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He was 5 feet, 6 inches tall and a fastidious dresser. As a young lawyer he became involved in New York politics, leading a faction known as the "Albany Regency." In 1821 was elected to the United States Senate and by 1827 he had emerged as the principal northern leader for Andrew Jackson. Jackson rewarded Van Buren by appointing him Secretary of State. Van Buren emerged as the President's most trusted adviser. Jackson referred to him as, "a true man with no guile."
The rift in Jackson's cabinet became serious because of Jackson's differences with Vice-President John C. Calhoun, who had his own presidential aspirations. Jackson appointed a new Cabinet, and sought again to reward Van Buren by appointing him Minister to Great Britain. Vice President Calhoun, as President of the Senate, cast the deciding vote against the appointment.
When Jackson ran for re-election in 1832, he dumped Calhoun as his running mate and replaced him with Van Buren, known as "the Little Magician" because of his ability to bring about political victory where it seemed improbable. Van Buren was elected Vice President on the Jacksonian ticket in 1832, and in 1836 he won the Presidency after being selected to succeed Jackson.
When Van Buren was elected President, the country was prosperous, but less than three months later the panic of 1837 punctured the prosperity. Jackson's financial measures contributed to the crash, but Van Buren would be blamed for them. Jackson's destruction of the Second Bank of the United States had removed restrictions upon the inflationary practices of some state banks. Wild speculation in lands, based on easy bank credit, had swept the West. To end this speculation, Jackson in 1836 had issued a requirement that lands be purchased with hard money--gold or silver. In 1837 the panic began. Hundreds of banks and businesses failed.
Thousands lost their lands. For about five years the United States was wracked by the worst depression thus far in its history. Van Buren's remedy--continuing Jackson's deflationary policies--only deepened and prolonged the depression.
Van Buren opposed the creation of a new Bank of the United States as well as placing government funds in state banks. He fought for the establishment of an independent treasury system to handle government transactions. Inclined more and more to oppose the expansion of slavery, Van Buren blocked the annexation of Texas because it assuredly would add to slave territory--and it might bring war with Mexico.
Defeated by the Whigs in 1840 for reelection, Van Buren ran as an unsuccessful candidate for President on the Free Soil ticket in 1848. He died of bronchial asthma and heart failure at his Lindenwald estate in Kinderhook at 2:00 a.m. on July 24, 1862. He was 79 years old.