Details
VAN BUREN, Martin. Autograph letter signed ("M. Van Buren") to his son [John Van Buren], Lindenwald, [Kinderhook, NY], 16 March 1858. 19 pages, 4to (10 x 7¾ in.), slight browning, repair to verticle fold between first and second leaf, otherwise fine, green cloth protective case.
ADVICE TO A PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL: "THERE IS NO ONE IN WHOSE POCKETS THE PEOPLE ARE SO PRONE TO POUR LEAD, AS A MAN WHO PURSUES POLITICS FOR A LIVING"
A matchless Van Buren letter in which the former President shares his wealth of hard-won political experience with his son, John (1810-1866), active in New York politics, an ardent free-soiler, and thirsting for high office. Van Buren thoughtfully encourages his son's political aspirations, and carefully analyzes "the practibility of your reaching the Presidency." He states his confidence that the next Democratic candidate for President will come from New York and predicts optimistically that "the two gentlemen who would now be in your way [William Seward, Millard Fillmore?] will then have long been out of position. The one will cackle himself out of all consideration in half the time, and the other belongs to a race that never endures long." Noting that "we are a nation of Workers" and that "Idlers seldom establish strong claims upon their respect," Van Buren asserts that the people will only elect a hard-working man: "They look upon him as a representative of their own position." He cautions his son against seeming too eager for office, warning that "the people will never make a man President who is so importunate as to show by his life and conversation that he not only has an eye upon, but is in active pursuit of the office..." He singles out notable failures in the quest for the nation's highest office: "Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Scott...should serve as a guide-post...[to a presidential hopeful for] the road they should not take." In general, he contends, people disapprove of professional politicians: "there is no one in whose pockets the people are so prone to pour lead, as a man who pursues politics for a living. They soon come to regard him as a wanton upon Providence...It is not regarded by the masses as making an honest livelihood."
Van Buren cautions his son not to seek the nomination in 1860: "both factions would unite more cordially against you than against any other man. The masses of the Republicans were born in hostility to you on my account." He does express some disappointment: "You have established a claim to commanding talents beyond dispute. Beyond this it must be admitted that you have not been very successful. Compare the results of your career with mine during the same period and the comparison is unfavorable to yours." In frankness, he concedes that "the free soil business has been an obstacle, and we will throw the blame of that to me." But he compliments his son on his abilitiess: "there is no other man in the country who can make an abler political speech than yourself." Still, he counsels, "instead of speaking often, I would speak but seldom...aiming chiefly at the public judgment, the public conscience, and the public good...I would not meddle with politics...I would attend no conventions, and enter in no intrigues about nominations, and discuss as little as possible the character and pretensions of my contemporaries, political or professional." Continuing, he notes: "you must keep yourself before the people, and you must continue to attract the attention of observers, and to be the subject of the remarks of mankind." Van Buren reports that a friend, Dandridge Livingston, has even "compared you with Old Hickory in detail, contended that you were a head and shoulders beyond." He optimistically concludes by putting faith in his son and democracy: "One really great argument in the presence of intelligent men from all parts of the United States would do you more good than could be accomplished by a years work in any other way...such conduct would do more to turn the attention of the people of the state...It is by such spontaneous and unsought workings of the public mind that the most valued political promotions are brought about."
Probably one of the finest extant letters of the "Little Magician."
ADVICE TO A PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL: "THERE IS NO ONE IN WHOSE POCKETS THE PEOPLE ARE SO PRONE TO POUR LEAD, AS A MAN WHO PURSUES POLITICS FOR A LIVING"
A matchless Van Buren letter in which the former President shares his wealth of hard-won political experience with his son, John (1810-1866), active in New York politics, an ardent free-soiler, and thirsting for high office. Van Buren thoughtfully encourages his son's political aspirations, and carefully analyzes "the practibility of your reaching the Presidency." He states his confidence that the next Democratic candidate for President will come from New York and predicts optimistically that "the two gentlemen who would now be in your way [William Seward, Millard Fillmore?] will then have long been out of position. The one will cackle himself out of all consideration in half the time, and the other belongs to a race that never endures long." Noting that "we are a nation of Workers" and that "Idlers seldom establish strong claims upon their respect," Van Buren asserts that the people will only elect a hard-working man: "They look upon him as a representative of their own position." He cautions his son against seeming too eager for office, warning that "the people will never make a man President who is so importunate as to show by his life and conversation that he not only has an eye upon, but is in active pursuit of the office..." He singles out notable failures in the quest for the nation's highest office: "Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Scott...should serve as a guide-post...[to a presidential hopeful for] the road they should not take." In general, he contends, people disapprove of professional politicians: "there is no one in whose pockets the people are so prone to pour lead, as a man who pursues politics for a living. They soon come to regard him as a wanton upon Providence...It is not regarded by the masses as making an honest livelihood."
Van Buren cautions his son not to seek the nomination in 1860: "both factions would unite more cordially against you than against any other man. The masses of the Republicans were born in hostility to you on my account." He does express some disappointment: "You have established a claim to commanding talents beyond dispute. Beyond this it must be admitted that you have not been very successful. Compare the results of your career with mine during the same period and the comparison is unfavorable to yours." In frankness, he concedes that "the free soil business has been an obstacle, and we will throw the blame of that to me." But he compliments his son on his abilitiess: "there is no other man in the country who can make an abler political speech than yourself." Still, he counsels, "instead of speaking often, I would speak but seldom...aiming chiefly at the public judgment, the public conscience, and the public good...I would not meddle with politics...I would attend no conventions, and enter in no intrigues about nominations, and discuss as little as possible the character and pretensions of my contemporaries, political or professional." Continuing, he notes: "you must keep yourself before the people, and you must continue to attract the attention of observers, and to be the subject of the remarks of mankind." Van Buren reports that a friend, Dandridge Livingston, has even "compared you with Old Hickory in detail, contended that you were a head and shoulders beyond." He optimistically concludes by putting faith in his son and democracy: "One really great argument in the presence of intelligent men from all parts of the United States would do you more good than could be accomplished by a years work in any other way...such conduct would do more to turn the attention of the people of the state...It is by such spontaneous and unsought workings of the public mind that the most valued political promotions are brought about."
Probably one of the finest extant letters of the "Little Magician."