The Presidency of Martin Van Buren

by Major L. Wilson

Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States, has been judged harshly by some historians as a politician by trade and a spoils man without principles, a "little magician" who was interested only in his own advancement. This volume provides a thorough recounting of the events and decisions of Van Buren's White House years (1837-1841), and adds to the positive reappraisal of Van Buren as an able statesman and effective chief executive. Wilson stresses that Van Buren faced the major problems of his presidency with courage and consistency, and that he brought repose to a nation wrenched both by sectional differences and by the violent fluctuations of economic expansion and contraction.


Wilson discusses Van Buren's close relationship with Andrew Jackson and substantially qualifies the persistent interpretation of the Van Buren presidency as the "third term" of Jackson. Van Buren, a pragmatic Jeffersonian with a statesmanlike concern for order, reversed Jackson's priorities. Wilson describes how Van Buren resolved the crisis with Mexico and succeeded in keeping peace with Britain at a time when incidents arising out of rebellion in Canada and the disputed Maine boundary might have precipitated war.


The most distinctive contribution of this volume is its in-depth analysis of the economic and political aspects of Van Buren's domestic policy, especially the Independent Treasury, the issue that gave basic shape to his entire presidency. Jackson had divorced the Treasury from the national bank; Van Buren took one further step and rendered the operations of the Treasury independent of the state banks as well. By the end of his term, debate on the issues of currency and enterprise had brought the second-party system in the U.S. to maturity. In 1840 Van Buren's views in this area would cost him reelection.


This study sheds lights on a turbulent period in American history and contributes to our understanding of Martin Van Buren's achievements. He kept the nation out of war, reduced sectional tensions, and established the basis for a fiscal policy which he believed would bring greater stability to economic development.

Genres: History, Biography, Presidents, Nonfiction, American History, Politics

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entries in the American Presidency series tend to follow the same formula - they’re scholarly and informative, straightforward in their storytelling, matter-of-fact and somewhat nonjudgmental to a fault. Each is a vehicle for providing facts and information, but not necessarily great insights, analysis or conclusions. And each is roughly the same, compact length. That formula can be problematic when trying to summarize a significant presidency in a mere 200 or so pages; conversely, it can be problematic when trying to stretch the story of a relatively insignificant presidency into a lengthy 200 or so pages.

This book on Martin Van Buren’s presidency is the latter. His presidency was dominated by the Panic of 1837 and its fallout, so the book is as well. In fact, here’s my summary of each chapter’s focus:

1. An introduction providing context of the times
2. A brief biographical sketch of MVB and his pre-presidency
3. MVB’s response to the Panic of 1837
4. MVB’s response to the Panic of 1837
5. MVB’s response to the Panic of 1837
6. MVB’s response to the Panic of 1837
7. MVB’s response to the Panic of 1837
8. Everything else that happened during MVB’s presidency
9. MVB’s Cabinet
10. MVB’s losing re-election bid; the end.

So, you get a LOT about Van Buren’s response to the Panic of 1837 and his efforts to establish an independent Treasury. Yes, it was the main issue that dominated his presidency, but in order to fill fully ½ of the book on this subject alone, Wilson provides an exhaustively detailed examination of the Panic, its causes, its consequences, as well as every proposal, every debate, seemingly every Congressman’s opinion and vote - and somewhere in there is the story of Martin Van Buren.

It seems like this part could have been condensed into something more accessible and readable, but then you’d end up with a 100-page book, and that doesn’t fit the formula.

But maybe Wilson could have used the space to expand upon other topics. The process of Indian removal, for one, which began under Andrew Jackson and was completed under Van Buren is given brief treatment in the ninth chapter on “things Martin Van Buren’s Cabinet did.” WIlson somehow manages to describe the removal process, and the Trail of Tears, as “relatively peaceful and inexpensive,” acknowledging that it was “full of sadness and suffering” but was handled “sensitively,” which is an interesting perspective, to say the least. I’m not necessarily saying he should have condemned Van Buren for carrying out this policy, but all he says of Van Buren’s role is that he passively “decided not to deviate from the steps of his predecessor.”

His predecessor looms large over Van Buren’s story. Even his presidency is described as something of a “third Jackson term.” Wilson characterizes Van Buren’s inaugural address as "a charter for inaction, a call to do nothing more than run the shop.” On the one hand, that comes across as rather unambitious; on the other hand, Van Buren aimed to be a caretaker in the good sense of the word, seeking stability in the aftermath of the rollicking Jackson administration, by focusing on preserving the Union and the institutions the Founders had created.

The Panic got in the way. And unfortunately, it kind of gets in the way of this book as well - overwhelming all other subjects that might have been given a little more space, if only the banking and financial issues were given a little less. For better or worse, this book is a thorough account of a not-too-significant or consequential presidency that is undoubtedly useful for Van Buren scholars. For the rest of us, whether the fault is in the subject or the telling, or both, it just doesn’t make for particularly riveting reading.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a scholarly look at Martin Van Buren and the Van Buren presidency. And I do mean scholarly. This book was incredibly dense. I have no doubt that Major L. Wilson knows what he’s talking about but he wasn’t able to communicate it in a very compelling form. There would be times I was reading and my eyes would just glaze over and I’d finish a page and not remember what I just read. The economic crises of 1837 and the divorce of the national bank is important, in theory, but it seemed as though it was trying to make Van Buren a bigger deal then he was. It seems like Van Buren suffered from the consistent refrain of party incumbent following extremely popular predecessor. He just doesn’t start out as much as a Jackson. It’s a shame for him because he based himself on Jackson and Jefferson but never really lived up to either of them. I think the quote that sums him up best was the oft repeating “northern man with southern sensibilities.”

Van Buren the man was more interesting than Van Buren the president. He was clearly a man of principle and was extremely popular in his personal life, but ended up getting ruined by party politics and a wavering personality. It was perhaps because he cared about being too well liked that he failed to take stands which would have set him apart. This book is okay, and it gave me an appreciation for the times that Van Buren lived for and a little for the man himself, but there are probably better tomes on our eight president. On to Tippecanoe!

[Andy Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

True to the title, this book is about Van Buren's Presidency, not the man, the last 22 years of his life is covered in two pages.

The author, Major Wilson,focuses on the 1837 recession which dominated Van Buren's Presidency. The recession occurred shortly after Andrew Jackson, with Van Buren's help as Vice President, dismantled the national bank. Wilson spends much time discussing the cause of the panic and concludes that while the new banking system did not cause the panic it may have contributed to the difficulty in recovering from it and in any event, the timing of it lead many Americans to blame the Jackson-Van Buren banking policies leading to political disaster. Wilson then spends many pages discussing congressional battles on additional reform to the banking system which eventually lead to an independent Treasury as opposed to a national bank which survived until the establishment of the federal reserve system in the early 20th century. Warning, the chapters on the banking crisis are a very challenging, and for me, a very dry read

Wilson also addresses other facets of Van Buren's Presidency. Van Buren's thoughtful, balanced foreign policy kept the United States out of potential wars with Mexico over Texas and with England over Canada.

Van Buren's policy and attitude towards slavery is also discussed; Van Buren's role in the Amistad affair is discussed dispassionately without conceding that history proved Van Buren wrong and John Quincy Adams right. There are also other decisions regarding slavery by Van Buren that make the reader if not the author cringe. A criticism I have of the book is that Wilson could have spent more time discussing the politics of slavery and unionism and Van Buren's personal beliefs especially in light of Van Buren's later actions that caused him to lose the nomination in 1844 and leave the Democratic party later in that decade

[Jerry Landry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was honestly one of the hardest to get through that I've read in a while. The first 150 pages is very dense -- all about banking, finance and the concept of divorcing the Treasury from state banks. Wilson repeats concepts time and again before finally, in the last third, getting to everything else in the Van Buren presidency. While providing a little insight into his presidency, I think there has to be a better text to read that would expand more on the non-banking related parts of the Van Buren administration.

[Mona Ammon · Rating 3 out of 5]

TITLE: The Presidency of Martin Van Buren
WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK: Trying to read at least one book about every US President
REVIEW: I learned a lot from this book but it was difficult to get through. Most of the books I have read have been autobiographies or biographies. While the biographies were generally written by historians and well researched, they were still written for a general audience not an academic one. This book is definitely written by an academic for a scholarly audience. It also talked a lot about economic theory which is not my strong suit. I had to learn what specie was. I struggled to understand the difference between the benefits of hard money and that of paper money. I tried to understand why some would want a national bank while others wanted a more distributive model. The more I read about history and the US political parties what I find interesting is how each group believes that they are the party of the people ensuring democracy, opportunity and freedom for all. And I can kind of see each point of view. The people who believed in paper currency felt it was more democratic because only the wealthy had gold/silver and could carry it around and secure it. Paper was portable. However, I can also see those who were against paper money being concerned that it was built on a house of cards and allowed others to be overly speculative. Same thing around the debate over a national bank. Those who say that it provided stability versus state banks that created inconsistency in currency and could flood the market have a point. Those who say that a national bank means that would tie the US currency to volatile markets have a point. I think most advocates of both sides honestly believed what they believed. Some certainly only were looking out for themselves. On the whole Martin Van Buren seemed like a decent president who tried to do the right thing and provided stability without caving in completely to the pro-slavery crowd. He was too enamored by Andrew Jackson for me - who despite his charge that he was a man of the people - was rather autocratic and furthered genocide of native groups. While this did prove a challenge and was not always that exciting, it did spur me to stretch myself more in my reading selections.

[Frank Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book are simply unreadable due to the meandering style, but I plowed through because it contains the only detailed description I know of one of the defining battles in the history of American banking. While many readers might remember something about President Andrew Jackson's war against the Second Bank of the United States, almost no one remembers what followed it. After the Panic of 1837 caused banks across the nation to stop paying out gold and silver coin, the new President Martin Van Buren called Congress into a special September session to ask them to pass the Independent Treasury Act, which would forbid depositing any federal money in banks, and forbid the Treasury taking anything except coins in payment. This was called a complete "divorce" of government from banking, one that ensured that no more would the nation encourage or be encouraged by the speculations of banks. After three years of bitter debate, and another panic in 1839, Congress finally passed the act, creating an essential "separation of bank and state," at least to some extent, for almost a hundred years.

Van Buren was first of all a party man, and his bank act followed in his tradition of trying to unify the Democratic party. As early as 1819, he said that the only way to oppose De Witt Clinton in New York was to form a united party that made clear policy statements and distributed spoils. He believed that in a democracy there was always a sharp divide between the parties of the "people" and of the "aristocracy," and he attacked President Monroe's "heresy" of claiming to govern without party. In 1827, he advocated for the first time using a national party convention to pick a presidential candidate, and in 1832 the first major party convention selected him as Jackson's Vice President. When the panic upset Jackson's system of pet banks, he thought divorce was the only way to continue Jackson's Democratic legacy of opposition to state involvement with banking. (He also suggested a bankruptcy act that allowed the federal government to shut-down banks after a prolonged suspension, and a constitutional amendment limiting paper money to $20 or over.) Van Buren pitched his plansas a means to unify all parts of the party, the hard-money men and the "spirit of enterprise" bankers who didn't want government control of banks. Van Buren's urge for party harmony even brought Calhoun back into the fold temporarily on the bank issue, the man who Van Buren had replaced as Vice President and who had once voted against his appointment as minister to England. When Van Buren's Independent Treasury act passed, it was an unquestioned victory for the party and the party man known as the "sly fox."

Other parts of the Van Buren's presidency are covered briefly, but show the same overriding desire for harmony. He worked to settle U.S. claims on Spain and Mexico without war or Texas annexation, he managed to fight filibusterers trying to participate in the Canadian rebellion in 1837, and under Secretary of War Joel Poinsett and especially Secretary of the Navy James Paulding he reorganized and unified the military. Still, the second panic, and a vigorous Whig campaign, was enough to push Van Buren from office in 1840. The author, despite an oft wandering style, does do his best to rehabilitate a forgotten but important President, one who changed the nature of American banking and American parties.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

The presidential campaigns of Andrew Jackson marked a major change in the American political landscape. Those who came before were members of the aristocracy, who believed that the office of the president sought the man rather than the man the office. Jackson’s success as a political figure was largely due to the political maneuverings of Martin Van Buren, who was widely known in polite circles as the “little magician.” However, his opponents used much less polite phrases to describe his actions. Like so many hand-picked successors to a very popular president, Van Buren served only one term and his elected successor was from another party.
His presidency was dominated by the battle over fiscal strategies and the role of central banks in the U. S. economy. However, it was not so dominant that half the book should have been devoted to it. Other major events were taking place, the continued westward expansion of the nation led to increased sectional tension over slavery in the new states. Van Buren took the position that he was not pro slavery, but would act against it only with the approval of the southern members of congress. While this limited the conflict during his presidency, it also increased the power of a few radicals at the expense of more reasonable voices. Quite frankly, I grew weary at reading the material on the debates over the role of banks. The explanations are over done, they could have been reduced and more time spent on the sectional tensions, both over slavery and the growing economic disparities between the regions. Industrialization was beginning in earnest and there was also a great deal of debate over the role of the federal government in major projects involving transportation.
Martin Van Buren was the first modern politician to hold the office of the president. In that respect, he is a major figure in the history of the office. I would have preferred a book where more pages were devoted to that aspect of the Van Buren presidency rather than the battle over the national bank. The nation was poised for an explosion of westward growth as well as beginning to bottle the tensions that finally led to an internal war. Those aspects of his four years in office should also have received more coverage.

This review also appears on Amazon

[David R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A welcome addition to the canon, but uneven. Wilson heroically amplifies the achievements of this lesser known Chief Executive, but one finds oneself suspicious of the paeans. Also surprisingly little attention is given to key periods.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This thing reads like a textbook.....Wait, it is a textbook.

[Christi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really gets a 2.5 stars for me. It's a great look into the Panic of 1837 and all that went into Van Buren's idea of a "divorce" (the start of a national Treasury that was completely separate from the banks)--but only if you're an economist. Wilson is dry, hard to understand, repetitive, confusing, and often seems to wander and then come back. I felt like everything he said could have been condensed into a much shorter book. And the rest of Van Buren's presidency gets almost no coverage at all. I felt it was a waste of time as a survey of the presidency--it may be an okay read if you're looking to understand the Panic of 1837. But again, the writing style is hard and confusing and I still wouldn't recommend it.