Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician by Bradley, James M

His ascent was simultaneously unlikely and inevitable, lifting him from modest beginnings as the country-lawyer son of a tavern keeper in New York's Hudson Valley to local government, then state office, the halls of government in Washington, D.C. and finally into the White House, which he occupied from 1837 to 1841, the first president born a citizen of the newly independent United States. His rise was above all political. He first used the machinery of alliances in New York state- a colossus of power in the Union- to move up the ranks and then created a party to propel and sustain his national aspirations.

James M Bradley's biography of Martin Van Buren- the first full-scale portrait of the eighth president in four decades- compellingly captures this extraordinary, and over-looked, figure and his times. Van Buren reflected a new age in the American story. The Revolutionary Era system of deference, along with the so-called Era of Good Feelings, was rapidly crumbling. Property qualifications were no longer a prerequisite for voting and a growing number of Americans- all white men, of course- were enfranchised and participating in the political process.

Known as the "Little Magician" (a nickname he detested), Van Buren harnessed these changes to emerge as the day's premier political strategist. He was instrumental in electing Andrew Jackson president and was a key player in his administration.

Van Buren was the principal founder of the Democratic Party, and saw political parties generally as a national good, even if they required consensus and conciliation. In his case the party system forced him to bend to the wishes of slave interests and made him complicit in the dispossession of America's Indigenous population- two of the darkest chapters in American history.  His presidency, undermined by an economic crisis, was no shining example of selfless purpose. Van Buren's instinct was for compromise. And yet toward the end of his career he came to see more clearly than many to what degree slavery was imperiling the nation and tried to chart a different course.

About the Author: 

James M. Bradley is the co-editor of the Martin Van Buren Papers, based at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee (vanburenpapers.org), and the co-editor of the forthcoming first volume of Correspondence of Martin Van Buren, to be published by the University of Tennessee Press. He also teaches in the public history program at the State University of New York at Albany. A former political reporter for The Village Voice, he was the senior project editor of The Encyclopedia of New York City, now in its second edition. He lives in Chatham, New York.

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