Martin Van Buren
In 2026, I’m partnering with Ashland Public Library for a yearlong virtual presidential series. We’re tackling each president chronologically on the second Friday at 10:30 A.M. EST. It’s going to be a lot of fun. To register or see the full schedule, click here.
OOPS! 😬 I said Martin Van Buren and everyone else after him was born in the USA. I was wrong! William Henry Harrison was born a British subject. Other than that, everyone who followed Van Buren was born in the USA.
Additional reading.
Or watching. Or listening.
His first language was probably English
I’ve repeated countless times the disappointingly unsubstantiated claim that his first language was Dutch. 😳 But see? Probably not.
The Papers of Martin Van Buren
Lots of great stuff here.
The Trail of Tears: A Story of Cherokee Removal
Highly recommend clicking through this resource from Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
More about acting First Lady Angelica Van Buren
Fascinating article from National Park Service. I barely knew anything about her before. OK, let’s be honest. I knew nothing before.
With him will be little Van Van Van is a used up man man
🎵 PLEASE listen to They Might be Giants performing Tippecanoe and Tyler Too. It’s so good you’ll never get it out of your head.
Related blog posts
I got to visit his home with one of his distant relatives
Check out this post for doodles inspired by The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers.
along with these two other guys
Queen Victoria
Check out this post if you want to know more about Queen Victoria and/or her royal relatives.
Sponge Slob
This weird little guy is from a Halloween drawing challenge I participated in, whereby I forced presidential facts into completely unrelated drawing prompts… like this one, showing how MVB used to dress like a slob until being encouraged to clean himself up.
This letter between MVB’s sons…
Whew. I went on some tangents but, man, was it fun!
Watch this
This conversation with MVB biographer James M. Bradley, moderated by biographer Alexis Coe, was both incredibly fascinating and a great source of information for my presentation.
Q & A follow up
I mentioned that I remembered reading that John Quincy Adams may have had enslaved people living with him.
See in the upper left corner of the doodle below? Rachel Clark, an enslaved girl perhaps given to JQA’s future daughter-in-law as a playmate when younger, may have lived with them when Mary moved in after being orphaned (?). Also, Holzey, an enslaved man possibly owned by Mary’s brother. Holzey’s death shook JQA. Mary freed Rachel the day she married John Adams II (possibly due to JQA).
America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick, by Bob Crawford
New Year’s Day, etc.
I misremembered a little, but I read that enslaved people would be “off” between Christmas and New Year’s Day. They’d enojoy more and better food. Family time. Extra whiskey ration(s). Maybe a hard candy stick for the little ones. Possibly some new clothing. Then January 1 was Slave Hiring Day, which could rip families apart right after the holidays.
The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn, by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers
Etc.
The Van Buren Boys
The Seinfeld episode with the street gang named after MVB. It’s not real or educational, but still. You can watch clips here.
Sources
Doodles for this presentation were inspired by:
Martin Van Buren: The American Presidents Series: The 8th President, 1837-1841, by Ted Widmer
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, by Jon Meacham
The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn, by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers
America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick, by Bob Crawford
The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President, by Edward F. O’Keefe
Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation, by Peter Stark
The President Is Dead! The Extraordinary Stories of Presidential Deaths, Final Days, Burials, and Beyond, by Louis L. Picone
President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier, by C.W. Goodyear
Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King, by Thomas J. Balcerski
Heirs of the Founders: Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants, by H. W. Brands
A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland, by Troy Senik
The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth, by Jermaine Fowler
Everything You Need to Ace U.S. History in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide, by Workman Publishing, Lily Rothman, Editors of Brain Quest
Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: Strange Stories and Shocking Trivia from Inside the White House, by Cormac O’Brien
The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, by William A. DeGreorio
Check out my bibliography for more.
Next up: William Henry Harrison
Brace yourself.
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library and is in collaboration with a multitude of MA and NH libraries.
MA: Amherst, Andover, Chatham, Chelmsford, Cohasset, Cotuit, Falmouth, Groton, Hanover, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Maynard, North Reading, Quincy, Shutesbury, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Wellesley, West Newbury, and Woburn; NH: Amherst, Dover, and Greenfield.
“Died of the Presidency”