124 
Indiana University 
The Democrats under Van Buren had made a good record. 
The panic, it is true, had fallen in Van Buren’s administra- 
tion, but he was in no way responsible for that.^® The finan- 
cial scheme that he introduced lasted for several decades 
regardless of changes of administration. Because of his gen- 
tle manner, nearly all the personal animosities against the 
chief executive were removed. The Democratic leaders were 
satisfied. There was no objection to the renomination of Van 
Buren for president. There were no jarring elements of 
much importance, and yet he was decidedly defeated by a man 
who had practically no party organization behind him and 
little personal fitness for the office of president. 
With all this. Van Buren was a burden for his party to 
carry. While it is probable that Van Buren would have been 
chosen as the presidential candidate in 1836, yet as a matter 
of fact Jackson had chosen him as his successor. This put 
the administration party on the defensive. Van Buren was not 
a man to command very much enthusiasm. He put up as 
good a fight as was possible with organized political machin- 
ery and would have won under ordinary circumstances, but 
the populace arose in 1840 and overcame the machine, as it 
occasionally does. 
Edward Stanwood, A History of the Presidency (Boston and New York, 1906), 190. 
1“* Thomas Hart Benton, Thirty Years' Vieno (New York, 1858), II, 203, 204. 
