mother's maiden name was Hoes, and she was connected by ties of blood with the family of her husband. She was an exemplary woman, amiable, intelligent and pious, and her education was such as to enable her to exert an active and valuable influence over her son, which had no little share in fitting him for the high duties to which he was called.

It was under her tutelage that Martin Van Buren obtained his rudimentary education, and from her hands he passed to the Kinderhook academy, where he remained until the year 1796. The school was an excellent one in point of thoroughness of instruction, if not very ambitious in its scope, and the boy was enabled to acquire a very exact knowledge of the ordinary English branches, a considerable familiarity with Latin, and quite generous instruction in the field of English literature. He is said to have shown, in his school days, great aptitude in all his studies. with a special talent for English composition and for the impromptu de*Vide, ante, Life of Andrew Jackson.

bate which was an occasional exercise in the school. There are no stories extant of marvelous precocity-such as are apt to be discovered after a man has made a political reputation-and the boy seems in this case to have been the legitimate progenitor of the man intelligent, painstaking and honest, but falling far short of genius.

Upon leaving school, at the age of fourteen years, the boy began the study of the law, in the office of Francis Sylvester, of Kinderhook. The rules of the courts at that time required that aspirants to the bar should pursue a course of seven years' study, unless they were graduates of a college, and this fact accounts for the placing of a mere child at so grave a task as the study of Coke and Blackstone. It is highly probable that his early occupation in Mr. Sylvester's office was not unlike that of Sir Joseph Porter, when in a similar position, and that his serious study did not begin for two or three years after his articles were filed. After a time, however, he began to share with his fellow-students the duty of conducting the trial of justice court litigation, which his preceptor did not think worthy of his own personal attention, and thus received an invaluable experience, which anyone who has passed through a like apprenticeship will appreciate. He showed in this a notable quickness of apprehension and readiness of speech-qualities which the technical resorts commonly met in a pettifogging practice tended greatly to heighten.

While pursuing his legal studies, Van Buren was very attentive to political events, and showed an acute interest in the relations of parties. He became at the time a strong supporter of the Jeffersonian political theories as opposed to those of the Federalists. This persuasion was strengthened by a change in his business association made in 1801, when he entered the office of William Van Ness, of New York City, under whom he completed his legal studies. Mr. Van Ness was a strong Democrat and was personally associated with the leaders of his party, among whom Aaron Burr at that time stood very high. To Burr and to other leaders Van Buren was introduced, and his promise and enthusiasm for knowledge soon earned a recognition which gained him admission to their society upon terms very nearly approaching equality. Thus his opportunities for the study of law and the study of politics were alike exceptional, and he did not fail to make the most of them.

During the month of November, 1803, in the twenty-first year of his age, Van Buren was admitted to practice as an attorney in the supreme court of the state of New York, and at once returned to Kinderhook to begin his life work. This was a wise decision, both as regards his legal and political future. Even in 1803 New York was a large city in comparison with others of the United States, and it was easy for even a bright young man to fail of winning recognition in the law, which recognition is one of the most important stepping stones to political success. In a rural community,

on the contrary, then, even more than now, the young practitioner was watched with the greatest interest; his victories and his failures discussed and his methods criticised by all. When he tried a case, he had for an auditory nearly the entire community in which he lived, either at first or second hand, for those who were prevented from being present in court, received at second hand a full report of each day's occurrences. Such a practice was a vast stimulus to a young man. The certainty that his errors would be known made him careful, and the equal certainty that his success would be recognized rendered him aspiring.

At Kinderhook Van Buren founded a law partnership with the Honorable James T. Van Allen. The bar of Columbia county at that time was one of unusual brilliancy, including some persons whose names have come down in the legal annals of the state as among the greatest lawyers in its history. With these men, the novice-scarcely more than a boy at once engaged in a struggle for his share of practice, and in a succession of legal contests that could not fail to be most salutary. From the outset he won recognition and was not long in building up a practice sufficient for his support.

Party feeling ran very high in those days and especially in that county. The Democratic party was making a desperate fight for ascendency in the Nation. In New York state it commanded a majority, but in some counties, among which was Columbia, the Federalists held control. The latter. was eminently an aristocratic party, and wherever "the old families" and the men of landed wealth controlled the local political movements, it was quite sure of a majority.

In Kinderhook and the surrounding country, it was not a popular thing to support the Jeffersonian ideas, and Van Buren was no sooner actually engaged in practice at that place, than the greatest pressure was brought to bear upon him from different directions and with different motives, to induce him to change his party allegiance. His friends feared that his political future and his professional success would be endangered by persistent adherence to the unpopular side, while the local Federalist leaders, recognizing his unusual ability and his promise of usefulness, were determined to detach him from the enemy and engage him upon their own side. Among the most strenuous in these efforts was Mr. Van Allen, his partner, who thought himself working as well for Van Buren's interest as for that of the Federalist party.

The young man had, however, the courage of his convictions. He considered that the Democratic party embodied the essential principles for which the colonies had fought in the Revolution; his father had been at Democrat since parties existed in the United States, as had he since old enough to hold views upon political subjects. Hence he refused to be persuaded and his refusal placed him at once in a position of more prom

In

inence and influence than he could otherwise have hoped to attain. stead of being in the ranks of a decaying party, his conscientious adherence to his principles soon made him a local leader of the vigorous and growing Democracy. All history shows that there is no political training more valuable than the service of an honorable opposition, and no man is more probably in the path of ultimate personal success than he who well and unselfishly leads a minority to present failure.

The effect of Van Buren's determined stand upon his professional life was advantageous, in spite of all predictions to the contrary. Had he changed his colors, for the sake of business profit, he would have been but one of many lawyers, each eager for a share of practice, and many more advantageously situated than he. As it was, he was almost alone as a competent Democratic lawyer, and he naturally became the defender not only of the political faith but of the legal rights of the minority. The conflicts in which he was thus called upon to engage were many of them important--far more important than so young a practitioner would naturally have been retained in, and the exercise they gave his mind tended greatly to enlarge and ripen his powers as a lawyer, while the success he attained added constantly to his reputation. In those days a long practice as attorney was a condition precedent to admission as a counselor at law, and this completion of his legal position did not come to Mr. Van Buren until 1807. With it, every court in the state was open to him; his practice speedily extended to matters of appeal and his professional associates included all the ablest members of the bar.

In 1808 he received appointment as surrogate of Columbia county and removed to Hudson, where he resided for seven years, discharging the duties of this, his first public office, to the satisfaction of all. His duties as surrogate did not prevent his continuing his practice, which grew constantly larger and more lucrative, while his own reputation rapidly extended throughout the state. His legal career was of twenty-five years' duration, extending from 1803 to 1828, from which time until his retirement from the Presidency, he devoted himself almost exclusively to politics. Throughout these years his practice was one of constant growth and gave him a handsome competency. His professional career may be summed up and dismissed with the statement that he was universally recognized as a lawyer of learning, ability and industry, and one whose honesty was beyond the assault of the most disappointed of his defeated opponents. Perhaps it would be too much to say that he was a great lawyer, but his work at the bar vindicated his right to be considered a very skilful one.

In 1806 Mr. Van Buren married Miss Hannah Hoes, a relative of both his father and his mother, and for whom he had from a very early age entertained a strong affection. Unhappily she had inherited consumption,