Stories
National Park Service Park personnel assisted by our enthusiastic volunteers have begun the task of transcribing letters to and from Van Buren. Below you can find letters and transcriptions. Periodically new transcriptions will be added allowing scholars and amateur historians alike a better understanding of the "Little Magician" and the circle of family and political mechanics surrounding him. Can you help us to fill-in the blanks in the transcriptions? If you recognize any of the words in the letters which are missing from the transcriptions please e-mail us with your suggestion. Letters and Transcriptions
1844 Hammett Letter Hammett Transcription 1849 January Letters January Transcriptions February Letters February Transcriptions March Letters March Transcriptions |
Did You Know?
In the 1848 Presidential election, Martin Van Buren ran as the candidate for a new third party. The Free-Soil Party was group of disaffected Democrats opposed to the extension of slavery into the south-western territories captured from Mexico during the Mexican-American War. Martin Van Buren was the presidential candidate and Charles Francis Adams was chosen as Van Buren’s running mate. The Free-Soil Party received 10% of the popular vote in 1848 but no electoral votes. The Whig candidate and Mexican War hero Zachary Taylor won the Presidency in 1848. After the 1848 presidential election, Martin Van Buren would retire to Lindenwald.