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Martin Van Buren returned to Kinderhook, New York as a one-term president. His 1840 loss to William Henry Harrison was a difficult pill to swallow. ... However, Van Buren relied on the labour of enslaved people for domestic service while serving as Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson and during his presidency.

Martin Van Buren and the Politics of Slavery. Van Buren grew up not only among enslaved people, but also with six slaves owned by his parents. This early exposure to the institution of slavery later provided him with an understanding of southern politics that differed from his northern colleagues raised without similar experiences.

For people enslaved in America, it was a thought they knew all too well. ... President Martin Van Buren, fearing repercussions from Spain, tried to quickly and quietly return the Africans. However, northern abolitionists funded their defense and argued the group had been illegally captured, making them free. After lengthy trials and appeals by ...

He added that for Van Buren the issue of slavery was a “battle between morality and legality.” Mr. Anderson sited several examples of Van Buren’s opposing views of enslaved persons status in New York and the country. In 1819 Van Buren opined, “Slavery is a moral evil.”

Martin’s father, Abraham Van Buren, enslaved six people on their small farm and inn in Kinderhook, Columbia County, New York during Martin’s childhood. While serving as Secretary of State, Van Buren’s home, Decatur House in Washington D.C., listed four enslaved women on the federal census – likely hired out by their enslavers to Van Buren.

Martin Van Buren wrote that "Morally and politically speaking slavery is an evil of the first magnitude and whatever may be the consequences it is our duty to prohibit its progress in all cases where such prohibition is allowed by the Constitution." According to Van Buren, however, the Constitution did not allow for the prohibition of slavery ...

These pages from the 1840 census show that five free and four enslaved African Americans were at the White House toward the end of Martin Van Buren's presidency. There is no documentary evidence that the president owned these four enslaved people, leaving two possible explanations.

MARTIN VAN BUREN, SLAVERY, AND THE ELECTION OF 1836 William G. Shade The presidential election of 1836 has not drawn a great deal of scholarly ... Jersey, and over one quarter of northern blacks remained enslaved. It was possible that Illinois would become a slave state. A decade later, however, slavery had virtually disappeared from the area ...

A “family reunion” at Kinderhook’s Martin Van Buren National Historic Site hopes to unite descendants of enslaved families who lived and worked at the estate.

Given the sources we have, Van Buren never seems to go back on this position. In the days before the Civil War, Van Buren was still promoting compromise and believed that Civil War could be avoided. At the same time, Fredrick Douglass, the most famous self-emancipated enslaved man in U.S. history, was terrified that a compromise would be reached.

Martin Van Buren served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 - 1841. Prior to the presidency, he served as vice president and secretary of state under Andrew Jackson. Van Buren owned "at least one enslaved person during his lifetime" and used enslaved labor during his time in the White House (White House History). He opposed ...

In 1822, Van Buren, then in the U.S. Senate, supported a legislative amendment that would have made it difficult to bring enslaved people into the new state of Florida. Three years later, he ...

Martin Van Buren owned at least one enslaved person during his lifetime—not wholly uncommon for a man who was born and raised in a state that permitted slavery until 1827. He also hired out enslaved and free African Americans to work at Decatur House, and probably during his time in Albany.

These pages from the 1830 census show that two free and four enslaved African-American women were at Decatur House, Secretary of State Martin Van Buren's residence. He was renting the Lafayette Square home from Susan Decatur. Charlotte Dupuy was one of the enslaved women listed.

Award-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796–1833), the enslaved mixed-race wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren.

Martin Van Buren was born in the rural town of Kinderhook, New York, on December 5, 1782. His father, Abraham, owned a successful inn and small farm. ... Click to learn more about the enslaved households of President Martin Van Buren. In 1844, Van Buren was poised to reclaim leadership of the Democratic Party, but his opposition to the ...

When the Phoenix townsite that now encompasses Downtown was created in 1870, its northernmost street was named after the eighth U.S. president, Martin Van Buren. For many years, Van Buren was called Tempe Road east of Seventh Street and Yuma Road west of Seventh Avenue. But as autos gained popularity, the street’s reach would extend much farther.

Among her childhood companions was her cousin and future husband, Martin Van Buren, with whom she shared a lifelong bond. After Johannes Hoes passed away suddenly in 1789, Hannah’s mother headed a household and enslaved at least three people, as recorded in the 1790 census. In February 1807, Hannah and Martin secretly married in Catskill, New ...

Van Buren, named after the eighth U.S. president, Martin Van Buren, formed the northernmost street of the original Phoenix townsite, created in 1870. By 1895, the street was called Tempe Road east of Seventh Street and Yuma Road west of Seventh Avenue. But as auto travel gained popularity, Van Buren’s reach would extend much further. The ...