Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York. After becoming a lawyer in 1803, he served as the state attorney general of New York from 1816 to 1819. In 1821 he became a U.S. senator where he introduced legislation to limit slavery. He later helped form the Democratic Party based on his Jeffersonian beliefs. In 1828 he was elected governor of New York but soon resigned to serve as secretary of state and then vice president for Andrew Jackson. In 1836 he was elected president. Van Buren’s presidency was marked by war with the Seminole in Florida, controversy over the annexation of Texas, and conflicts between the residents of Maine and Canada. In 1840 he ran for a second term as president but lost to the Whig candidate William Henry Harrison. Eight years later, Van Buren won the presidential nomination as a candidate for the Free Soil Party but lost to Zachary Taylor. Van Buren continued to be involved in politics. Although a staunch Democrat, he openly supported Abraham Lincoln after the 1860 election. In 1833 he wrote his memoirs, but they were not published until 1920.
