190 A PEEP AT 



reading and study. At the age of nineteen he 

 attracted the notice of Judge Wood, of Cayuga 

 county, who took him into his office. In 1821 he 

 removed to Buffalo, and entered a law office, teaching 

 for his maintenance until the year 1823, when he was 

 licensed to practice in the Court of Common Pleas. 

 In 1827 he was admitted an Attorney in the Supreme 

 Court of the State of New York. In 1829 he was 

 elected a member of the Assembly from Erie county, 

 and was twice re-elected. He was elected to Con- 

 gress in the fall of 1832, and after the expiration of 

 his term resumed the practice of his profession. In 

 1836 he was again sent to Congress, and was subse- 

 quently re-elected for another term. During this 

 Session he was placed at the head of the Committee 

 of ways and means. In 1844 he was nominated by 

 the Whig party as their candidate for Governor. In 



1847 he was elected Comptroller of the State. Iti 



1848 he ^vas elected Vice President of the United 

 States, and on the fourth of March, 1849, he entered 

 upon the duties of the office. 



It is a singular fact, remarks the Philadelphia 

 Bulletin, that within a space of a little over nine years 

 there have been six Presidents of the United States : 

 Van Buren, March 3d, 1841 ; Harrison, from March 



