Martin Van Buren

When Martin Van Buren moved into the White House on March 4, 1837, the American people anticipated what they believed would basically just be another term for the extremely-popular Andrew Jackson. Van Buren was a staunch Jacksonian, who had helped Jackson establish the Democratic Party back in 1828. He, Van Buren, later served as secretary of state during the first two of the Jackson Administration. He resigned in 1831, however, because during a sex scandal known as the Petticoat Affair, he defended one of the defamed officials - John Eaton - and worried that he had damaged the reputation of the Jackson White House in doing so. In other words, his dedication to Jacksonianism was so strong he gave up prestigious powers to protect the ideology. After a subsequent year as ambassador to Britain, Van Buren held the honor of being Jackson's vice president. For many people, Van Buren appeared to just be Jackson from New York rather than Tennessee. Van Buren, however, was holding within him a series of surprises to soon shoot into the purview of his citizens, tearing their beliefs about him to shreds.

Almost immediately after Van Buren entered office, a severe recession known as the Panic of 1837 broke out. As many suspected at the time, this recession was rooted in the economic policies implemented by Van Buren's predecessor, Andrew Jackson. In 1832, Jackson was presented with a bill that would have postponed the expiration date for the Second Bank of the United States - a temporary national bank meant to help the economy recover from the War of 1812 - from 1836 to 1851. Not only did Jackson veto it, but he was so outraged by the proposal that later in 1832, he forcefully dissolved the SBUS. From here, he withdrew all funds from the institution and distributed the money amongst various state and private banks. This resulted in an enormous demand for loans that many of the state banks began literally printing money to keep up with. This devalued singular dollars, causing prices to shoot up. The resulting inflation crisis did immense damage to the economy.

Soon after, Jackson issued the Specie Circular. This was an executive order that required American lands to be paid for in gold and silver. Because of this policy, many people who had already purchased and owned land located in the US were now being ordered to give away precious metals to maintain their possession of said land. They didn't want to do this, so they just rescinded their purchases and returned the land. Obviously, this reduced spending, further harming the American economy. Then, around the time that Van Buren entered office, 800 banks collapsed due to debt. This, coupled with the economic issues caused by Jackson's distribution of the SBUS' money and institution of the Specie Circular, resulted in the Panic of 1837.

Because of the fact that Jackson's policies caused the Panic of 1837, any effective response to the crisis would involve the removal of these policies. However, Van Buren, as a staunch Jacksonian, did not want to do this. He believed that policies like the Specie Circular were what was best for America. Consequently, Van Buren did little to counter the recession. Although, in September of 1837, Van Buren did appear before Congress and asked them to establish an independent treasury. In other words, Van Buren wanted Congress to draft a bill that, upon its passage, would create a set of private organizations tasked with handling deposits made by the federal government. I agree with this proposal, as it would prevent a repeat of what happened in 1832 when Jackson abolished the SBUS, so Van Buren does receive points for this. However, it wouldn't do anything to mitigate the recession at the time, as it was more of a long-term reform than a legitimate emergency measure.

Something that inarguably pushes Van Buren down the list of presidents by performance is his treatment of Native Americans. Back in 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. This law permitted the president to broker treaties that forced indigenous tribes to abandon their historic homelands. Van Buren invoked this statute on multiple occasions to force indigenous people off of the areas they had inhabited for centuries. In fact, at one point, this barbaric behavior actually sparked a war. At one point, Van Buren attempted to force a Native American tribe located in Florida called the Seminoles. The Seminoles rightfully rebelled, beginning a conflict between the Seminole tribe and the federal government known as the Second Seminole War.

Van Buren, however, did do many good things in office as well. This is a minor point, but it's worth mentioning that Van Buren issued an executive order that established the 10-hour workday for people employed with the federal government. Moreover, throughout his presidency, Van Buren prevented war with Britain on two separate occasions.

When Van Buren was president, northern Maine was a disputed territory, with the governments of both the United States and Britain, which ruled Canada at the time, claiming to control the area. Because of how ambiguous the question of who controlled the territory was, both Britons and Americans settled in the area. During the Van Buren years, the British government arrested a group of Americans living in northern Maine, claiming that they had illegally crossed the border. This incident outraged the American people, and war between Britain and the US nearly broke out. However, Van Buren was determined to prevent such a conflict. So, Van Buren called a meeting of British and American officials in which the negotiation of what would become the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the agreement that ultimately resolved the dispute, began.

On December 7, 1837, a Canadian organization advocating independence from the British Empire launched a series of insurrections known collectively as the Rebellions of 1837. But by December 4, 1838, the Rebellion of 1837 had failed. After their defeat, the participants fled to the US, where many Americans joined their ranks. Soon after, a British warship called the Carolina attacked several members of the organization that orchestrated the Rebellions of 1837. In doing this, they killed 1 American. This incident, known as the Caroline Affair, also nearly brought the US and Britain to war. Yet again, though, Van Buren realized how detrimental such a conflict could be. So, just before the situation could erupt, he passed a law prohibiting Americans from assisting violent organizations advocating Canadian independence from Britain. With this, crisis was averted.

In February of 1839, a group of Africans was kidnapped by Spanish sailors and taken to Cuba, then a Spanish colony. For several months, they were held as slaves on the island. But then, on June 28, 1839, they were forced to board a ship called the Amistad so they could be sent to what is now the Dominican Republic, beginning an international dispute known as the Amistad Affair. On the way there, however, one of the slaves freed himself on July 1, 1839. From there, he freed the other slaves on the ship, and together, they took control of the ship with force.

Upon conquering the vessel, they demanded to be taken back to Africa. The crew ostensibly agreed, but secretly took them to the US instead. On August 26, 1839, the Amistad arrived in Connecticut, where the slaves were arrested and taken to a jail in New York. However, Spain had abolished slavery back in 1811, and New York and Connecticut were both free states. A group of abolitionists realized this and used the information to sue the government, demanding the slaves, now known as the Amistad men, be set free. The case went up to the Connecticut Supreme Court, which was successfully convinced that the slaves should be free. So, the institution ordered the state government to rescind the arrest.

Despite being a northerner from New York and being personally opposed to slavery - even spending his post-presidency working with anti-slavery groups like the Free Soil Party and arguing against supporters of enslavement - Van Buren, wanting to increase his popularity in southern states, had his attorney general appeal the case to the US Second Court of Circuits. But this court also sided with the Amistad men. So, in late 1840, Van Buren, as one of his last acts in office, had the case appealed yet again, this time to the Supreme Court. Thankfully, the Supreme Court, after hearing arguments presented by former president and staunch abolitionist John Quincy Adams, released the men on March 9, 1841, 5 days after Van Buren left office.

All in all, Martin Van Buren was an average president. On one hand, he sided against the Amistad men, persecuted Native Americans, and did very little to address the Panic of 1837. On the other hand, he implemented pro-labor reforms that benefitted employees of the federal government and prevented two different wars. Though Van Buren's abolitionist activism in his post-presidency cements his status as a good person, his presidency has embedded within it such a large number of admirable and horrific decisions that he cannot escape the label of average.