Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren’s skills as a lawyer and a politician won him many admirers, as did his personal charm, sharp intellect, and imperturbable composure. “Little Van” — a mere 5 feet 6 inches in height — had almost as many detractors. Davy Crockett, Kentucky frontiersman, land speculator, and congressman, labeled him “an artful, cunning, intriguing, selfish lawyer,” concerned only with “office and money.” In truth, Van Buren was a complex man, a middle-class lawyer with republican values and aristocratic tastes who nonetheless created a democratic political party. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution/Art Resource, NY.