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Martin Van Buren ((オランダ語:Maarten van Buren)〔Baptism record at Kinderhook, New York Dutch Reformed Church〕; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American politician who served as the eighth President of the United States (1837–1841). A member of the Democratic Party, he served in a number of senior roles, including eighth Vice President (1833–1837) and Secretary of State (1829–1831), both under Andrew Jackson. Van Buren's inability as president to deal with the economic chaos of the Panic of 1837 and with the surging Whig Party led to his defeat in the 1840 election. Of Dutch descent, Van Buren learned early how to coordinate multiple ethnic and political groups. A meticulous dresser, he could mingle in upper class society as well as in saloon environments such as the tavern his father ran. A delegate to a political convention at age 18, he quickly moved from local to state politics, gaining fame both as a political organizer and an accomplished lawyer. Elected to the Senate by the state legislature in 1821, Van Buren supported William H. Crawford for president in 1824, but by 1828 had come to support General Andrew Jackson. Van Buren was a major supporter and organizer for Jackson in the 1828 election. Jackson was elected, and made Van Buren Secretary of State. During Jackson's eight years as president, Van Buren was a key advisor, and built the organizational structure for the coalescing Democratic Party, particularly in New York. In 1831, Jackson gave him a recess appointment as American minister to Britain, but Van Buren's nomination was rejected by the Senate, cutting short his service in London. He was successful in the jockeying to become Jackson's picked successor, and was elected vice president in 1832. Van Buren faced several Whig opponents in his presidential bid in 1836, and was elected. As president, Van Buren was blamed for the depression of 1837; hostile newspapers called him "Martin Van Ruin". He attempted to cure the economic problems by keeping control of federal funds in an independent treasury—rather than in state banks—but Congress would not approve of this until 1840. In foreign affairs, he wanted the United States not to annex Texas (the 10th president John Tyler would annex the state eight years after Van Buren's initial rejection). Additionally, relations with Britain and its colonies in Canada proved to be strained from the bloodless Aroostook War and the ''Caroline'' Affair. In 1840, Van Buren was voted out of office, losing to Whig candidate William Henry Harrison. Van Buren was the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1844, but lost to James K. Polk, who went on to win the election. In the 1848 election Van Buren ran unsuccessfully as the candidate of the Free Soil Party. He also supported fellow Democrats Franklin Pierce (1852), James Buchanan (1856), and Stephen A. Douglas (1860) for the presidency, but his increasingly abolitionist views and support for the Union led him to support Abraham Lincoln's policies after the start of the American Civil War. Van Buren's health began to fail in 1861, and he died in July 1862 at the age of seventy-nine. Although he served in many high offices, his most lasting achievement was as a political organizer who built the modern Democratic Party and guided it to dominance in the new Second Party System. ==Early life and education== Born on December 5, 1782, Martin Van Buren was the first president to be born after the United States declared independence. He was baptized on December 15 of that year as "Maarten van Buren", the original Dutch spelling of his name. He was born in the village of Kinderhook, New York, on December 5, 1782, about south of Albany on the Hudson River. In the era before the steamboat, Kinderhook was an isolated village, and most of the townsfolk, including the Van Burens, were of Dutch descent and spoke Dutch at home. Martin Van Buren was the only president who spoke English as a second language. Van Buren descended from Cornelis Maessen of the town of Buren in the Netherlands, who had come to America in 1631 and purchased a plot of land on Manhattan Island; his son, Martin Cornelisen, took the surname Van Buren.〔Cole, pp. 3, 9〕〔Widner, loc. 153–165〕 The future president's father, Abraham Van Buren (1737–1817), was a farmer who owned a Kinderhook inn as well as six slaves. Abraham Van Buren supported the American Revolution as a captain in the Albany County Militia's 7th Regiment, and later joined the Jeffersonian Republicans. He was active in local politics and government, and served as Kinderhook's town clerk from 1787 to 1797. Martin Van Buren's mother was Maria Hoes Van Alen Van Buren (1747–1818). She had been married to Johannes Van Alen. After Johannes' death, she married Abraham Van Buren in 1776. By his mother's first marriage, Van Buren had one half-sister and two half-brothers, including James I. Van Alen, who practiced law with Van Buren for a time and served as a member of Congress (1807–1809). Van Buren had four full siblings:〔Brooke, p. 481〕 * Dirckie "Derike" Van Buren (1777–1865), the wife of Barent Hoes (1777-1853). Barent Hoes was the brother of Martin Van Buren's wife, and served in local office including town clerk. * Jannetje (Called "Hannah" or "Jane") Van Buren (1780-1838), who never married and resided with her sister Dirckie Van Buren and brother-in-law Barent Hoes. * Lawrence Van Buren (1786–1868), an attorney who served as a militia officer in the War of 1812 and held local offices including Town Supervisor of Kinderhook, postmaster, and presidential elector in 1852. * Abraham Van Buren (1788–1836), an attorney who served as Columbia County Surrogate after Martin Van Buren and James I. Van Alen. Van Buren received a basic education at the village schoolhouse and briefly studied Latin at the Kinderhook Academy and at Washington Seminary in Claverack.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://www.nycourts.gov/history/legal-history-new-york/legal-history-eras-02/history-era-02-van-buren.html )〕〔Cole, p. 14〕 His formal education ended before he reached 14, when he began reading law in 1796 at the office of Peter Silvester and his son Francis, prominent Federalist attorneys in Kinderhook.〔Brooke, p. 230〕 Van Buren was small in stature; as an adult he was 5 feet 6 inches tall, and often referred to as "Little Van." When he first began his legal studies, he often presented an unkempt appearance in rough, homespun clothing. It was the Silvesters who suggested that Van Buren could improve his professional prospects by dressing fashionably and taking care in how he appeared in public; he heeded the advice and patterned his clothing, appearance, bearing and conduct after theirs. After six years under the Silvesters, the elder Silvester and Democratic-Republican political figure John Peter Van Ness suggested that Van Buren's political leanings made it a good idea for him to complete his education with a Democratic-Republican attorney. Accepting this advice, he spent a final year of apprenticeship in the New York City office of John Van Ness's brother William P. Van Ness, a political lieutenant of Aaron Burr. Van Buren was admitted to the bar in 1803. Van Buren married Hannah Hoes, his childhood sweetheart and first cousin once removed, on February 21, 1807, in Catskill, New York. Like Van Buren, she was raised in a Dutch home; she spoke primarily Dutch, and spoke English with a distinct accent. The couple had five sons and one daughter: Abraham (1807–1873) a graduate of West Point and career military officer; John (1810–1866), graduate of Yale and Attorney General of New York; Martin, Jr. (1812–1855), secretary to his father and editor of his father's papers until a premature death from tuberculosis; Winfield Scott (born and died in 1814); and Smith Thompson (1817–1876), an editor and special assistant to his father while president. Their daughter was stillborn. After 12 years of marriage, Hannah Van Buren contracted tuberculosis and died on February 5, 1819, at the age of 35.〔Silbey (2002) p.27〕 Martin Van Buren never remarried. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Martin Van Buren」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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