Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics

by John Niven

Based upon extensive use of the Van Buren papers and other basic primary sources of the period, this is a readable, authoritative biography of the 8th President of the United States and a close political ally of Andrew Jackson, and later upholder of the Jacksonian tradition.

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

715 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 1983

About the author

An educator and historian, (William) John Niven earned a BA from the University of Connecticut in 1943, an MA from Columbia University in 1947 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1954. He was an instructor at Mitchell College from 1949 until 1951 and taught at the Claremont Graduate School from 1965 until his retirement in 1990, where he served as professor of American history and chairman of the Graduate Faculty of History.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

As failed, one-term presidents go, Martin Van Buren comes across as such a decent, honorable, well-meaning, politically-skilled guy. He’s not as deserving of his obscurity in a way that, say, Franklin Pierce or James Buchanan is. So what went wrong?

This book tells his story exhaustively, thoroughly, comprehensively, intensively… and did I say exhaustively? It’s meticulously detailed, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s often a slog.

Much of this is not John Niven’s fault. Van Buren didn’t live the adventurous life of his presidential predecessors, who were soldiers, diplomats and nation builders. He was a politician through and through, and largely a local politician at that - even after he worked his way from various positions in New York state to the national stage, Van Buren never completely shed his parochial interest in the politics of his home state.

So Niven writes about the politics of Van Buren’s home state. A lot. In great detail. Obviously some knowledge of Van Buren’s rise from his modest upbringing to becoming a major political player in New York is key to understanding his role as a political player on the national level. And if you’re going to write a birth-to-death biography of the guy, you can’t lop off that portion of his life story just because it’s not all that compelling.

But fully 200 pages or so, or about a third of the book, is devoted to granular detail about this period of his life. And even what little we know about Van Buren’s wife and relatively brief marriage is completely buried within - on the eve of a New York party caucus, Hannah Van Buren becomes deathly ill. Then she rallies, the caucus takes place, Van Buren casts a vote for U.S. Senator, Hannah dies, Van Buren is sad, then he plunges back into politics - and Hannah is literally never mentioned again, except once in passing, in the very last chapter, some 500+ pages later!

So unless you have a keen interest in early 19th century New York state politics, it’s pretty slow going getting to Van Buren’s election as U.S. Senator, after which he hitches his wagon to Andrew Jackson and the pace of his story finally picks up (despite the fact that he stayed involved and invested in New York state politics, so we still get to read all about it as the book progresses.)

Otherwise, this is when Van Buren's status as a cunning political operative is on full display. He gets himself elected New York’s governor in order to help Jackson get elected president - then gets chosen as Secretary of State as a reward. Later, upon witnessing the disorganization and lack of clear direction of the Jackson administration, Van Buren comes to see himself as the guardian of the president and the steadying influence Jackson needs. You get to see things like the nullification crisis and the Eaton Affair from Martin Van Buren’s perspective instead of solely from Jackson’s - and somehow Niven resists the temptation to reference the infamous double entendre about Van Buren touching “Mrs. Eaton’s knocker,” which appears in just about every single other telling of the Eaton Affair (if you’re not familiar, Google it!)

And all of this, ultimately, allows Van Buren to position himself as heir apparent to Jackson. So how did such a political magician end up suffering a failed presidency, and two failed re-election attempts?

The real drawback of Niven’s work - aside from the overly-long sections about local politics - is that it doesn’t really acknowledge that Van Buren ever did lose his magic. Most will agree that the Panic of 1837 and the resulting depression was not Van Buren’s fault; he did what he could to resolve the crisis, and his single-minded focus on the issue arguably distracted him from accomplishing much else. But Niven tends to excuse away the resulting missteps - Van Buren “had inherited the (Indian) removal policy and the (Seminole) War… from the Jackson administration” and was simply too busy dealing with the economy to be as hands-on with these issues as he should have been. “Overburdened… with the cares and responsibilities of his office, Van Buren seems not to have read” a controversial and politically-damaging military report that recommended a standing army. And Van Buren’s “apparent indifference to the Amistad case may be explained by his need to make two cabinet appointments” - really?

And while Van Buren’s failed attempt at a comeback in 1844 after his 1840 re-election loss is widely blamed on his decision to take a stand against the annexation of Texas, Niven portrays this as a wholly principled stand which Van Buren didn’t care whether it cost him the presidency, while others at least consider the notion that it was a devastating unforced error - a tone-deaf political blunder that Van Buren should have known to have handled very differently.

For the most part, though, this book is not bad. It’s certainly thorough. But it could have used more analysis and less detail - more about Van Buren’s strengths, weaknesses, motives and personality, and less about the political maneuverings surrounding the election of some obscure New York state assemblyman or whatever. In the end, Van Buren does come across as a skilled operative who was not the shifty, slick, noncommittal politician as his opponents portrayed him, but a man who had convictions and a vision for what he wanted to accomplish for his country. He was simply better at politicking than at governing. And as failed presidents go - it could have been worse.

[Gary Butler · Rating 2 out of 5]

37th book read in 2015.

Number 431 out of 465 on my all time book list.

Follow the link below to see my video review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYyXE...

[Aaron Million · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you were making a list of "obscure Presidents", Martin Van Buren would almost assuredly be in it. Nowhere near great, he is not even bad enough to be somewhat remembered or occasionally referenced like James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson are (at least in the last few years). Yet there are very few biographies about him, despite him being a key, often behind-the-scenes, figure in the Antebellum years. That might explain part of the reason why he isn't really remembered today. But more likely it is because his presidency was largely viewed as a failure, with him trying and failing to get re-elected in the succeeding three Presidential elections after he was elected in 1836. Which bring me to reading John Niven's long biography of him.

I have to admit that this book was quite a slog for me, especially in the beginning. Most of the first third of the book is devoted to New York state politics. I mean Niven dug deep into the weeds of Van Buren's ascendancy to power in what came to be called the Regency. Essentially, he built a powerful political machine, and spent almost all of his time politicking. Unless you are interested in this period of NT history, and especially the political machinations that went on over such issues as the building of the Erie Canal, you are probably not going to be riveted to the book at this point. And as a consequence of the absorption of Van Buren's life into politics, very little is mentioned about his personal life in this period. His family is dropped almost immediately. Van Buren does get married, and he and his wife have five boys, four of whom reached adulthood. But his wife, Hannah, dies young. Niven dispatches with her in about two sentences, and not until almost the end of the book does he mention her again. I thought this was a critical error for a biographer. Van Buren has lost a spouse while still a young man, with four sons to care for, and we just move on quickly? No. That deserves further thought. How did it impact his outlook on life? He never remarried; was there a reason for this? Niven doesn't say. I'm not asking for him to engage in speculation, but this was a significant life event, and Niven blows past it just to get back to talking more about DeWitt Clinton and other NY politicians.

I also did not care for the structure of the book. Niven had this annoying tendency to start a chapter by setting a scene, but then suddenly going backwards from that time and place. It took me several chapters to get used to this, although I did not come to like it. For instance, the chapter entitled "Secretary of State" begins with Van Buren traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to take up his post as Minister to Great Britain (it was a short stint because one of his political rivals, Vice President John C. Calhoun, made sure to torpedo his nomination in the Senate in an effort to embarrass Van Buren). The chapters also do not contain any subheadings or breaks within them, so it makes for long chapters and also abrupt shifts in situations. One other note on the structure: I found the usage of commas to frequently be out of phase with how the sentences should read. I am not sure if this is a product of poor editing or carelessness. There were also a few date errors, and sometimes Niven went on for so long about a topic that I forgot, exactly, what year we were in.

Niven mostly played neutral on Van Buren, which I appreciate. Although I think that he was at times too friendly or not critical enough of Van Buren, this is no hagiography nor apology for Van Buren's actions (or, more commonly, inactions). This is a scholarly work, and it does address the full scope of Van Buren's life, outside of a lack of focus on his personal side in his early years as noted above. An example of Niven acknowledging that Van Buren did not handle something well, but not spending sufficient time on the matter, was his Indian removal policy. This was horrid. True, Van Buren inherited an absolute mess from his predecessor, Andrew Jackson. But Van Buren stayed Jackson's mostly harsh course of removal, and did not lift a finger to help any of the tribes who were cruelly attacked and uprooted from the only lands they ever knew, and forced hundreds of miles west. I never got the sense that Van Buren cared about these folks or their plight. One of the overarching themes of his life was to not rock the boat, and try to find a way to appease the South on all matters. This is one of those times. Greedy, unscrupulous white settlers and politicians wanted those lands, and Van Buren was not going to stand in their way. While true that he did not wish for any harsh treatment to be dealt out, nor was he a vicious person himself, he could have tried to stop this or at least minimize it. I don't see where he did that. I think I have now talked about this topic about as much as Niven did in a 600+ page book.

But this leads to a larger view of Van Buren: he was both an opportunist and also passive at the same time. He was constantly on the lookout for his political future, and he was quite the Democratic partisan. It seemed to me that if someone could be of future use to him, Van Buren would attempt to placate that person in some way so as to bring them into his orbit. For people who could not or would not help him, while still courteous, he did not go out of his way to talk to. Maybe most of us are that way to an extent. It just seemed quite obvious with Van Buren. Jackson is an example of this: Van Buren spent a considerable amount of time attaching himself to the former general. And he was successful at it, as this led to Jackson appointing him to be his first Secretary of State. Later, Jackson chose him as his Vice-Presidential running mate. And Jackson's blessing was crucial in Van Buren getting the Presidential nomination for himself in 1836. Without Jackson, I do not see how Van Buren would have ever became President.

Yet Van Buren could be quite passive and at times dithering. Niven goes into a very long but good review of Van Buren's Cabinet choices. Niven did well here - examining each position and Van Buren's attempt to keep his Cabinet in a geographical balance while also not trying to anger anyone. Of course, this path did not work out, as his Cabinet ended up being somewhat lackluster in several positions, while he burned out some of his friends such as his Attorney General Benjamin Butler. Although, I did find Niven's characterization of Secretary of War Joel Poinsett a little odd: "Secretary Poinsett was undoubtedly the best professionally qualified secretary of war since the founding of the republic." (Page 465). Hmm. Really? Henry Knox seemed pretty qualified to me.

Staying with Poinsett for a moment, Niven made a really tired and infuriating comment about slaves on page 492: "Though rice planting was hard and disagreeable work, Poinsett's some sixty slaves appeared content, certainly well-fed and clothed." Goodness. I wonder how many of them would agree with statement if we could go back and ask them. I suspect not many.

Despite the over explanation of the many facets of NY politics, on other issues Niven surprisingly gave little or no context. Two examples come to mind. First, James K. Polk, elected President in 1844, had pledged to only serve a single term and then retire (Polk was a deceitful man, but this is one pledge that he solemnly adhered to). Van Buren, for good reasons, had turned against Polk during Polk's term, mainly over patronage. He wanted to get the presidency back for himself, and tried hard in 1844 but miscalculated on the Texas annexation issue (he came out against immediate annexation, which angered the South - just about the only time that Van Buren finally decided to stop playing it safe). But Van Buren also was intent on denying Polk the nomination in 1848. What Niven fails to mention is Polk's one-term pledge and that at no time was Polk ever put in nomination.

Another example of a lack of context was surrounding Millard Fillmore, a New York Whig. Van Buren did not care for him during Fillmore's Congressional career. Yet when Fillmore becomes President upon the death of Zachary Taylor, not a single mention is made of it. What did Van Buren think of this? Was he alarmed at Taylor's death? Niven never says. And while Niven later on mentions the Compromise of 1850 and the repealing of the Missouri Compromise, he fails to mention that Fillmore is the one who signed the act.

Niven does a good job overall of discussing Van Buren's post-presidency, despite the Fillmore omission. Van Buren lived for twenty-one years after leaving office in 1841. As mentioned he tries - and fails - to get the Democratic nomination in 1844. He then considers himself retired, but largely through the efforts of his favorite son, John, he is reluctantly pulled directly back into the political fray, running as the Free Soil candidate in the 1848 election. While Van Buren never came close to winning, nor did he carry a single state, he did affect the outcome. He drew enough votes away from the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass, to tip the election to Taylor. Didn't Van Buren know this would happen? He thought Cass was terrible, and he was by this point growing quite disillusioned with the Democratic Party that he had done so much to make dominant.

Van Buren spent the 1850s traveling and writing and enjoying the good life (a lucrative law practice when he was young helped make him quite comfortable in life, allowing him to also buy up large tracts of land at low prices). Here in this section, Niven turns his focus to include Van Buren's children and grandchildren. I wish that Niven had done this much earlier in the book. Van Buren also had taken a long trip in 1841/42 around the southern and (then) western United States. Van Buren met a young Abraham Lincoln on this trip when he stayed a night in Springfield, IL. Unfortunately, I know of this from other books - Niven never mentions it.

If you have noticed, I have hardly touched on Van Buren's presidency at all! Well, it was largely a dud. He was hobbled almost immediately by a financial panic and depression that the country never really got out of while he was in office. His efforts, after much debating, to attempt an independent treasury system, kept getting blocked in Congress. This was a relatively tranquil time for foreign relations, with no crisis landing at Van Buren's desk. William Henry Harrison blew him out of the water in the 1840 election. He did, however, stir up some controversy at literally the very end of his term. A Supreme Court Justice died on February 24th, 1841, a little over a week before Van Buren's term expired. He decided to nominate his replacement, and somehow got his nominee confirmed on his last full day in office. It reminded me of some of our recent Supreme Court controversy over nominations. In every biography that I read, I look for something that I do not know, and Niven obliged me here with this story. I don't ever remember reading about that, and if I did I somehow forgot about it.

Overall, while this is a flawed book, it is not a waste of time to read. Do I wish there were a few more books about Van Buren? Yes, he lived an interesting life. Do I think that this book could have been better? Yes, as the writing could have been more tight, and more attention should have been paid to Van Buren's personal side in his younger years. Despite that, does the book still have merit? Yes, especially when recognizing that there are so few books out there about Van Buren. I wish this one had been better though, making an obscure President a little less obscure. Still, Niven clearly put a lot of time and effort into this book, and I appreciate that he did so.

Grade: C

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://bestpresidentialbios.com/2013/...

“Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics” by John Niven was published in 1983. Niven was a professor of history at Claremont Graduate University and a nationally known scholar of Jacksonian and Civil War history. He was previously a doctoral student of Allan Nevins at Columbia University where he received his PhD in 1955. Niven died in 1997.

Niven’s “Martin Van Buren” is the first modern biography of the eighth president, and one of only two in my library. With more than six-hundred pages of text and eighty pages of notes it presents itself as a thorough and meticulously researched profile of one of our lesser-known presidents. What is less apparent, at least until the reader digests a chapter or two, is that the book’s first half is really a comprehensive tome on early nineteenth century New York state politics.

Although I didn’t particularly enjoy Niven’s biography of Martin Van Buren, it is solid in several respects. First, in its earliest pages the author provides a brief but excellent introduction to Van Buren and the author’s view of his life. Nevin even subtly warns the reader he feels this president was a great politician who has not received his due from posterity. Despite this warning, the author’s favorable tendency toward this president is rarely evident and he displays admirable editorial balance.

Next, the depth of detail on Van Buren’s rise through New York state politics is nothing short of encyclopedic. The author seems to have been witness to every meaningful conversation and absorbed every bit of watercooler chatter that took place at the time. Finally, Niven provides interesting discussions on several topics including Van Buren’s early life, the calculus behind President Jackson’s cabinet picks during his two terms and Van Buren’s relationships with a number of important contemporaneous political figures (such as John Calhoun and De Witt Clinton, a former governor of New York).

Unfortunately, the disappointments outweigh the merits of this biography. First and foremost, this book is dry, dense and often boring to read. Previous readers have described the biography as “bone-crushingly tedious”; it is difficult to disagree with that sentiment. Because of its early emphasis on the machine politics of Van Buren’s home state, the biography gets off to a slow start and never fully recovers. Not an ideal book to be read for pleasure, Niven’s biography of Van Buren possesses the warmth and affability of a legal brief.

In addition, we learn almost nothing of Van Buren as a husband, father or friend. There is very little in Niven’s book about Van Buren’s personality – other than that which is demonstrated through his politics. And although it is a book almost totally devoted to his politics, Niven provides few clues as to how Van Buren earned the nicknames “The Little Magician” and the “Red Fox of Kinderhook.” One can only imagine those stripes were well-earned, but the reader is left to infer, rather than experience, their etymology.

Most frustrating for me is that the author seems to have created a reference manual on early New York politics rather than a biography designed to assist in understanding this under-appreciated president. No obvious effort is made to separate truly important moments in Van Buren’s life from the copious extraneous ones. It is a bit like peering through a microscope under very high magnification and never figuring out exactly what is being viewed – there is simply no big picture provided, no road map to assist on the journey.

Overall, John Niven’s “Martin Van Buren” may well be the most definitive biography of this president, as it has been described in the past. It may also be a great “go to” reference for detail on his political coming-of-age. But unfortunately it falls short as a diagnostic tool to understand Van Buren or his presidency and it does little to assist the layman in understanding why history has nearly forgotten this astute political tactician and former president.

Overall rating: 2¾ stars

[Jerry Landry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, extensive study of the life of the eighth President, Martin Van Buren. While a little slow at some points, the book picked up particularly for me when Van Buren became Jackson's Secretary of State. Niven did a good job at portraying Van Buren as a person who, while possessing some admirable qualities, also having his flaws and shortcomings. The reader gets a feel for Van Buren as a career politician, driven by the give and take of political negotiations.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the eight presidential biographies I have now read, this one provides by far the most detailed look at the sinews of politics. Seemingly 600 pages of campaigning, this was a laborious read but invaluable for its information. Only three stars for its want of personal details about Van Buren, its hasty final chapter, and its poor editing. I never really felt a connection with the eighth president or with the author.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overshadowed by his predecessor and defined by the stigma of being only a one-term president, Martin Van Buren has rarely received his due as a political figure. Yet over a career spanning more than four decades he played a pivotal role in nineteenth century American politics. More than any other single person, it was Van Buren who created the Democratic Party and spawned the "Second Party System" in America, which helped to set the course of national politics as we know it. In this book, John Niven attempts to resuscitate Van Buren's historical image by offering readers an examination of Van Buren's life and times, one that helps to restore him to his proper place in the American pantheon.

The son of a tavern keeper, Van Buren's ambitions were evident at an early age. Possessing a friendly and charming demeanor, he rose quickly in New York politics, managing to surmount a number of prominent foes. The key to this was a political organization he built throughout the state, an organization that soon came to be known as the Albany Regency. Though initially a supporter of William Crawford for the presidency, after the 1824 election Van Buren threw his support to General Jackson, helping to deliver New York to the general's column in the subsequent election. Van Buren's reward for his untiring efforts and steadfast loyalty was the Secretaryship of State, the vice-presidency, and ultimately the presidency itself. Taking office amidst the onset of an economic depression, Van Buren's efforts could do little to alleviate the situation and was defeated in his bid for reelection in 1840 as a result. After another effort to gain his party's nomination in 1844 ended in failure, Van Buren abandoned the Democrats and ran for president as the Liberty Party nominee four years later, helping to introduce slavery as a campaign issue in presidential politics in the process - and triggering a chain of events that would end only with the secession of the South in 1861.

Niven's biography is an insightful and balanced look at Van Buren's long and impressive political career. Yet his is a biography of Van Buren as political animal; his policies receive scant attention until Niven's narrative reaches Van Buren's period as Secretary of State, with even less time spent on his personal life and political career. Such an omission weakens the overall value of the book, confining its value to Niven's impressive work in recounting the politics of early nineteenth century America. Here his account is likely to be unsurpassed, and should be read by anyone with an interest in Van Buren's political career or the often complicated twists and turns of American politics in the antebellum era.

[Regina Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

As many of you know, I'm involved in a group that is reading presidential biographies in order of their service. With Van Buren, I reached a figure that I knew very little about.

Martin Van Buren (MVB) is nicknamed "the magician" for his ability to manage (or manipulate depending on your perspective) the party system. On one hand, MVB often used strategies of delay to check the political pulse of an idea. On the other hand, MVB was not averse to taking political gambles. Through most of his political career, MVB might be seen as an opportunist, caring most about politics than prinicple, and always looking for the next wrung to climb. However, as president MVB faced tremendously complex issues such as a major recession/depression brought on by Andrew Jackson's war with the banking industry, sectional division that was slowly mounting towards Civil War, and threats from foreign interests. During these years, MVB appears to have sought creative solutions.

I only recommend this book for the avid history lover. Niven's style is very dry, which can make reading 600+ pages excruciating at times. However, you will learn a lot. There is a lot of information about New York's history that was completely new to me. A variety of new characters were introduced. MVB's relationship with Clay and Calhoun are absolutely fascinating. Niven, unfortuantely, spends very little time on MVB as a man. I'm leaving this read with more questions than answer.

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like probably everyone else who has ever read a biography on Martin Van Buren, I picked up John Niven's Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics as part of a quest to read biographies on every U.S. President. In the case of MVB, I recommend passing on this one and going for something shorter.

This book is fairly dry, though I don't think the fault lies entirely with Niven. The issue, I believe, is simply that MVB's life wasn't especially exciting. MVB was the first president born after the American Revolution (well, after the surrender at Yorktown; the Treaty hadn't quite been signed yet). Unlike his predecessors, all war heroes or revolutionaries (even John Quincy Adams was a globetrotting diplomat from the days of his childhood), Van Buren led a pretty boring life. He was born in rural New York. He became a lawyer and eventually entered politics, where he remained for many decades. The end.

Niven's book is very heavy on the politics and political maneuverings of MVB and his contemporaries, often at the expense of telling a personal story or allowing the reader to get to know the subject. Electioneering tactics or the strategies involved in jockeying to pass or defeat a given bill are difficult topics to write about, and Niven, unfortunately, is not a particularly clear writer here. The early chapters are heavy on New York state politics in the early 19th century, picking up on the state of things in the wake of the Burr/Hamilton duel and the power struggles that emerged following the downfall of the state's two most prominent political leaders. I recently read bios on both Hamilton and Burr, so I had no difficulty keeping up with the cast of characters involved, but I suspect a reader without a background knowledge of these affairs would struggle to follow along. As the book progressed, politicians would come and go in MVB's circle, often without introduction or explanation. When the story entered what was, for me, fairly new territory, I struggled to keep up with what was going on.

Niven has the odd tendency to eschew conjunctions when presenting lists or writing compound sentences, preferring instead the heavy use of commas to separate items. It's a good device to use from time to time, in order to add variety to sentence structure, but McNiven does it distractingly often.

I went for this book because it's the most comprehensive one out there on Martin Van Buren. If that's what you are looking for, then you'll probably pick up this book in spite of the consistently mediocre reviews it receives and another middling review likely won't sway you at this point. Still, I don't recommend this one.

[RYD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Van Buren was a political junkie's president. He helped build the Democratic party, and a campaign organization that dominated New York politics for decades. This biography offers many, many examples of how he used patronage and political wiles to gain his ends.

Which is to say it gives a good sense of why Van Buren is largely forgotten, since political struggle, like fashion, is decidedly ephemeral.

But given the depressing political times we live in, it was at least reassuring to read that our era is not alone in its mind-numbing approach to what are important issues. For instance, this, on the campaign of William Henry Harrison, who defeated Van Buren in his bid for reelection.

"Mainly at the insistence of Thurlow Weed, they presented Harrison as a simple farmer who wore a coonskin cap and lived in a log cabin on the frontier. The homespun image, though errant nonsense, was believed to be true by hundreds of thousands. Actually, Harrison came from an aristocratic Virginia family; he did not live in a log cabin but in a pretentious home at North Bend, Indiana. Though the commanding general at the Battle of the Thames, an American victory over the British and the Indians, he owed his success largely to his subordinates, Richard Mentor Johnson, Van Buren's Vice-President, and Johnson's brother James.

"These artifices Weed and other Whig leaders earnestly propagated caught on, and soon thousands of log cabins dotted a land where liquor seemed to spring eternal. Never before had innuendo, slander and gross falsehood erupted in such volume and such intensity. Van Buren, who actually came from the masses, was pictured as an effeminate, overindulged fop who lid a life of Babylonian splendor. When he was not being portrayed in gross cartoons or in uncouth stump speeches as a cowardly little fellow with perfumed whiskers, he was made into a high-toned aristocrat who drank French wines and abhorred plain American living."

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars. Finished! Ugh.. This is not a book for the casual reader looking to get some info on a president. This is the book for someone who wants an in depth minute by minute overview of our 8th president. The previous 7 presidents led some pretty interesting lives - scholars, diplomats, war heroes, etc. MVB was not of that - he was a master of political posturing and that really is all this book is. He spent his whole life manipulating the NY party system. This book is filled with adversaries and allies that move in an out - at times changing sides and keeping it tough to sort out. This does not make for exciting reading - especially 600+ pages of minutia; I ended up skimming the final 400 pages...... He was Gov of NY for 71 days before posturing his way in to the Jackson administration for Sec of State where he really didn't do anything of note and then taking the Minister of Britain and then the VP for Jacksons second term. He basically spent most of the sec of state and minister positions worry about politics back home. As VP that is almost 100 pages of his political wrangling to dissolve the Bank of the United states.
Even after his one term of president, he spent his post years playing the arena. I'll give this 2 stars for thoroughness and 1/2 for readability.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is spectacular! I get kind of annoyed when I begin reading a book on a public figure, and the whole thing is what they were like as a person or how many parties they had. Niven is very thorough and succinct in going through all the political maneuvering. I had a big list of questions I needed to read up on after reading biographies of JQA and Jackson, both let-downs. But Niven is actually systematically answering a lot of my questions. What was put forth in Remini's Jackson bio as the TARIFF OF ABOMINATIONS, stupidly passed by the aristocratic and unpopular JQA without any further explanation, was explained in detail here. I now understand both sides of the coin. Also, in Remini's Jackson, he barely touches on the actual political ramifications of the BUS recharter in favor of going into details about Jackson and Biddle going to war. But Niven explains neatly Jackson's many vetoes.

[Burt Schoeppe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really that compelling a read.

In many respects serving as president was a low point of Van Buren's career. However, Niven devotes far too little of the book discussing the events of Van Buren's presidency with a lot of time spent the other aspects of his career.

It was interesting to read how Van Buren evolved and became an abolitionist later in life.

[Jeff]

Couldn't finish. Too dense and dry. Incredibly informative, but a tough read.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was always the height of irony that Martin Van Buren was defeated for re-election in 1840 by the
descendant of one of the first families of Virginia William Henry Harrison. The Whig Party presented
Harrison to the public as this log cabin dwelling, hard cider drinking military veteran. Van Buren was
an effete eastern fop who effected all kinds of fancy manners and there's something suspicious about
those kind of fellows.

Our 8th president has a number of firsts for presidents in his resume. He was the first born after we
had declared independence from Great Britain, the first governor of New York to get to be president
and the first not to be born of English ancestry. Van Buren's ancestors dated to New Amsterdam days
and in his native Kinderhook, New York more Dutch than English was spoken in his early years. His
father was a yeoman farmer who also ran a tavern as a side business. A lot of his education came from the tales of travelers and that sparked Van Buren's interest in politics. He never went to college
and clerked to get a law degree.

He was conscious of his lack of education, but through his own effort cultivated the manners of a
gentleman. Later on he counted among friends and supporters such literary figures as Washington
Irving and James K. Paulding who served for a time as Van Buren's Secretary Of The Navy. But that
was later.

Van Buren's talents were in organization and he slowly built the first real statewide political machine, directed from Albany called the Albany Regency. Right up to the Civil War you were either pro or anti-Regency. Van Buren got himself elected a State Senator, Attorney General and
in 1821 United States Senator from New York. serving there until 1828.

His main rival in this period was DeWitt Clinton who unlike Van Buren made deals with whomever
to gain power and that included Federalists. Clinton was an upper crust type all that Van Buren
was not. He put Van Buren down a lot and though he dealt with him, Clinton was the only man
Van Buren ever hated in politics. When Clinton died suddenly in 1828 both were courting the
favor of Andrew Jackson the odds on favorite to be the next president.

I doubt anyone could get away with what Van Buren did. He ran for governor in 1828 to strengthen
the Democratic ticket and that was what the party was now called, Democrats. He won and
served about 9 weeks setting up an administration and turning things over to a trusted Lieutenant
Governor Enos Throop. He joined Jackson's Cabinet as Secretary of State.

Van Buren married one Hannah Hoes back in 1811 and she bore him 4 sons before she died. Van
Buren was a widower the rest of his life. So when the social scandal involving Peggy O'Neal Eaton
broke and Cabinet wives snubbed her, Van Buren welcomed her at social events. That social
snubbing broke up Jackson's Cabinet and they mostly quit with Van Buren becoming Minister to
Great Britain.

Vice President John C. Calhoun who was breaking with Jackson on a few issues and whose wife had
led the O'Neal snubbing from the wives contrived to have Van Buren defeated for confirmation. That action hoisted Calhoun on his own petard for Jackson had Van Buren as a Vice Presidential
running mate and he was elected in 1832.

As Vice President, Van Buren did function as an Assistant President. Jackson was old and infirm and left a lot of details to Van Buren though the reins of policy were his. Van Buren was his annointed successor in 1836.

One of the most controversial things Jackson did was remove government deposits from the Bank
of the United States and deposited them in favored state banks. That set off the Panic of 1837 and
economic hard times. Van Buren set up an independent sub-Treasury to counter this, but lots of folks blame him for the hard times.

His main foreign policy issue was with the British and Canada over the Maine boundary. We had
some saber rattling in what was called the Aroostock War. The boundary was settled in the Tyler
administration. He also had a dustup with Canada when rebels led by William Lyon MacKenzie
set up shop in the Niagara River's Navy Island. Van Buren quickly proclaimed our neutrality.

So Van Buren was defeated for re-election in 1840. He came in to the 1844 Democratic convention
with a majority of delegates for another run. But he lacked the 2/3 needed as per the party rules.
James Knox Polk became the nominee and president.

In 1848 Van Buren who could easily have been named Mr. Democrat ran for president again as the
candidate of the Free Soil Party. He had come to an anti-slavery position, but was more concerned
that the issue was splitting the nation and we had to get rid of it. He got no electoral votes.

After that Van Buren was an elder statesman who was listened to less and less as the years advanced. He died in 1862 in the middle of the Civil War he dreaded would come.

The Red Fox of Kinderhook, the little Magician were some of the nicknames ascribed to Martin Van
Buren. His is an elusive story, but John Niven's biogaphy may give us clues.

[Brent Ecenbarger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although James Madison was certainly a politician, due to his involvement in the writing of the Constitution and the early United States government, his accomplishments stood on their own in the annals of U.S history. I bring him up, because after reading a biography on Martin Van Buren, I think that eight presidents in I've reached my first president that would compare to today's modern politician. Whereas the seven prior presidents held other political offices, none of them had such a limited background outside of politics. Furthermore, all of the prior presidents had more connections and influence on a national scale, while Van Buren was clearly a big man in New York who was constantly trying to gain equal footing elsewhere. Here's how he compared on my presidential score card:

Born into - Van Buren didn't have the most prestigious start in life, however after following Andrew Jackson's amazing rags to President story, this dutch son of an innkeeper who had a few slaves of his own, Van Buren was able to advance through taking advantage of his relationships with other individuals, not shying away from changing allegiances to reach the top of the New York political ladder. Fun fact that I already knew but that the book never mentioned: Van Buren is the first president born in United States of America (as the rest were both pre 1776). 2.5 out of 5.

Pre-president - Van Buren held offices at the state level for varying periods of time ( for a full term as a Senator, and about a month as a Governor) before jumping to Secretary of State and eventually vice president. His work as Secretary of State was the most successful/important, however the book made a large deal about the amount of times Jackson depended on his VP for advice during his tenure. Interestingly enough, the prior Jackson biography I read glossed over most of the details this book spent so much time elaborating. 3 out of 5.

Presidential career - Van Buren continued with Jackson's chief struggle with the Bank of the United States. The financial depression during Van Buren's presidency was likely caused by Jackson's policies and fight with the bank, although the eventual outcome doesn't look too bad for either president. Van Buren's addition to this was the beginnings of the United State's first independent treasury. The rest of his record is somewhat inconsistent; his dealings with Texas look good as far as keeping the peace and the balance in place between slave/non slave states, although he was certainly on the wrong side of history on the Amistad case. The chief criticism of Van Buren by his peers was his willingness to allow southern interests to control him, although that looks to be a constant in the Oval office until Lincoln takes the office 8 presidents from now. 2.5 out of 5.

Vice President - Richard Johnson was a controversial figure at the time, which makes me want to read a book about him in the future. Southern states didn't know what to make of him, as he had a black wife (wikipedia calls her 1/8 black, this biography didn't elaborate beyond referring to her as black) and may have actually been the soldier that killed Tecumseh. Van Buren liked him OK, although like most VPs of the era he did little of note while in office. He gets a high score for being interesting. 4.5 out of 5.

First Lady - Hannah Van Buren, like Rachel Jackson and Martha Jefferson before her, passed away before MVB took office, survived by her four sons, one with the cool name of Smith. N/A

Post presidency -Van Buren remained active in the New York democratic party for years after he left office, even unsuccessfully running for president on two more occasions (one of which was not his idea). The most involved he was in politics was in advising future president Polk on his cabinet (which he ignored, causing the rift which basically ruined the New York party) and laying out the ideals of the Free Soil party which caught on and spread throughout the nation to an extent. 3 out of 5.

Book overall - I don't know if it was mostly the book or the subject matter but this was the toughest biography to get through yet. Van Buren did some interesting things, but the bulk of this book was spent on squabbles between New York politicians that don't play as much of a role in the nation's history as the supporting figures in the prior president novels. That may be a theme as the country gets larger and politicians become more localized. If you're looking for a history of New York politics in the early 1800's though, this is the book for you. 2.5 out of 5.

[Scott Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

“At 2:00 am on July 24, 1862, as thousands of his fellow countrymen were engaged in fierce combat, Van Buren died” (p.611) . . . thus ends John Niven’s 600 page biographical tome on the 8th President of the United States. A man of humble origins, Van Buren (MVB) was probably our first President to speak English as a second language (Dutch being his native tongue), and the first President from New York. His family owned slaves, as did Van Buren, which probably influenced his inability to forcefully address the slavery issue. MVB held short tenures as New York senator, state governor and minister to England. He was also known as Andrew Jackson's loyal Secretary of State and Vice President. After his election to Presidency, MVB was beset by both domestic troubles (economic depression, Indian removal policy & costs) as well as external challenges (annexation of Texas and Canadian border upheavals). The “Little Magician” (as he was called) lived in an age of colorful grass-root efforts: Bucktails, Amalgamators, Hunkers, Barnburners – probably not unlike what we experience today with the Tea Party movement. Biographer John Niven provides a balanced treatment of MVB, with much (too much?) political background and facts. However I found Niven’s biography to be void of much personal information regarding MVB's personal life (his wife died young, leaving MVB with four sons to raise, yet he never remarried). Van Buren should probably best be remembered for his loyalty to the Democratic Party - - the party of Thomas Jefferson - - the party which he supported unto his dying days (he voted for Stephen Douglas, not Abraham Lincoln).

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am in the process of proceeding through the President's and was interested in the first president from New York. This biography is 30 years old, although that does not necessarily make this biography poor. This biography has close to 1000 individuals, makes very poor transitions and leaves out some important events while making space for inconsequential political maneuvering involving smalltime persons in the government.

The author is overly optimistic in favor of Van Buren and I cannot recall a negative exposition of a Van Buren act. Van Buren, like most politicians of his day, was inactive on the slavery issue and died during the Civil War. His devotion to "noncommitalism" and waiting to make a decision probably made for a poor leader, but this was little developed in the book.

The intriguing parts were thoroughly intriguing, like the uproar over French vote to not pay reparations. The development of the patronage system in American politics is clearly evident and Van BUren capitalizes on this. There is overall little exposition of events that Van Buren was not involved in, even though the United States.

Overly political with a huge devoted part to politics of New York. Definitely a well researched book at 612 pages of text, but would suggest something else for those interested in a biography on the very interesting character of Van Buren.

[David Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd really rather give this book 2.5 stars, but I guess I'll have to round that up.

The first half of the book was quite frustrating. We don't really learn about Van Buren's policies, what he stood for. We instead learn who he convinced to side with him - the machinations rather than the arguments. As we moved through Van Buren's life, Niven gives us more meat. For me, this colors how I regard Van Buren. Because I understand what he stood for late in his life but not early, I end up thinking he was a better ex-President than President.

Another minor point of frustration is that Niven chose to tell us Van Buren's stances on various issues without bothering to give us much background. For example, Niven tells us Van Buren thought the Compromise of 1850 settled the slavery question but doesn't tell us anything about the Compromise. Fair enough - we can go look it up, and the book weighs in at over 600 pages already, but a bit distracting nonetheless.

I guess this is a good thing about reading the presidents in order. Each biographer has his own relationship with his subject; the John Quincy Adams book gives is a somewhat different view of the Amistad case than the Van Buren writer. In the end I probably get a fairly well-rounded view of the major issues.

[Craig Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is as comprehensive as it gets when it comes to the life and career of Martin Van Buren. So if you're huge fan of Van - this book is for you. I personally felt like it became a bit of a slog through sections, especially the denser sections focusing on the politics of the time. So many names and political parties are thrown out over the course of the book it gets difficult to keep up. Also, Van Buren himself, while an able statesman, comes off as a rather bland, detached figure in American politics - that is to say, he was incredibly perceptive and astute, but also carefully rode the line of what was most politically expedient. This resulted in Van Buren's legacy being rather marred by carrying out policies that he inherited from the Jackson administration, such as the Indian Removal Act. Van Buren was also not much of a champion for abolition, despite being against slavery (though he did fight against slavery encroaching on new American territories). It's a shame that Van Buren couldn't bring his full intellectual and political prowess to bare on more progressive policies until the very end of his life, when he threw his full support to the Lincoln administration.

[Matt Estersohn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book unbelievably frustrating. This is a tedious journey through Martin Van Buren's political life where unbelievably minute details are explored, but there is never a point where the greater context behind political fights is revealed. You get all the gory mechanisms surrounding the fights between Van Buren and politicians like DeWitt Clinton and Henry Clay, but not much of an idea about why they disagreed in the first place.

Be warned that prior knowledge is assumed, sometimes to a ludicrous degree. As an example, someone like Andrew Donelson is casually dropped into the narrative without explanation. Other times, political allies or enemies from earlier in Van Buren's career reappear hundreds of pages later. I found myself backtracking or checking outside sources just to follow the narrative.

I added a second star because after taking a step back, the research that went into this book is tremendous. I just think the target audience is historians, and that it's not safe for public consumption. It's too bad because I found Van Buren himself interesting - he is in need of a more accessible biography.

[Leslee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content was good, but it was a struggle due to bad punctuation (commas, people!) and confusing sentences. The author would start paragraphs with something like "The senator from New York thought [something:]", where "the senator from New York" is Van Buren. There are a lot of senators from New York in this book; more clarity and less "style" would have made reading it more enjoyable. I think this is the first book I've ever had to renew twice from my library because I was dragging my way through it.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book provided some great insight into the person of Martin Van Buren, but the writing focused too much on the minute details of his life and times and didn't provide enough context into the broader issues of the day (slavery, banking, expansion). At times Van Buren seemed more a 'politician' than a leader, and the book didn't give him enough credit for what seemed to be some pretty progressive ideas for his time. An interesting character, more context would have helped. On to William Henry Harrison.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, there are not many books easily available on Van Buren. Second, this is unfortunate because he was a great innovator, for good or bad, in the area of campaigning. He was a master networker and could foresee the results of actions much better that people of those times. Niven's treatment is very detailed and like some of the most illuminating biographies, this does not make for the most dramatic rendition. Nonetheless is reads well and is extremely well developed. For those living in the northeast there is the special attraction of him being a Kinderhook and Albany native.

[Edgar Raines · Rating 4 out of 5]

This thoroughly researched volume is possibly the best guide to New York State politics (at least from the Democratic Party point of view) from 1812 to 1848. Niven's Van Buren is a wily, intelligent, and honorable politician---adept both at intrigue and maneuver. He perhaps better than any other politician of his generation could see several moves ahead on the board and adopt his course accordingly. The detail will be daunting to some, although the writing is very clear, but for those with a special interest in the Jacksonian era or New York politics this is a book to read.

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bailed after 100 pages, despite a real desire to stick it out, knowing that there are very few books about Van Buren (not aimed at elementary schoolers) and none of them any shorter.

This was so very tedious, with its minutiae of 19th-century New York politics. A recitation of facts without any analysis or interpretation. None of it was sticking so I gave up and switched to a biography written sixty years earlier and already, just one chapter in, I've learned more and have gained a greater appreciation for Van Buren's place in history.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

612 pages of excruciating detail about Martin Van Buren, our eighth president (after Andrew Jackson, before William Henry Harrison, obviously). If you want to know what politics looked like in the early 1800's and see how the nation started to tear itself apart over the issue of slavery, then this is probably the book. A tough read and full of hundreds of other characters besides the titular subject but while it overwhelms with details, it satisfies with its completeness.

[R. Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Romantic Age of American Politics is a book in serious need of some editing. This book has no business being over 600 pages. It's well-researched, but lacks any sort of narrative aside from a chronological recitation of facts. Van Buren has too many interesting stories that are lost in a sea of information. This is a good book to use a reference on the 8th President, I guess. I read the whole thing and can't remember any of it.

[Aaron Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good content, but not very well written. This book could have been a lot better. Reads more like an encyclopedia of facts than a narrative about a man's life for the most part, though it does pick up a bit towards the end. Big moments such as his election to the presidency seem to come and go without hardly even noticing.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to fault Niven for this rather dull biography of a president whose life was surprisingly uneventful. It should not be surprising that there are few alternative authoritative Martin Van Buren biographies. This book might be useful for scholars, historians, and political junkies, but casual readers of biographies will have trouble keeping their eyes open.