The Presidential Campaigns of 1844 and 1848

After leaving the White House in 1841, Van Buren returned to Kinderhook, but his time there was short-lived. The following year, he undertook a national tour, ostensibly to spend time with family in South Carolina and visit Andrew Jackson one last time at the Hermitage, his Middle Tennessee plantation. Van Buren’s interactions during his months-long trip across the nation convinced him that American voters wanted him to occupy the White House again.

Democratic support for his presidential nomination in 1844 seemed certain until mere weeks before the national convention met in Baltimore. A Mississippi congressman asked Van Buren for his opinion on the United States’ annexation of the independent republic of Texas, which was becoming a central focus of President John Tyler’s argument for his own election in 1844. Van Buren’s letter, in which he rejected the idea of Texas’ immediate annexation, torpedoed his chances of winning the party’s nomination. Democratic delegates, including former friends and allies of Van Buren, rejected him in favor of an avowed annexationist, James K. Polk of Tennessee, who had the endorsement of Andrew Jackson.

Despite the snub, Van Buren supported the ticket of Polk and George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania, which won a narrow victory over Whig candidates Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey. Van Buren attempted to secure the appointment of one of his New York allies to one of the prominent posts in Polk’s cabinet. The president-elect ignored Van Buren’s advice, however, leading to a break between them that was never repaired.

As someone who had consistently accommodated slavery, Van Buren’s place at the top of the antislavery Free Soil Party ticket four years later undoubtedly surprised many people. The split with Polk, and the chance to spoil Democratic chances to win the presidency, played at least some role in Van Buren’s decision to allow himself to be nominated. That his son John was trying to use the Free-Soil Party to advance his own political ambitions in New York was also a factor. Van Buren won over 10 percent of the popular vote (nearly 300,000 votes) but zero electoral votes in the 1848 campaign. His presence in the race did not play a significant role in helping Whig candidate Zachary Taylor defeat the Democratic nominee Lewis Cass.

Party Statesman and Literary Endeavors

Following the 1848 election, Van Buren reverted to supporting the Democratic Party in the 1852, 1856, and 1860 presidential elections. He supported compromise efforts to avoid the break-up of the Union, but when southern states seceded in the winter of 1860-1861, Van Buren threw his support behind President Abraham Lincoln and the Union war effort. Van Buren died at his home Lindenwald in Kinderhook, New York, on July 24, 1862.

In the years leading up to his death, Van Buren’s sons Martin Jr. and John and his daughter-in-law Angelica assisted his attempts to write his memoirs and a study of U.S. political parties. Both books were published posthumously: Inquiry into the Origin and Course of Political Parties in the United States (1867) and The Autobiography of Martin Van Buren (1920).