Editing Martin Van Buren (section)

==Presidency (1837–1841)==
{{Main|Presidency of Martin Van Buren}}

===Cabinet===
{{Main|Presidency of Martin Van Buren#Cabinet}}
[[File:Martin Van Buren MET ap93.19.2 (cropped 3x4).jpg|thumb|Van Buren as painted by [[Henry Inman (painter)|Henry Inman]] during his presidency, c. 1837–38]]
Martin Van Buren was sworn in as the eighth President of the United States on March 4, 1837. He retained much of Jackson's cabinet and lower-level appointees, as he hoped that the retention of Jackson's appointees would stop Whig momentum in the South and restore confidence in the Democrats as a party of sectional unity.{{sfn|Nowlan|2012|p=320}} The cabinet holdovers represented the different regions of the country: Secretary of the Treasury [[Levi Woodbury]] came from New England, Attorney General [[Benjamin Franklin Butler (lawyer)|Benjamin Franklin Butler]] and Secretary of the Navy [[Mahlon Dickerson]] hailed from New York and New Jersey, respectively, Secretary of State [[John Forsyth (Georgia)|John Forsyth]] of Georgia represented the South, and Postmaster General [[Amos Kendall]] of Kentucky represented the West.

For the lone open position of Secretary of War, Van Buren first approached William Cabell Rives, who had sought the vice presidency in 1836. After Rives declined to join the cabinet, Van Buren appointed [[Joel Roberts Poinsett]], a South Carolinian who had opposed secession during the [[Nullification Crisis]]. Van Buren's cabinet choices were criticized by Pennsylvanians such as [[James Buchanan]], who argued that their state deserved a cabinet position as well as some Democrats who argued that Van Buren should have used his patronage powers to augment his power. However, Van Buren saw value in avoiding contentious patronage battles, and his decision to retain Jackson's cabinet made it clear that he intended to continue the policies of his predecessor. Additionally, Van Buren had helped select Jackson's cabinet appointees and enjoyed strong working relationships with them.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=37–40}}

Van Buren held regular formal cabinet meetings and discontinued the informal gatherings of advisors that had attracted so much attention during Jackson's presidency. He solicited advice from department heads, tolerated open and even frank exchanges between cabinet members, perceiving himself as "a mediator, and to some extent an umpire between the conflicting opinions" of his counselors. Such detachment allowed the president to reserve judgment and protect his prerogative for making final decisions. These open discussions gave cabinet members a sense of participation and made them feel part of a functioning entity, rather than isolated executive agents.{{sfn|Nowlan|2012|p=321}} Van Buren was closely involved in foreign affairs and matters pertaining to the Treasury Department; but the Post Office, War Department, and Navy Department had significant autonomy under their respective cabinet secretaries.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|p=171}}

===Panic of 1837===
{{main|Panic of 1837}}
[[File:Jackson and Van Buren, 1837.jpg|thumb|''The Modern [[Balaam#Hebrew Bible|Balaam and His Ass]]'', an 1837 caricature placing the blame for the Panic of 1837 and the perilous state of the banking system on outgoing President Andrew Jackson, shown riding a donkey, while President Martin Van Buren comments approvingly]]
When Van Buren entered office, the nation's economic health had taken a turn for the worse and the prosperity of the early 1830s was over. Two months into his presidency, on May&nbsp;10, 1837, some important state banks in New York, running out of hard currency reserves, refused to convert paper money into gold or silver, and other financial institutions throughout the nation quickly followed suit. This [[financial crisis]] would become known as the [[Panic of 1837]].<ref name=MBdomestic>{{cite web| url=https://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/domestic-affairs| title=Martin Van Buren: Domestic affairs| publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia| access-date=March 6, 2017| date=October 4, 2016| archive-date=May 17, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517210726/https://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/domestic-affairs| url-status=live}}</ref> The Panic was followed by a five-year [[Depression (economics)|depression]] in which banks failed and unemployment reached record highs.<ref>{{cite book |first1=W. J. |last1=Rorabaugh |first2=Donald T. |last2=Critchlow |first3=Paula C. |last3=Baker |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VL_6X5zWOokC&pg=PA210 |title=America's promise: a concise history of the United States |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=210 |isbn=978-0-7425-1189-7 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Van Buren blamed the economic collapse on greedy American and foreign business and financial institutions, as well as the over-extension of credit by U.S. banks. Whig leaders in Congress blamed the Democrats, along with Andrew Jackson's economic policies,<ref name=MBdomestic/> specifically his 1836 [[Specie Circular]]. Cries of "rescind the circular!" went up and former president Jackson sent word to Van Buren asking him not to rescind the order, believing that it had to be given enough time to work. Others, like [[Nicholas Biddle (banker)|Nicholas Biddle]], believed that Jackson's [[Bank War#Jackson's dismantling of the BUS|dismantling of the Bank of the United States]] was directly responsible for the irresponsible creation of paper money by the state banks which had precipitated this panic.<ref name="Seigenthaler">{{cite book|last1=Seigenthaler|first1=John|last2=Schlesinger|first2=Arthur Meier Jr.|title=James K Polk|publisher=Macmillen|year=2004|pages=[https://archive.org/details/jameskpolk0000seig/page/58 58–60]|isbn=978-0-8050-6942-6|url=https://archive.org/details/jameskpolk0000seig/page/58}}</ref> The Panic of 1837 loomed large over the [[United States elections, 1838|1838 election cycle]], as the carryover effects of the economic downturn led to Whig gains in both the U.S. House and Senate. The state elections in 1837 and 1838 were also disastrous for the Democrats,<ref>{{cite book |last=Leonard |first=Gerald |date=2002 |title=The Invention of Party Politics: Federalism, Popular Sovereignty, and Constitutional Development in Jacksonian Illinois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d89FAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA177 |location=Chapel Hill|publisher=University of North Carolina Press |page=177 |isbn=978-0-8078-2744-4}}</ref> and the partial economic recovery in 1838 was offset by a second commercial crisis later that year.<ref>{{cite book |last=Churella |first=Albert J. |date=2013 |title=The Pennsylvania Railroad: Building an Empire, 1846–1917 |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXdjEZke74QC&pg=PA69 |location=Philadelphia|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |page=69 |isbn=978-0-8122-0762-0}}</ref>

To address the crisis, the Whigs proposed rechartering the [[History of central banking in the United States|national bank]]. The president countered by proposing the establishment of an [[Independent Treasury|independent U.S. treasury]], which he contended would take the politics out of the nation's money supply. Under the plan, the government would hold its money in [[Hard money (policy)|gold or silver]], and would be restricted from printing [[Banknote|paper money]] at will; both measures were designed to prevent inflation.<ref>{{cite book|title=Exploring American History: From Colonial Times to 1877|volume=10|editor1-last=Lansford|editor1-first=Tom|editor2-last=Woods|editor2-first=Thomas E.|date=2008|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7614-7758-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=02K5EYvo5loC&pg=PA1047 |page=1046}}</ref> The plan would permanently separate the government from private banks by storing government funds in government vaults rather than in private banks.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=58–62}} Van Buren announced his proposal in September&nbsp;1837,<ref name=MBdomestic/> but an alliance of conservative Democrats and Whigs prevented it from becoming law until 1840.<ref name=Morrison456>{{cite book | last = Morison | first = Samuel Eliot | author-link = Samuel Eliot Morison | title = The Oxford History of the American People | url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryof00mori | url-access = registration | year = 1965 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York | page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryof00mori/page/456 456]}}</ref> As the debate continued, conservative Democrats like Rives defected to the Whig Party, which itself grew more unified in its opposition to Van Buren.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=61–62}} The Whigs would abolish the Independent Treasury system in 1841, but it was revived in 1846, and remained in place until the passage of the [[Federal Reserve Act]] in 1913.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|p=210}} More important for Van Buren's immediate future, the depression would be a major issue in his upcoming re-election campaign.<ref name=MBdomestic/>

===Indian removal===
Federal policy under Jackson had sought to move Indian tribes to lands west of the [[Mississippi River]] through the [[Indian Removal Act of 1830]], and the federal government negotiated 19&nbsp;treaties with Indian tribes during Van Buren's presidency.<ref name=MVforcebehind>{{cite web|title=Martin Van Buren: The Force Behind the Trail of Tears|url=https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/martin-van-buren-the-force-behind-the-trail-of-tears/|last=Landry|first=Alysa Landry|date=February 23, 2016|publisher=Indian Country Media Network|location=Verona|access-date=March 16, 2017|archive-date=March 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317143750/https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/martin-van-buren-the-force-behind-the-trail-of-tears/|url-status=live}}</ref> The 1835 [[Treaty of New Echota]] signed by government officials and representatives of the [[Cherokee]] tribe had established terms under which the Cherokees ceded their territory in the southeast and agreed to move west to [[Oklahoma]]. In 1838, Van Buren directed General [[Winfield Scott]] to forcibly move all those who had not yet complied with the treaty.<ref>{{cite book |last= Sturgis |first=Amy H. |date=2006 |title=The Trail of Tears and Indian Removal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xyS9GtYci7IC&pg=PA39 |publisher=Greenwood |page= 39|isbn=978-0-313-33658-4}}</ref>

The Cherokees were herded violently into [[internment camp]]s where they were kept for the summer of 1838. The actual transportation west was delayed by intense heat and drought, but in the fall, the Cherokee reluctantly agreed to transport themselves west.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Cherokee Removal: Before and After|last = Anderson|first = William|publisher = University of Georgia Press|year = 1991|isbn = 978-0-8203-1254-5|location = Athens, Georgia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears|title = Trail of Tears|date = 2014|access-date = October 27, 2014|website = history.com|publisher = A&E Television Networks|archive-date = October 14, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171014141218/https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears|url-status = live}}</ref> Some 20,000&nbsp;people were relocated against their will during the Cherokee removal, part of the [[Trail of Tears]].<ref name=newnetherland>{{cite web|title=Martin van Buren [1782–1862]|url=http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/buren-martin-van/|publisher=New Netherland Institute|location=Albany|access-date=March 10, 2017|archive-date=September 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914221702/http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/buren-martin-van/|url-status=live}}</ref> Notably, [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], who would go on to become America's foremost man of letters, wrote Van Buren [[Emerson's letter to Martin Van Buren|a letter]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=ajeyaseelan |date=2022-10-11 |title=III. Letter to President Van Buren |url=https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/the-complete-works-of-ralph-waldo-emerson/iii-letter-to-president-van-buren |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=Collection at Bartleby.com |language=en-US}}</ref> protesting his treatment of the Cherokee.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Emerson: Political Writings|last=Sacks|first=Kenneth S.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-521-88369-6|page=xxii}}</ref>

An estimated 4,000 Cherokee died during the Trail of Tears. Entire Indian nations were relocated, with some losing as much as half their populations. Van Buren claimed that America was "perhaps in the beginning unjustifiable aggressors" toward the Indians, but later became the "guardians". He told Congress that a "mixed occupancy of the same territory by the white and red man is incompatible with the safety or happiness of either", and also claimed the Cherokee had not protested their removal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Landry |first=Alysa |date=2018-09-13 |title=Martin Van Buren: The Force Behind the Trail of Tears |url=https://ictnews.org/archive/martin-van-buren-the-force-behind-the-trail-of-tears |access-date=2024-08-11 |website=ICT News |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Seminole War in Everglades.jpg|thumb|A United States Marine Corps boat expedition searching the [[Everglades]] during the Second Seminole War]]
President Jackson used the army to force [[Seminole]] Indians in Florida to move to the west. Many did surrender but they then escaped from detention camps. In December 1837, in the [[Second Seminole War]] the army launched a massive offensive, leading to the [[Battle of Lake Okeechobee]] and a new phase of attrition.  Realizing it was almost impossible to remove the remaining Seminoles from Florida, the administration negotiated a compromise  allowing them to remain in southwest Florida.<ref>John Missall, and Mary Lou Missall, ''The Seminole Struggle: A History of America's Longest Indian War'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).</ref>

===Texas===
Just before leaving office in March 1837, Andrew Jackson extended diplomatic recognition to the [[Republic of Texas]], which had won independence from Mexico in the [[Texas Revolution]]. By suggesting the prospect of quick [[annexation]], Jackson raised the danger of war with Mexico and heightened sectional tensions at home. New England abolitionists charged that there was a "[[Slave Power|slaveholding conspiracy]] to acquire Texas", and [[Daniel Webster]] eloquently denounced annexation.{{sfn|Henretta|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3djEYV3R7oIC&pg=PA109 109]}} Many Southern leaders, meanwhile, strongly desired the expansion of slave-holding territory in the United States.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=151–152}}

Boldly reversing Jackson's policies, Van Buren sought peace abroad and harmony at home. He proposed a diplomatic solution to a long-standing financial dispute between American citizens and the Mexican government, rejecting Jackson's threat to settle it by force.{{sfn|Henretta|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3djEYV3R7oIC&pg=PA109 109]}} Likewise, when the Texas minister at Washington, D.C., proposed annexation to the administration in August&nbsp;1837, he was told that the proposition could not be entertained. Constitutional scruples and fear of war with Mexico were the reasons given for the rejection,<ref name=TexAnnex3638>{{cite web|last=Neu|first=C. T.|title=Annexation|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|location=Austin|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mga02|access-date=March 11, 2017|date=June 9, 2010|archive-date=August 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807080310/https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mga02|url-status=live}}</ref> but concern that it would precipitate a clash over the extension of slavery undoubtedly influenced Van Buren and continued to be the chief obstacle to annexation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Merk|first=Frederick|title=History of the Westward Movement|date=1978|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofwestwar00merk/page/279 279]|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=978-0-394-41175-0|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofwestwar00merk/page/279}}</ref> Northern and Southern Democrats followed an unspoken rule: Northerners helped quash anti-slavery proposals and Southerners refrained from agitating for the annexation of Texas.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=151–152}} Texas withdrew the annexation offer in 1838.<ref name=TexAnnex3638/>

===Border violence with Canada===
[[File:DENT(1881) 1.213 DESTRUCTION OF THE CAROLINE.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|"Destruction of the ''Caroline''", illustration by John Charles Dent (1881)]]

====Caroline episode====
{{Main|Caroline affair}}
British subjects in [[Lower Canada]] (now Quebec) and [[Upper Canada]] (now Ontario) rose in rebellion in 1837 and 1838, protesting their lack of [[responsible government]]. While the initial insurrection in Upper Canada ended quickly (following the December&nbsp;1837 [[Battle of Montgomery's Tavern]]), many of the rebels fled across the [[Niagara River]] into New York, and Upper Canadian rebel leader [[William Lyon Mackenzie]] began recruiting volunteers in [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]].<ref name=AoD>{{cite book|title=Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott|last=Eisenhower|first=John S. D.|page=178|author-link=John Eisenhower|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-8061-3128-3}}</ref> Mackenzie declared the establishment of the [[Republic of Canada]] and put into motion a plan whereby volunteers would invade Upper Canada from [[Navy Island]] on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. Several hundred volunteers traveled to Navy Island in the weeks that followed. They procured the steamboat ''[[Caroline affair|Caroline]]'' to deliver supplies to Navy Island from [[Fort Schlosser]].<ref name=AoD/> Seeking to deter an imminent invasion, British forces crossed to the American bank of the river in late December&nbsp;1837, and they burned and sank the ''Caroline''. In the melee, one American was killed and others were wounded.<ref name=companion>{{cite book|title=The Reader's Companion to the American Presidency|editor1-last=Brinkley|editor1-first=Alan|editor2-last=Dyer|editor2-first=Davis|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780395788899/page/113 113]|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=New York|year=2000|isbn=978-0-395-78889-9|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780395788899/page/113}}</ref>

Considerable sentiment arose within the United States to declare war, and a British ship was burned in revenge.<ref name=MVforeign>{{cite web| url=https://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/foreign-affairs| title=Martin Van Buren: Foreign Affairs| publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia| access-date=March 6, 2017| date=October 4, 2016| archive-date=March 18, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318084347/https://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/foreign-affairs| url-status=live}}</ref> Van Buren, looking to avoid a war with Great Britain, sent General Winfield Scott to the [[Canada–United States border]] with large discretionary powers for its protection and its peace.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Patriot War|last=Ross|first=Robert Budd|pages=11–12|date=1890|publisher=The Detroit Evening News, revised for the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8d8BAAAAMAAJ |access-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref> Scott impressed upon American citizens the need for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, and made it clear that the U.S. government would not support adventuresome Americans attacking the British. In early January&nbsp;1838, the president proclaimed neutrality in the Canadian independence issue,{{sfn|Nowlan|2012|p=329}} a declaration which Congress endorsed by passing a neutrality law designed to discourage the participation of American citizens in foreign conflicts.<ref name=MVforeign/>

====Patriot War of 1837–1838====
{{Main|Patriot War}}
During the Canadian rebellions, [[Charles Duncombe (Upper Canada Rebellion)|Charles Duncombe]] and [[Robert Nelson (insurrectionist)|Robert Nelson]] created an armed secret society in Vermont, the [[Hunters' Lodges|Hunters' Lodge]]. It carried out several small attacks in Upper Canada between December 1837 and December 1838, collectively known as the [[Patriot War]]. Washington responded using the Neutrality Act. It prosecuted the leaders and actively deterred Americans from subversive activities abroad. In the long term, Van Buren's opposition to the Patriot War contributed to the construction of healthy [[Special Relationship|Anglo-American]] and [[Canada–United States relations]];. It also led, more immediately, to a backlash among citizens regarding the seeming overreach of federal authority,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Choosing Peace and Order: National Security and Sovereignty in a North American Borderland, 1837–42|last=Lacroix|first=Patrick|pages=943–960|volume=38|issue=5|date=2016|journal=The International History Review|doi=10.1080/07075332.2015.1070892|s2cid=155365033| issn=0707-5332 }}</ref> which hurt congressional Democrats in the 1838 midterm elections.
[[File:Disputed Border in the East.jpg|thumb|Rival claims in yellow. The diplomats split the difference along the dotted line.]]

====Northern Maine: the Aroostook "War"====
A new crisis surfaced in late 1838, in the disputed territory on the thinly settled [[History of Maine|Maine]]–[[New Brunswick]] frontier. Americans were settling on long-disputed land claimed by the United States and the United Kingdom. The British considered possession of the area vital to the defense of Canada.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=164–166}} Both American and New Brunswick lumberjacks cut timber in the disputed territory during the winter of 1838–1839. On December&nbsp;29, New Brunswick lumbermen were spotted cutting down trees on an American estate near the [[Aroostook River]]. When American woodcutters rushed to stand guard, a shouting match, known as the [[Battle of Caribou]], ensued. Tensions escalated with officials from both Maine and New Brunswick arresting each other's citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycentral.com/Ant/Aroostock.html|title=1837 – Aroostook War|publisher=Historycentral|access-date=March 17, 2017|archive-date=March 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318172510/http://www.historycentral.com/Ant/Aroostock.html|url-status=live}}</ref> British troops began to gather along the [[St. John River (Bay of Fundy)|Saint John River]]. Maine Governor [[John Fairfield]] mobilized the state militia.

The American press clamored for war; "Maine and her soil, or BLOOD!" screamed one editorial. "Let the sword be drawn and the scabbard thrown away!"<ref>Michael T. Perry, "'Maine and Her Soil, or Blood!': Political Rhetoric and Spatial Identity during the Aroostook War in Maine". ''Maine History'' 47.1 (2013): 68–93 [https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1095&context=mainehistoryjournal online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627120411/https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1095&context=mainehistoryjournal |date=June 27, 2023 }}.</ref>  In June, Congress authorized 50,000&nbsp;troops and a $10&nbsp;million budget<ref>{{cite web|title=The High Comedy of the Bloodless Aroostook War|url=http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-high-comedy-of-the-bloodless-aroostook-war/|publisher=New England Historical Society|location=Stonington|access-date=March 17, 2017|date=March 10, 2015|archive-date=October 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006062020/http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-high-comedy-of-the-bloodless-aroostook-war/|url-status=live}}</ref> in the event foreign military troops crossed into United States territory.

Van Buren wanted peace and met with the British minister to the United States. The two men agreed to resolve the border issue diplomatically.{{sfn|Silbey|2002|p=128}} Van Buren sent General Scott to the scene to lower the tensions. Scott successfully convinced all sides to submit the border issue to arbitration. The border dispute was put to rest a few years later, with the signing of the 1842 [[Webster–Ashburton Treaty]].<ref name=MVforeign/>{{sfn|Nowlan|2012|p=329}}

===''Amistad'' case: victory for the ex-slaves===
{{main|United States v. The Amistad}}
The Amistad case was a freedom suit that involved international issues and was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. It resulted from the successful rebellion of African slaves on board the Spanish schooner ''[[La Amistad]]'' in 1839. The ship ended up in American waters and was seized by the predecessor agency of the Coast Guard.<ref>Howard Jones, ''Mutiny on the Amistad: the saga of a slave revolt and its impact on American abolition, law, and diplomacy'' (Oxford University Press, 1997).</ref> Van Buren viewed abolitionism as the greatest threat to the nation's unity, and he resisted the slightest interference with slavery in the states where it existed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/13vanb1.htm|title=Martin Van Buren, First Inaugural, March 4, 1837 &#124; AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History|publisher=Vlib.us|access-date=December 5, 2011|quote=I must go into the Presidential chair with the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia against the wishes of the slaveholding States, and also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it in the States where it exists.|archive-date=December 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111205214956/http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/13vanb1.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> His administration supported the Spanish government's demand that the ship and its cargo (including the Africans) be turned over to Spain. However, abolitionist lawyers intervened. A federal district court judge ruled that the Africans were legally free and should be transported home, but Van Buren's administration appealed the case to the Supreme Court.<ref>Marcus Rediker, ''The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom'' (Penguin, 2013).</ref>

In the Supreme Court in February, 1840, [[John Quincy Adams]] argued passionately for the Africans' right to freedom. Van Buren's Attorney General [[Henry D. Gilpin]] presented the government's case. In March&nbsp;1841, the Supreme Court issued its final verdict: the ''Amistad'' Africans were free people and should be allowed to return home.<ref>{{cite web|title=Amistad Story|url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/amistad/amistadstory.htm|work=Amistad: Seeking Freedom in Connecticut|publisher=National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places U.S. Department of the Interior|access-date=March 13, 2017|archive-date=May 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512071913/https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/amistad/amistadstory.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The unique nature of the case heightened public interest in the saga, including the participation of former president Adams, Africans testifying in federal court, and their representation by prominent lawyers. Van Buren's administration lost its case and the ex-slaves won. The episode case drew attention to the personal tragedies of slavery and attracted new support for the growing abolition movement in the North. It also transformed the courts into the principal forum for a national debate on the legal foundations of slavery.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Brief Narrative|work=Teaching and Civic Outreach Resources Amistad: The Federal Courts and the Challenge to Slavery – Historical Background and Documents|url=http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_amistad_narrative.html|publisher=Federal Judicial Center|location=Washington|access-date=March 13, 2017|archive-date=December 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231000115/http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_amistad_narrative.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Judicial appointments===
{{Main|Martin Van Buren judicial appointments}}
Van Buren appointed two Associate Justices to the Supreme Court:<ref>{{Cite web|title = U.S. Senate: Supreme Court Nominations: 1789–Present|url = https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/nominations/Nominations.htm|website = www.senate.gov|access-date = March 8, 2017|archive-date = December 9, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201209085119/https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/nominations/Nominations.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> [[John McKinley]], confirmed September&nbsp;25, 1837, and [[Peter Vivian Daniel]], confirmed March&nbsp;2, 1841. He also appointed eight other federal judges, all to [[United States district court]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/research_categories.html |title=Federal Judicial Center: Search by Nominating President; Martin Van Buren |website=Federal Judicial Center |publisher=Federal Judicial Center Foundation |access-date=December 24, 2014 |archive-date=February 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216013739/http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/research_categories.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===White House hostess===
For the first half of his presidency, Van Buren, who had been a widower for many years, did not have a specific person to act as White House hostess at administration social events, but tried to assume such duties himself. When his eldest son [[Abraham Van Buren II|Abraham Van Buren]] married [[Angelica Singleton Van Buren|Angelica Singleton]] in 1838, he quickly acted to install his daughter-in-law as his hostess. She solicited the advice of her distant relative, [[Dolley Madison]],<ref name=CaroliFirstLadies>{{cite book|title=First Ladies|last=Caroli|first=Betty Boyd |author-link=Betty Boyd Caroli|page=41|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3DiQRbwz6jcC |isbn=978-0-19-516676-7|access-date=March 10, 2017}}</ref> who had moved back to Washington after her [[James Madison|husband's]] death,<ref>{{cite web|title=Van Buren's Presidential Hostess|url=http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/buren/aa_buren_hostess_2.html|website=America's Story|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=March 9, 2017|archive-date=February 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209124443/http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/buren/aa_buren_hostess_2.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and soon the president's parties livened up. After the 1839 New Year's Eve reception, ''[[The Boston Post]]'' raved: "[Angelica Van Buren is a] lady of rare accomplishments, very modest yet perfectly easy and graceful in her manners and free and vivacious in her conversation&nbsp;... universally admired."<ref name=CaroliFirstLadies/>

As the nation endured a deep [[economic depression]], Angelica Van Buren's receiving style at receptions was influenced by her heavy reading about European court life (and her naive delight in being received as the ''Queen of the United States'' when she visited the royal courts of England and France after her marriage). Newspaper coverage of this, and the claim that she intended to re-landscape the [[South Lawn (White House)|White House grounds]] to resemble the royal gardens of Europe, was used in a political attack on her father-in-law by a Pennsylvania Whig Congressman [[Charles Ogle (politician)|Charles Ogle]]. He referred obliquely to her as part of the presidential "household" in his famous [[Gold Spoon Oration]]. The attack was delivered in Congress and the depiction of the president as living a royal lifestyle was a primary factor in his defeat for re-election.<ref>{{cite web|last=Anthony|first=Carl|title=First Ladies Never Married to Presidents: Angelica Van Buren|date=September 24, 2014|url=http://www.firstladies.org/blog/first-ladies-never-married-to-presidents-angelica-van-buren/|publisher=National First Ladies Library|access-date=March 10, 2017|archive-date=August 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813113531/http://www.firstladies.org/blog/first-ladies-never-married-to-presidents-angelica-van-buren/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Presidential election of 1840===
{{Main|1840 United States presidential election}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege1840.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|1840 electoral vote results]]
Van Buren easily won renomination for a second term at the [[1840 Democratic National Convention]] in [[Baltimore, Maryland]], but he and his party faced a difficult [[1840 United States presidential election|election in 1840]]. Van Buren's presidency had been a difficult affair, with the U.S. economy mired in a severe downturn, and other divisive issues, such as slavery, western expansion, and tensions with the United Kingdom, providing opportunities for Van Buren's political opponents—including some of his fellow Democrats—to criticize his actions.<ref name=MVelections/> Although Van Buren's renomination was never in doubt, Democratic strategists began to question the wisdom of keeping Johnson on the ticket. Even former president Jackson conceded that Johnson was a liability and insisted on former House Speaker [[James K. Polk]] of Tennessee as Van Buren's new running mate. Van Buren was reluctant to drop Johnson, who was popular with workers and radicals in the North{{sfn|Cole|1984|p=358}} and added military experience to the ticket, which might prove important against likely Whig nominee [[William Henry Harrison]].<ref name=RMJ9th/> Rather than re-nominating Johnson, the Democratic convention decided to allow state Democratic Party leaders to select the vice-presidential candidates for their states.<ref>{{cite web|title=Democratic National Political Conventions, 1832–2008|publisher=Library of Congress|location=Washington|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/main/polcon/democraticindex.html|access-date=March 7, 2017|archive-date=November 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102002348/https://www.loc.gov/rr/main/polcon/democraticindex.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Van Buren hoped that the Whigs would nominate Clay for president, which would allow Van Buren to cast the 1840&nbsp;campaign as a clash between Van Buren's Independent Treasury system and Clay's support for a national bank. However, rather than nominating longtime party spokesmen like Clay and Daniel Webster, the [[1839 Whig National Convention]] nominated Harrison, who had served in various governmental positions during his career and had earned fame for his military leadership in the [[Battle of Tippecanoe]] and the [[War of 1812]]. Whig leaders like [[William Seward]] and [[Thaddeus Stevens]] believed that Harrison's war record would effectively counter the popular appeals of the Democratic Party. For vice president, the Whigs nominated former Senator [[John Tyler]] of Virginia. Clay was deeply disappointed by his defeat at the convention, but he nonetheless threw his support behind Harrison.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=191–195}}

Whigs presented Harrison as the antithesis of the president, whom they derided as ineffective, corrupt, and effete.<ref name=MVelections/> Whigs also depicted Van Buren as an aristocrat living in high style in the White House, while they used images of Harrison in a log cabin sipping cider to convince voters that he was a man of the people.<ref name=NPSsetting>{{cite web|title=Historical Context: Setting the Stage|url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/39vanburen/39setting.htm|work=Teaching with Historic Places: Martin Van Buren's "Return to the Soil" (39)|publisher=National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior|access-date=March 12, 2017|archive-date=March 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328021614/https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/39vanburen/39setting.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> They threw such jabs as "Van, Van, is a used-up man" and "Martin Van Ruin" and ridiculed him in newspapers and cartoons.{{sfn|Manweller|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uqB3ehA7M0oC&pg=PA278 278]}} Issues of policy were not absent from the campaign; the Whigs derided the alleged executive overreaches of Jackson and Van Buren, while also calling for a national bank and higher tariffs.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=199–200}} Democrats attempted to campaign on the Independent Treasury system, but the onset of [[deflation]] undercut these arguments.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=203–204}} The enthusiasm for "[[Tippecanoe and Tyler Too]]", coupled with the country's severe economic crisis, made it impossible for Van Buren to win a second term.<ref name=NPSsetting/> Harrison won by a popular vote of 1,275,612 to 1,130,033, and an electoral vote margin of 234 to 60.<ref name=preselections/> An astonishing 80% of eligible voters went to the polls on election day.<ref name=MVelections/> Van Buren actually won more votes than he had in 1836, but the Whig success in attracting new voters more than canceled out Democratic gains.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=206–207}} Additionally, Whigs won majorities for the first time in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.<ref name=RMJ9th/>