Van Buren was born on Dec. 5, 1782, in Kinderhook, N.Y., of a middle-class family. He was well educated by private tutors, becoming a lawyer at the age of 20. His law practice was unusually successful, and it enabled him to cultivate the elegant tastes in clothing and life-style that were to earn him a reputation as a dandy. "His political career also thrived. He served in the New York state senate from 1812 and 1820 and was the …
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…years later he left the increasingly pro-slavery Democratic party to accept the presidential nomination of the new Free-Soil party. He was, of course, soundly beaten in the election. Yet, there was something admirable as well as fascinating in the switch by the master of practical politics to the politics of principle. In his later years Van Buren wrote an autobiography designed to vindicate his administration. He did not succeed. He died in Kinderhook on July 24, 1862.