Interim Content

Van Buren, Martin

Biography

5 Dec. 1782–24 July 1862. Lawyer, politician, diplomat, farmer. Born in Kinderhook, Columbia Co., New York. Son of Abraham Van Buren and Maria Hoes Van Alen. Member of Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. Worked as law clerk, 1800, in New York City. Returned to Kinderhook, 1803. Married Hannah Hoes, 21 Feb. 1807, in Catskill, Greene Co., New York. Served as surrogate of Columbia Co., 1808–1813. Moved to Hudson, Columbia Co., 1809. Served as state senator, 1813–1820; as regent of University of New York, beginning 1815; and as attorney general of New York, 1816–1819. Moved to Albany, 1816. Served as U.S. senator, 1821–1828. Elected governor of New York, 1829. U.S. Secretary of State, 1829–1831. Ambassador to Great Britain, 1831–1832. Served as vice president of U.S., 1833–1837, and as president of U.S., 1837–1841. Declined to assist JS and Saints in obtaining redress for losses in Missouri, Nov. 1839. Retired to Kinderhook to farm. Toured Europe, 1853–1855. Died in Kinderhook.

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Lithograph by Philip Haas. (Courtesy Library of Congress.)

Martin Van Buren Lithograph by Philip Haas. (Courtesy Library of Congress.)

Gender
Male