Van Buren continued the Indian removal policies of the Jackson administration, as thousands of Native Americans were resettled west of the Mississippi River during his presidency.

He sought to avoid major tensions over slavery, rejecting the possibility of annexing Texas and appealing the case of United States v. The Amistad to the Supreme Court.

Van Buren's inability to deal effectively with the economic depression, combined with the growing political strength of the opposition Whigs, led to his defeat in the 1840 presidential election.

[6][5] The newly established Whig Party, a loose coalition bound by mutual opposition to Jackson, sought to prevent Van Buren's victory in the election of 1836.

William Henry Harrison, who had gained notoriety for his service in the Battle of Tippecanoe, edged out Senator Daniel Webster to become the main Whig candidate in the North.

More than a decade later, in 1848, Van Buren would become a leading opponent of the extension of slavery in the North while running with the Free Soil Party, but by then he had abandoned any hope of Southern support.

[18][19] Van Buren was sworn in as president by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney on March 4, 1837, in a ceremony held on the East Portico of the United States Capitol.

Taking the oath as the eighth president, Van Buren defined his role as one of preservation: "sacredly to uphold those political institutions" created by the Founders and especially to safeguard the hallowed Jeffersonian principles of a limited national government and the liberty and sovereignty of "the people and the states.

Van Buren's inaugural address took wistful note of it: In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well, I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and success.

For the position of Secretary of War, the lone unfilled post in the cabinet, Van Buren first approached William Cabell Rives, who had sought the vice presidency in 1836.

After Rives declined to join the cabinet, Van Buren appointed Joel Roberts Poinsett, a South Carolinian who had opposed secession during the Nullification Crisis.

But Van Buren saw value in avoiding contentious patronage battles, and his decision to retain Jackson's cabinet made it clear that he intended to continue the policies of his predecessor.

After the 1839 New Year's Eve reception, the Boston Post raved: "[Angelica Van Buren is a] lady of rare accomplishments, very modest yet perfectly easy and graceful in her manners and free and vivacious in her conversation ... universally admired.

"[31] As the nation endured a deep economic depression, newspaper coverage of Angelica Van Buren's receiving style at receptions, influenced by her heavy reading on European court life, as well as the anecdotal claim that she intended to re-landscape the White House grounds to resemble the royal gardens of Europe, were used to attack her father-in-law.

[40] While Whig leader Henry Clay promoted his own American System as the best means for economic recovery, Van Buren's response to the panic focused on the practice of "strict economy and frugality.

Van Buren feared that revoking the Specie Circular would hurt western banks, and was reluctant to depart from a Jacksonian policy so quickly after taking office.

[45] The Independent Treasury was inspired by the writings of William M. Gouge, a hard currency advocate who argued that any federal collaboration with banks both risked corruption and reinforced a speculative boom and bust cycle that led to economic downturns.

[48] State banking interests strongly opposed Van Buren's proposal, and an alliance of conservative Democrats and Whigs blocked the creation of the Independent Treasury System.

[59] By the time Van Buren took office, the Muscogee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw had been removed to lands west of the Mississippi River, but a large number of Cherokee were still in Georgia and the Seminole remained in Florida.

[70] Historian Laurence M. Hauptman argues that dishonest and underhanded methods were deliberately employed to remove the Iroquois and Stockbridge-Munsee Indians from their lands in upstate New York without payment.

He states that federal officials, James W. Stryker, John F. Schermerhorn, and Random H. Gillet, collaborated with Van Buren in fraudulently imposing the 1838 Treaty of Buffalo Creek using bribery, forgery, corruption, and deception.

[71][72] Meanwhile, in Michigan, the Ottawas managed to remain in their ancestral home land by threatening to join the British in neighboring Canada, and by becoming landowners who had a higher status and were important factors in the local economy.

[79] As the debate over slavery continued to gain prominence, a small group of anti-slavery activists founded the Liberty Party, which would nominate James G. Birney for president in the 1840 election.

[83] The unique nature of the Amistad case, involving international issues and parties, people of color testifying in federal court, and the participation of former president Adams and other high-profile lawyers, engendered great public interest.

Constitutional scruples and fear of war with Mexico were the reasons given for the rejection,[89] but concern that it would precipitate a clash over the extension of slavery undoubtedly influenced Van Buren and continued to be the chief obstacle to annexation.

While the initial insurrection in Upper Canada ended with the December 1837 Battle of Montgomery's Tavern, many of the rebels fled across the Niagara River into New York, and Canadian leader William Lyon Mackenzie began recruiting volunteers in Buffalo.

[97] In the long term, Van Buren's opposition to the Patriot War contributed to the construction of healthy Anglo–American and U.S.–Canadian relations in the 20th century; it also led, more immediately, to a backlash among citizens regarding the supposed overreach of federal authority.

Its editorials and articles provided the arguments that partisans needed to discuss Democratic Party positions on the Mexican War, slavery, states' rights, and Indian removal.

Van Buren was reluctant to drop Johnson, who was popular with workers and radicals in the North[107] and added military experience to the ticket, which might prove important if the Whigs nominated William Henry Harrison.

[113] Issues of policy were not absent from the campaign; the Whigs derided the alleged executive overreaches of Jackson and Van Buren, while also calling for the re-establishment of the national bank and higher tariffs.