Krystal D. Aaron Essay Example For Students

Krystal D. Aaron Essay 422-17-3246HY 201, section 2 April 4, 2004Martin Van Buren His Presidential Years1837 to 1841 picpicThe Eighth President of the United StatesIn the election of 1836, Van Buren won easily with 170 electoral votesagainst 73 for Harrison, 26 for White, 14 for Webster and 11 for Mangum. Inpopular votes Van Buren received a total of 764,176 votes compared to550,816 for Harrison, 146,107 for White and 41,201 for Webster. Major Issues of the Election of 1836Van Buren disagreed with Whig candidate William Henry Harrisonsrevenue-sharing scheme that would return federal surplus from the proceedsof federal lands directly back to the states. Harrison was willing torevive the Bank of the United States if the economy got out of control,while Van Buren opposed the Bank in all circumstances. While Harrisoncalled for a number of internal improvements, while Van Buren only intendedon federally funding projects that were truly national in scope. Van Burens major political opponents were: . William Henry Harrison (Whig) . Hugh Lawson White (Whig) . Daniel Webster (Whig) . Vice President: Richard Mentor Johnson (1780-1850) Martin Van Burens expertise as a political strategist which earned himthe name little magician was used to promote Andrew Jackson, but it wasof no use to him in furthering his own career as President. The mainproblem was the economic depression that persisted throughout most of hisadministration. He was further hampered by his taste for the finer thingsin life, which caused his critics to portray him as a dandy, indifferent tothe countrys sufferings. He was dubbed Martin Van Ruin for theseeconomic problems, even though they were already on the scene before hetook office. Almost at once a financial panic struck the nation. Bankers begged VanBuren for aid, but he pointed out that the crisis was due to ruinousspeculation. He insisted that government manipulation would only furtherweaken the economic structure. As a step to guard the nations own money,he repeatedly pressed Congress to set up an independent treasury. It wasvoted in 1840 but repealed in 1841. Van Buren attributed the Panic of 1837to the overexpansion of the credit and favored the independent treasury. In1840, he established a 10 hour day on public works. Van Buren also inherited from former president Jackson the SeminoleIndian War in Florida. The conflict, during which thousands of lives onboth sides were lost, cost the government between 40 and 60 milliondollars. Meanwhile Van Buren had to handle the undeclared Aroostook War, adispute between Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, over Maines northeastboundary on the Aroostook River. Maine called out troops in 1839, but VanBuren managed to have the quarrel settled by Britain and the United States. Van Burens calm approach to problems angered people who demanded quickaction. Despite heated public opinion he carefully weighed both sides ofany question. Today he is regarded as having been a sound statesman in atroubled era. Martin Van Buren was among the first American politicians tounderstand the role of political parties in a democracy. Before him,parties were viewed disdainfully as dangerous factions threatening theunity of society. The party competition of an earlier era, between theFederalists and Democrat Republicans, was barely tolerated, with those inpower tending to view the opposing party as traitors and often subjectingthem to persecution. Van Buren saw parties as salutary institutions withina working democracy, and as a New York state politician, he built the firstreal political party apparatus in the United States. The popular image of Andrew Jackson as the backwoods representative ofthe people was largely Van Burens invention, and Jacksons electoralvictories owed as much to Van Burens organizational skills as they did toJacksons charisma. In turn, Van Burens election in 1836 owed everythingto Jackson. Van Buren was Jacksons hand-picked successor, and he rode thatendorsement into office. But Jacksons reputation could not help Van Burensolve the economic depression that plagued his years in office. In the end,the genteel Van Buren became a victim of the very political techniques hehad developed for Jackson. In 1840 he was defeated for reelection by Whigcandidate William Henry Harrison, a backwoods Indian fighter who portrayedhimself (falsely) as a Jacksonian log-cabin and hard-cider representativeof the people. Memories of the financial crisis did not help him either. New England Patriarca Mafia EssayVan Buren was not in Washington when the affair broke; he wascampaigning in upstate New York. His cabinet therefore formulated theadministrations initial response: meeting in mid-September, they tookForsyths lead and arranged for federal authorities to support Spanishdemands that the slaves be returned to Cuba to face trial as murderers andpirates. Van Buren soon returned to the capital, but he seems to have paidlittle attention to the matter, letting Forsyth continue to handle thesituation. The president did not replace any judges in the case. But he didput federal attorneys on the case and he did sign off on an effort to havethe Africans shipped immediately to Cuba if the court found for theadministration, before any appeals could be filed. In sum, Van Buren wantedthis problem to go away, cleanly and quietly. From his point of view, thiswas not only a potential diplomatic crisis with Spain, but morefundamentally a slave revolt a dangerous provoca tion to southernersalready unsettled by the rise of northern abolitionism. The Trail of TearsThe major conflict of the Van Buren administration was the Trail ofTears march. The forced removal of some 18,000 Cherokees, most fromGeorgia, to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi, was ordered byPresident Jackson, but executed during the term of President Van Buren. Though the removal was widely denounced by humanists and constitutionalexperts, and despite the Supreme Courts ruling that the Indians had thelegal right to remain at their ancestral homes, President Jackson orderedthe army, under the leadership of General Winfield Scott, to move theIndians out of Georgia; and when Van Buren came into power, he did notinterfere with this policy, despite its frequent criticism. During themarch, many Indians died of starvation, heat-induced diseases, and over-exposure to cold, leading Indians to name the long journey The Trail ofTearsThough Van Buren did not do anything about the forced march that hispredecessor had begun, he had the opportunity, the encouragement, and thepower to do so. Jackson had begun the march against the wishes of most ofhis colleges, and, even if it had been generally accepted that the marchwas a good and necessary thing, which it had not, Van Buren probably couldhave stopped it. However, by declining to take action, Van Buren a dvancedthe views of Jackson, while foregoing the will of the general public. Theother war Van Buren was involved in was the Indian War in 1835. TheSeminoles, who didnt want to move west, revolted with a force of 2,000Seminoles fighting a guerrilla war. The people did not support the war,because it drained funds that could be used on them. Martin Van Burens term as President was one full of many dilemmas anda lot of adversity, thus he was not re-elected. BibliographyMartin Van Buren, The autobiography of Martin Van Buren. (ed John C. Fitzpatrick). (New York,A.M. Kelley, 1969). Donald Cole, American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography;Martin Van Buren and the American Political System. Princeton:Princeton University Press, 1984. Glyndon Van Deusen, Thurlow Weed: Wizard of the Lobby (Boston, 1947). Robert Remini, Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party; NewYork: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 1959.pic