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parlimentery t1_izhzjnu wrote

As someone who is not great with knowledge of American Presidents. Is there any reason I should not like Van Buren?

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internet-arbiter t1_iziok6c wrote

The man failed in his endeavor to instate 2 presidential tigers.

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parlimentery t1_izj34yp wrote

Yeah, but congressional gridlock isn't his fault.

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MLCarter1976 t1_izjn8rd wrote

It was during the proliferation of the treaty of the elephant and rhinoceros paper act of the second term that kept bears and giraffes from walking the branches of government!

/S

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Austin1642 t1_izj0eon wrote

Honestly he's one of the forgettables, overshadowed by his political mentor Andrew Jackson. The most interesting thing about him is that he's the only president whose first language wasn't english (dutch). Kind of the Carter of his day, his post presidency was probably better than his presidency. Economically his term was problematic, and he's criticized for the panic of 1837. He was pretty hands off with slavery in an effort to forestall conflict, refusing Texas entry into the Union as a slave state so as not to create division. However, after he left office he became increasingly outspoken abolitionist and supported Lincoln nearly 3 decades after his presidency.

He continued the Indian removal policies of Jackson, which caused the Seminole Wars - and most people would want to give him an F straight off. However, the Indian removals of the Jacksonian democrats weren't motivated by land grabs or racism per say. Indian removal was actually an attempt to save Native American culture, and while deplorable it was seen as the most realistic option. The Jacksonian and by extension Van Buren view would have been something along the lines of "White conquest of Native American lands in the east is unstoppable by the [much weaker than today] federal government. Native Americans are technologically backwards savages who have no legitimate hope of defending themselves from western expanding settlers. If they stay in the east, there will be a genocide or their culture will be assimilated by white culture, so we need to save them by moving them west of the Mississippi."

So presidency, he's probably a C-. Post presidency, probably a B+.

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chadslc t1_izluzz9 wrote

He's also the only U.S. President not to be a descendant of King John of England.

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bolanrox t1_izjruti wrote

english was not his first language? but he was the first President born as an American Citizen

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chadslc t1_izluxnz wrote

I'm an American citizen by birth.

English is my third language.

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Austin1642 t1_izm0s9g wrote

He came from an area of NY that was mostly comprised of Dutch immigrants, and Dutch was their primary language. This is still fairly common in the US today when you stop and think about it. Spanish, Yiddish, Hindi, Mandarin are just a few...all have developed communities based on chain migration.

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