Contemporary critics described Martin Van Buren as a craven, self-seeking, behind-the-scenes manipulator and an out-of-touch elitist. Scholars in the 20th century were not much kinder, describing him both as a cunning political opportunist and as an unoriginal thinker who preferred pragmatism over principle. Since 1948, scholarly rankings of U.S. presidents have usually placed Van Buren just above the chief executives regarded as abject failures (e.g., John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan) and in the same tier as notably mediocre presidents such as Rutherford B. Hayes, Calvin Coolidge, and Gerald Ford.

In reality, Van Buren was unquestionably one of the most important politicians in the early American republic. He was a critical political thinker who inherited and cherished the worldview of his Revolutionary forefathers, while adapting their values to the shifting democratic landscape. He founded the Democratic Party (the first modern U.S. political party) that helped elevate Andrew Jackson to the presidency. His contributions to constitutional and political theory helped create the two-party model that has become dominant in U.S. politics.

As president, Van Buren failed to address satisfactorily the economic depression that threw the nation into financial chaos. An adequate response would have required him to abandon his Jeffersonian belief in limited government; indeed, it is doubtful that any 19th-century president, regardless of their political party label, would have taken the action necessary to solve the problem. Van Buren’s actions, or lack thereof, allowed the Whig Party to craft a unifying message during his administration that increased its power throughout all levels of government, culminating in the election of William Henry Harrison as president in 1840.

But Van Buren’s presidency had significance beyond the short-term economic turmoil. He, not Andrew Jackson, was responsible for carrying out the Trail of Tears, and it was during Van Buren’s presidency that most of the Second Seminole War was prosecuted. In that, he shares the blame for the suffering that indigenous peoples endured as they lost both their land and their lives.

Van Buren also reinforced the nation’s commitment to slavery during his time as president. In doing so, he undermined his own reasoning for forming the Democratic Party: to unite white northerners and southerners under a party label that would smooth out their differences over sectional issues such as slavery. At the same time, the Van Buren administration’s diplomacy set the stage for the resolution of longstanding border disputes with Great Britain.

For nearly half a century, Van Buren wielded power at every level of government in many capacities: as a lawyer, a legislator, a diplomat, and an executive. Building on the traditional and cultural politics of New York politicians and elevating them to the national stage, Van Buren saw the potential in the press, patronage, fund-raising, franking privileges, image-making, city machines, committees, conventions, stump-speaking, ethnic voting blocs, and mass meetings. He harnessed the public outcry for greater participation in government to help found the Democratic Party and build the national party machinery. In short, Van Buren transformed democracy from an idea into a profession.