VAN BUREN 



6027 



VAN BUREN 



lawyer's clerk, copyist of pleas and finally spe- 

 cial pleader in the constables' courts. He early 

 showed an unusual zeal in his law studies as 

 well as an interest in public affairs and a fond- 

 ness for extemporaneous debate, with the re- 

 sult that he was only eighteen when he was 

 chosen to sit in a local nominating convention. 

 In 1802 and 1803 he was in a New York law 

 office, associated with friends of Aaron Burr, 

 .UK! in the latter year he was admitted to the 

 bar. He then returned to Kinderhook and be- 

 gan to practice law in partnership with his half 

 brother, James Van Allen. 



The brief association with Burr's friends 

 seems to have had little influence on Van 

 Buren, for immediately on his return to Kin- 

 derhook he became active in politics as a sup- 

 porter of Thomas Jefferson. He gave assistance 

 in 1803 to Morgan Lewis, who opposed Burr 

 for the governorship of New York, but in 1807 

 he supported Daniel D. Tompkins against 

 >. the latter having come to be considered 

 as less truly Jeffersonian than he was a few 

 years earlier. Van Buren's legal activities kept 

 pace with his political advancement, and in the 

 winter of 1806-1807 he removed to Hudson, the 

 county seat of Columbia County. In Febru- 

 ary, 1807, he married Hannah Hoes, a distant 

 relative on his mother's side, and later in the 

 was admitted to practice in the state su- 

 preme court. 



In the factional politics of New York for the 

 twenty years Van Buren was not merely 

 e, but was finally dominating. As a result 

 of Tompkin>' victory over Lewis in 1807, Van 

 Hun n in 1808 became surrogate of Columbia 

 County, his predecessor being his half brother 

 .iii'l partner Van Allen. In 1813, however, the 

 'a were turned, and Van Buren was re- 

 placed by Vaa Allen. In the meantime, in 

 1812, Van Buren was elected to the state senate. 

 In that body In- hntrrly opposed the efforts of 

 Bank of America" to obtain a state charter 

 and to take the place of the Bank of the United 

 States, and he approved the action of Governor 

 Tompkins when the latter brought the session 

 i u sudden close in order to 

 ' he passage of the bill granting a cl> u- 



Dunng the War of 1812 Van Buren was gen- 

 erally ranked among the. supporters of the ad- 

 ministration, but he did favor the election of 

 DeWitt (hnt on to the Presidency in 1812. In 

 1815, \\-\i\l- -till a member of the state senate, 

 hr was appointed attorney-general of New 

 York, and in 1816 he was reclected to the sen- 



ate for a four-year term. In the same year he 

 was appointed one of the regents of the Uni- 

 versity of New York. He remained as attor- 

 ney-general until 1819, when a quarrel with 

 Governor Clinton over patronage led the gov- 

 ernor to remove him. In spite of Van Buren's 

 opposition, Clinton was reelected governor in 

 1820, and promptly again offered the attorney- 

 generalship to Van Buren, but the latter de- 

 clined it. 



During these years the uncertainties of poli- 

 tics gave Van Buren a fertile field in which to 

 test his genius for leadership. It was the "era 

 of good feeling," when old party lines were 

 broken down; bitter personal antagonisms, how- 

 ever, made sharp political divisions. There 



N 



MARTIN VAN BUREN 



One of the greatest of Americans, hut tin fortu- 

 nate in his term as President because of what 

 he inherited from his predecessor. 



in New York at least fiv. .li>tmrt political 

 groups. Out of this confusion Van Buren in 

 1820 succeeded in p> i*-.: .i.lmn tin- l xi-latu: 

 reeled Hut'us Km- t.. tl.. Ini ted States Senate, 

 and in 1821 was him- is King's col- 



league. 



In Mir S. -n.il. h. was at once appointed to 

 tip- important committees on the judiciary and 

 finance; of tl t be was chairman for 



many years. He was overshadowed, naturally 

 enough, by Webster and some of the older 

 statesmen, but he won recognition quickly for 

 his good qualities, and also for a certain inde- 

 pendence which was always characteristic of 



