Martin Van Buren

Attended the village schools; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Kinderhook, New York, in 1803; moved to Hudson, New York, in 1809; surrogate of Columbia County (1808-1813); member, New York State senate (1813-1820); attorney general of New York (1816-1819); delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1821; elected to the US Senate; reelected in 1827, and served from 4 Mar 1821, until 20 Dec 1828, when he resigned, having been elected Governor; chairman, Committee on the Judiciary (18th through 20th Congresses); Governor of New York (1 Jan 1829 - 12 Mar 1829); resigned to enter the Cabinet; appointed Secretary of State (28 Mar 1829 - 23 May 1831) in the Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson; resigned when he was commissioned Minister to Great Britain; the Senate rejected his nomination in January 1832, and he returned to the United States; elected, as a Democrat, Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Andrew Jackson and served from 4 Mar 1833, to 3 Mar 1837; elected, as a Democrat, President of the United States in 1836; took office as a financial panic spread throughout the nation; removed government funds from state banks and put them in an "independent treasury"; costly war with the Seminole Indians in Florida; unsuccessful candidate for reelection as President on the Democratic ticket in 1840 and on the Free-Soil ticket in 1848; withdrew from political life and retired to his country home, "Lindenwald," in Kinderhook, New York, where he died. Biography source: [1]