Editing Martin Van Buren (section)

==Post-presidency (1841–1862)==

===Election of 1844===
On the expiration of his term, Van Buren returned to his estate of [[Lindenwald]] in Kinderhook.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=478–479}} He continued to closely watch political developments, including the battle between the Whig alliance of the [[Great Triumvirate]] and President [[John Tyler]], who took office after Harrison's death in April&nbsp;1841.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=487–488}} Though undecided on another presidential run, Van Buren made several moves calculated to maintain his support, including a trip to the [[Southern United States]] and the [[Western United States]] during which he met with Jackson, former Speaker of the House [[James K. Polk]], and others.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=488–494}} President Tyler, [[James Buchanan]], [[Levi Woodbury]], and others loomed as potential challengers for the 1844&nbsp;Democratic nomination, but it was Calhoun who posed the most formidable obstacle.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=501}}

Van Buren remained silent on major public issues like the debate over the [[Tariff of 1842]], hoping to arrange for the appearance of a draft movement for his presidential candidacy.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=504–505}} Tyler made the annexation of Texas his chief foreign policy goal, and many Democrats, particularly in the South, were anxious to quickly complete it.<ref name="rlambert1"/> After an explosion on the {{USS|Princeton|1843|6}} killed Secretary of State [[Abel P. Upshur]] in February&nbsp;1844, Tyler brought Calhoun into his cabinet to direct foreign affairs.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=516–520}} Like Tyler, Calhoun pursued the annexation of Texas to upend the presidential race and to extend slavery into new territories.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=518–520}}

Shortly after taking office, Calhoun negotiated an annexation treaty between the United States and Texas.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=520}} Van Buren had hoped he would not have to take a public stand on annexation, but as the Texas question came to dominate U.S. politics, he decided to make his views on the issue public.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=520–521, 525}} Though he believed that his public acceptance of annexation would likely help him win the 1844 Democratic nomination, Van Buren thought that annexation would inevitably lead to an unjust war with Mexico.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=525–527}} In a public letter published shortly after Henry Clay also announced his opposition to the annexation treaty, Van Buren articulated his views on the Texas question.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=528–529}}

Van Buren's opposition to immediate annexation cost him the support of many pro-slavery Democrats.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Moore |first1=John Trotwood |last2= Foster |first2=Austin Powers |date=1923 |title=Tennessee: The Volunteer State, 1769–1923 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4LQCAAAAMAAJ |publisher=S. J. Clarke Publishing Company |page= 422}}</ref> In the weeks before the [[1844 Democratic National Convention]], Van Buren's supporters anticipated that he would win a majority of the delegates on the first presidential ballot, but would not be able to win the support of the required two-thirds of delegates.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=533–534}} Van Buren's supporters attempted to prevent the adoption of the two-thirds rule, but several Northern delegates joined with Southern delegates in implementing the two-thirds rule for the 1844 convention.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=535–538}} Van Buren won 146 of the 266&nbsp;votes on the first presidential ballot, with only 12 of his votes coming from Southern states.<ref name="rlambert1">{{cite journal |last1=Lambert |first1=Robert S. |title=The Democratic National Convention of 1844 |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |date=March 1955 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=3–23 |jstor=42621214 }}</ref>

Senator [[Lewis Cass]] won much of the remaining vote, and he gradually picked up support on subsequent ballots until the convention adjourned for the day.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=538}} When the convention reconvened and held another ballot, James K. Polk, who shared many of Van Buren's views but favored immediate annexation, won 44&nbsp;votes.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=539}} On the ninth ballot, Van Buren's supporters withdrew his name from consideration, and Polk won the nomination.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=539–540}} Although angered that his opponents had denied him the nomination, Van Buren endorsed Polk in the interest of party unity.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=541–542}} He also convinced [[Silas Wright]] to run for Governor of New York so that the popular Wright could help boost Polk in the state.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=547–548}} Wright narrowly defeated Whig nominee [[Millard Fillmore]] in the [[New York state election, 1844|1844 gubernatorial election]], and Wright's victory in the state helped Polk narrowly defeat Henry Clay in the [[1844 United States presidential election|1844 presidential election]].{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=548}}

After taking office, Polk used [[George Bancroft]] as an intermediary to offer Van Buren the ambassadorship to London. Van Buren declined, partly because he was upset with Polk over the treatment the Van Buren delegates had received at the 1844 convention, and partly because he was content in his retirement.{{sfn|Cole|1984|p=405}} Polk also consulted Van Buren in the formation of his cabinet, but offended Van Buren by offering to appoint a New Yorker only to the lesser post of Secretary of War, rather than as Secretary of State or Secretary of the Treasury.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=550–556}} Other patronage decisions also angered Van Buren and Wright, and they became permanently alienated from the Polk administration.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=564–565}}

===Election of 1848===
[[File:Martin Van Buren daguerreotype by Mathew Brady circa 1849 - edit 1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Half-length photographic portrait of an elderly, balding man dressed in a dark coat, vest and cravat|[[Daguerreotype]] of Van Buren by [[Mathew Brady]], {{circa|1849–1850}}]]
Though he had previously helped maintain a balance between the [[Barnburners and Hunkers]], the two factions of the New York Democratic Party, Van Buren moved closer to the Barnburners after the 1844 Democratic National Convention.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=543–544}} The split in the state party worsened during Polk's presidency, as his administration lavished patronage on the Hunkers.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=570–571}} In his retirement, Van Buren also grew increasingly opposed to slavery.<ref>{{cite book |last= Ferrell |first=Claudine L. |date=2006 |title=The Abolitionist Movement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mG_MNzwawSAC&pg=PA88 |location=Westport|publisher=Greenwood Press |page=88 |isbn=978-0-313-33180-0}}</ref>

As the [[Mexican–American War]] brought the debate over slavery in the territories to the forefront of American politics, Van Buren published an anti-slavery manifesto. In it, he refuted the notion that Congress did not have the power to regulate slavery in the territories, and argued the [[Founding Fathers]] had favored the eventual [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition]] of slavery.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=567–570}} The document, which became known as the "Barnburner Manifesto", was edited at Van Buren's request by John Van Buren and [[Samuel Tilden]], both of whom were leaders of the Barnburner faction.{{sfn|Silbey|2002|pp=193–194}} After the publication of the Barnburner Manifesto, many Barnburners urged the former president to seek his old office in the [[1848 United States presidential election|1848 presidential election]].{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=575–576}} The [[1848 Democratic National Convention]] seated competing Barnburner and Hunker delegations from New York, but the Barnburners walked out of the convention when Lewis Cass, who opposed congressional regulation of slavery in the territories, was nominated on the fourth ballot.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=580}}

In response to the nomination of Cass, the Barnburners began to organize as a [[third party (United States)|third party]]. At a convention held in June&nbsp;1848, in [[Utica, New York]], the Barnburners nominated 65-year-old Van Buren for president.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=581–585}} Though reluctant to bolt from the Democratic Party, Van Buren accepted the nomination to show the power of the anti-slavery movement, help defeat Cass, and weaken the Hunkers.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=585–586}} At a convention held in [[Buffalo, New York]] in August&nbsp;1848, a group of anti-slavery Democrats, Whigs, and members of the abolitionist [[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty Party]] met in the first national convention of what became known as the [[Free Soil Party]].{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=587–589}}

The convention unanimously nominated Van Buren, and chose [[Charles Francis Adams Sr.|Charles Francis Adams]], son of late former President [[John Quincy Adams]] and grandson of late former President [[John Adams]], as Van Buren's running mate. In a public message accepting the nomination, Van Buren gave his full support for the [[Wilmot Proviso]], a proposed law that would ban slavery in all territories acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=587–589}} Anti-slavery Whig orator [[Daniel Webster]], in his "Marshfield Speech", expressed skepticism, in terms that may have influenced Whig voters, about the sincerity of Van Buren's espousal of the anti-slavery cause:

{{blockquote|In Mr. Van Buren's anti-slavery professions, Mr. Webster had no confidence. He said pleasantly, but significantly, that "if he and Mr. Van Buren should meet under the Free-soil flag, the latter with his accustomed good-nature would laugh." He added, with a touch of characteristic humor, "that the leader of the Free-spoil party suddenly becoming the leader of the Free-soil party is a joke to shake his sides and mine."<ref name=Blaine>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21128/21128-8.txt|title=Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860|first=James Gillespie|last=Blaine|website=gutenberg.org|access-date=October 18, 2021|archive-date=June 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606222436/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21128/21128-8.txt|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
Van Buren won no electoral votes, but finished second to Whig nominee [[Zachary Taylor]] in New York, taking enough votes from Cass to give the state—and perhaps the election—to Taylor.{{sfn|Manweller|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yM7E2G0tAiwC&pg=PA271 271]}} Nationwide, Van Buren won 10.1% of the popular vote, the [[List of third party performances in United States presidential elections|strongest showing by a third-party presidential nominee]] up to that point in U.S. history.

===Retirement===
[[File:Martin Van Buren by Mathew Brady c1855-58-(4).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|alt=Half-length photographic portrait of an elderly, balding man dressed in a dark coat, vest and cravat|Photograph of Van Buren by [[Mathew Brady]], circa 1855–1858]]
Van Buren never sought public office again after the 1848 election, but he continued to closely follow national politics. He was deeply troubled by the stirrings of secessionism in the South and welcomed the [[Compromise of 1850]] as a necessary conciliatory measure despite his opposition to the [[Fugitive Slave Act of 1850]].{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=592}} Van Buren also worked on a history of American political parties and embarked on a tour of Europe, becoming the first former U.S. president to visit Britain.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=598–602}} Though still concerned about slavery, Van Buren and his followers returned to the Democratic fold, partly out of the fear that a continuing Democratic split would help the Whig Party.{{sfn|Silbey|2002|p=203}} He also attempted to reconcile the Barnburners and the Hunkers, with mixed results.{{sfn|Silbey|2002|p=204}}

Van Buren supported [[Franklin Pierce]] for president in [[1852 United States presidential election|1852]],{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=596}} James Buchanan in [[1856 United States presidential election|1856]],{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=605}} and [[Stephen A. Douglas]] in [[1860 United States presidential election|1860]].{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=610}} Van Buren viewed the fledgling [[Know Nothing]] movement with contempt and felt that the anti-slavery [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] exacerbated sectional tensions.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=604–605}} He considered Chief Justice [[Roger Taney]]'s ruling in the 1857 case of ''[[Dred Scott v. Sandford]]'' to be a "grievous mistake" since it overturned the [[Missouri Compromise]].{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=605–606}} He assessed that the Buchanan administration handled the issue of [[Bleeding Kansas]] poorly, and saw the [[Lecompton Constitution]] as a sop to Southern extremists.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=607}}

[[File:Mvanburen.jpeg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=A three-quarters length painted portrait of a balding man with gray hair, standing with his right hand grasping a bundle of papers lying on a table|1858 portrait by [[George Peter Alexander Healy|GPA Healy]], on display at the [[White House]]]]
After the election of [[Abraham Lincoln]] and the secession of several Southern states in 1860, Van Buren unsuccessfully sought to call a constitutional convention.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=610}} In April&nbsp;1861, former president Pierce wrote to the other living former presidents and asked them to consider meeting to use their stature and influence to propose a negotiated end to the war. Pierce asked the 78-year-old Van Buren to use his role as the senior living ex-president to issue a formal call. Van Buren's reply suggested that Buchanan should be the one to call the meeting, since he was the former president who had served most recently, or that Pierce should issue the call himself if he strongly believed in the merit of his proposal. Neither Buchanan nor Pierce was willing to make Pierce's proposal public, and nothing more resulted from it.{{sfn|Cole|1984|p=425}} Once the [[American Civil War]] began, Van Buren made public his support for the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cause.{{sfn|Widmer|2005|p=164}}

===Death===
[[File:Martin van Buren's grave at the Reformed Dutch Cemetery in Kinderhook. - panoramio.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Van Buren's grave in Kinderhook]]
Van Buren's health began to fail later in 1861, and he was bedridden with [[pneumonia]] during the fall and winter of 1861–1862.<ref>{{cite book |last= Dunlap|first=Leslie Whittaker|date=1988 |title=Our Vice-Presidents and Second Ladies |url=https://archive.org/details/ourvicepresident00dunl |url-access= registration|location=Metuchen|publisher=Scarecrow Press |page= [https://archive.org/details/ourvicepresident00dunl/page/50 50]|isbn=978-0-8108-2114-9 }}</ref> He died of bronchial [[asthma]] and heart failure at his [[Martin Van Buren National Historic Site|Lindenwald estate]] at 2:00&nbsp;a.m. on Thursday, July&nbsp;24, 1862.<ref>{{cite book |last=Butler|first=William Allen |date=1862 |title=Martin Van Buren: Lawyer, Statesman and Man |url= https://archive.org/details/martinvanburenla00butl |location=New York|publisher=D. Appleton and Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/martinvanburenla00butl/page/5 5]}}</ref> He is buried in the [[Reformed Dutch Church (Kinderhook, New York)|Kinderhook Reformed Dutch Church]] Cemetery, as are his wife Hannah, his parents, and his son Martin Van Buren Jr.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Lamb, Brian |author2=the C-SPAN staff |name-list-style=amp |title=Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites |location=Washington|publisher=National Cable Satellite Corporation |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-881846-07-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/whosburiedingran00lamb }}</ref>

Van Buren outlived all four of his immediate successors: Harrison, Tyler, Polk, and Taylor.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Glass |first1=Andrew |title=Van Buren slips into coma |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/this-day-in-politics-martin-van-buren-coma-109149 |website=Politico |date=July 21, 2014 |access-date=May 14, 2019 |archive-date=May 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514063233/https://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/this-day-in-politics-martin-van-buren-coma-109149 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, he saw more successors ascend to the presidency than anyone else (eight), living to see Abraham Lincoln elected as the 16th President before his death.<ref>{{cite web| title=Executive Order on death of Martin van Buren| url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-the-death-martin-van-buren| access-date=January 12, 2021| archive-date=January 13, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113163046/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-the-death-martin-van-buren| url-status=live}}</ref>