THE LIFE AND POLITICAL OPINIONS OF MARTIN VAN BUREN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. BY WILLIAM M. HOLLAND. HARTFORD. BELKNAP & HAMERSLEY U.S.5022, 11 HARVARD COLLEGE MAY 16 1887 LIBRARY. Dr. S. A. Green, Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1835, by in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. PREFACE. ASIDE from the present relation of Mr. Van Buren to the people of the United States, the fact of his having risen in times of peace, from the ordinary level of life, to the second office in the government, renders a view of his principles, and of the incidents of his personal history, a matter of reasonable curiosity. The author has therefore, devoted a period of entire vacation from his ordinary duties, to the collection and arrangement of such materials as may fully exhibit the political sentiments of Mr. Van Buren, together with such details of his personal history, as may be published with a due respect for private feelings. In doing this, it has not been the design of the writer merely to contribute to the political elevation of any man: he has aimed, |