Martin Van Buren

By Atlas MeyersThe 8th Presidency (1837–1841)

Length1h 6m

Summary

Martin Van Buren was the first president to be born a citizen of the United States, yet he remains one of its most enigmatic ghosts. He was the "Little Magician," the man who invented the modern political party as a machine of discipline and patronage. But when he finally ascended to the office he had spent a lifetime engineering, the machinery jammed. We examine the years 1837 through 1841 as a study in bad timing and ideological rigidity. Van Buren inherited the whirlwind of Andrew Jackson’s economic policies just as they touched the ground. His presidency was consumed by the Panic of 1837, a financial collapse that shattered the nation’s confidence. We witness the moment the American presidency shifted from a role of heroic leadership to one of cold, bureaucratic management, and how the architect of the system was ultimately devoured by the very populism he helped create.