MVB Papers (DLC)
"The Martin Van Buren Papers, one of twenty-three presidential collections in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, contains more than 6,000 items dating from 1787 to circa 1910. The bulk of the material dates from the 1820s, when Van Buren (1782-1862) was a U.S. senator from New York, through his service as secretary of state and vice president in the Andrew Jackson administrations (1829-1837), to his own presidency (1837-1841) and through the decade thereafter when he made unsuccessful bids to return to the presidency with the Democratic and Free Soil parties. Included are correspondence, autobiographical materials, notes and other writings, drafts of messages to Congress in 1837 and 1838, and other speeches, legal and estate records, miscellany, and family items.
The collection primarily consists of letters received by Van Buren from other individuals, as well as copies, drafts, transcripts, and photocopies of letters written by him. Correspondents include George Bancroft, Thomas Hart Benton, Francis P. Blair, James Buchanan, law partner Benjamin F. Butler (1795-1858), Churchill C. Cambreleng, John A. Dix, John Fairfield, Azariah Cutting Flagg, Henry D. Gilpin, James Hamilton, Jr., Jesse Hoyt, Charles Jared Ingersoll, Andrew Jackson, Amos Kendall, William L. Marcy, Louis McClane, Richard Elliot Parker, James Kirke Paulding, Joel R. Poinsett, James K. Polk, Thomas Ritchie, William Cabell Rives, Andrew Stevenson, Levi Woodbury, and Silas Wright.
The Calendar of the Papers of Martin Van Buren created by Elizabeth Howard West for the Manuscript Division in 1910 provides a list and index for the general correspondence contained in the original collection up to that date. Some 150 letters received by the Library of Congress after 1910 are not represented in the calendar. These items have been interfiled within Series 2 of the collection. Typescripts of letters can also be found in Series 7, Miscellany. A finding aid to the current Van Buren Papers collection is available online.
Note that this site is limited to the Martin Van Buren Papers collection and does not include all documents by, about, or related to Van Buren in the Library of Congress. The Library’s Manuscript Division holds additional Van Buren-related documents pertaining to his family and his long and varied political career in New York and Washington, as well as his role in evolving party politics in his era. These documents are located in the collections of other individuals, including Andrew Jackson, Andrew Jackson Donelson, James K. Polk, William L. Marcy, William C. Rives, Charlotte Cushman, Duff Green, Reverdy Johnson, Andrew Stevenson, and Nicholas P. Trist, and in the family papers of the Blair, Bancroft-Bliss, Henry Clay, Samuel Smith, and Singleton families."
"This collection of Martin Van Buren Papers is arranged into eight series and oversize. Series 8 of the collection contains the newer additions. These are grouped by the year the addition was received or processed as part of the collection. The bulk of the collection was captured on 35 reels of microfilm, the scans of which comprise the bulk of this online collection. A list of the series follows.
- Series 1, Autobiography, 1854-1862 (Reels 1-3)
- Series 2, General Correspondence, 1787-1868 (Reels 4-34)
- Series 3, Additional Correspondence, 1811-1853 (Reel 34)
- Series 4, Messages, 1837-1838 (Reel 35)
- Series 5, Legal Record Book, 1807-1813 (Reel 35)
- Series 6, Estate Record Book, 1862-1863 (Reel 35)
- Series 7, Miscellany, 1814-1910 (not microfilmed; scanned from originals)
- Series 8, Addenda, 1799-1862 (Reel 36 and not filmed; some scanned from originals)
- Oversize, 1837-1839 (not microfilmed; scanned from originals)"
https://www.loc.gov/collections/martin-van-buren-papers/about-this-colle...
Print DocumentDocuments in this Collection:
Whereas the period fixed for the election of a chief magistrate of the United States has so nearly approached that the members of the Legislatures of several ^of our Sister^ States have already thought it advisable to express their feelings upon the occasion, and have, thereby, rendered it proper that those who have been elected in a similar capacity to represent the State of Newyork, should have... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
I will not pretend to tell you, how much pleasure your brief note of the 24th inst. gave me, but rely upon it, nothing will offend my "federalism ear" which augurs well of the success of my friends, more especially if you are "to share the triumph." I look upon the proceedings at Albany as a nomination of Mr. Crawford; indeed, they will be worth much more to him, if by the powerful influence of... Continue Reading
Sender: Louis McLane
Recipient: MVB
Yours of the 28th I have this day received. ^If as you supposed seemed to think you owed any duty to the public in relation to this matter^ it appears to me that what you have already done it amounts to a full discharge of your ^<next>^ duty ^you thought you owed^ to the public & ^as it certainly does <certify> in the most ample manner^ of the claims of private friendship ^it^ has... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Rufus King
I cannot come to Washington whilst the appointment of Judge is pending, as such a step would render my situation in regard to that matter (already sufficently) unpleasant ^<it> <would> <be> too much so^. If the matter of which you would speak to me relates to yourself & I can be of service in it I will meet you at any intermediate place at any time after the 15th. July. I... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Enclosed I send you a copy of the final bill & Warrant of Attorney. I find on further examination that the judgment was not entered untill the day after Mr Whitbeck was buried. It is very improbable that if the bond & Warrant was given to secure a debt that such delay would have taken place on the part of one who was particularly acquainted with Whitbecks embarrassed circumstances.
I... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Peter I. Hoes
I have received a letter from Mr Peck offering our former accommodations at Georgetown. Probably a similar letter has been sent to you, and to Mr. Rensselaer. I do not recollect whether time has permitted your receiving from Gadsby, an answer to the Enquiries that you intended to make respecting his house, and without the means of comparing, I feel the force of Habit, which grows stronger as ones... Continue Reading
Sender: Rufus King
Recipient: MVB
MVBurens Real estate October 182[3]
1 Lot No. 6 Hannibal Oswego.
2d. Farm at Schoharie
3d. Lot in Galen half of No. 90
4 One seventh of Farm over the Creek on which my brother
Lawrence lives
5th. House & Lot in Kinderhook called <Tanties> Place
6th. Mortgage of $5000 on the Kane place.
Sender: MVB
I. Wish to have the matter pass by, delicacy of my situation, sense of the respect due to that opinion, reason why at liberty to follow my own opinion, but consequent necessity for explanation
2d. The state of the question as it appears to be & its conse[quent] favour every where. Such cannot be the object because the States can now do that & if they do not choose, a neighboring State... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
I. In asking leave will briefly state the reasons why I have thought proper to add to the propositions already before the Senate.
2d. In doing that it will be necessary to allude to those propositions so far only as to state the substance of them & mark the distinction between using them & mine without ^at this time^ discussing the principles upon which those distinctions are founded.
3d... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
I thank you for your last. I read such parts of it as were proper to Mr Crawford, who is fast improving in his health and prospects. Write me often, and let some of your letters be such as it may be proper to show to him. By referring to the Journals of 1800, March, you will find that the Federalists of New York voted down in the Assembly a bill at that time introduced by the Republicans to give... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Charles Edward Dudley
The course you are taking at Albany has been a source of the highest gratification to every honest democrat here. The opinion is universal that a refusal on the part of the Legislature to repeal the electoral law would settle the Presidential question and bring in the freinds of Mr Clay and Mr Adams. You can form no conception of the strong feeling excited by your prompt and firm proceedings; so... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Charles Edward Dudley
As it will relieve my feelings of disappointement and mortification which I find growing rather than subsiding as I go, to think out, having nobody to talk to, you must suffer me to <meander> an hour or two in the bustle and jam of the steamboat to inflict what may perhaps be a long letter on you: for I had made up my mind to write to you as soon as I got home, and I may as well therefore... Continue Reading
Recipient: John Forsyth Sr.
The Mercury, and the Telescope, are usually regarded abroad, as exhibiting more nearly than any other papers the leading opinions of South Carolina on the passing politics of the day. A comment appeared in the Mercury of the 14th inst., on Mr. Van Buren's Inaugural Address, which I do not believe is, and I am quite sure ought not to be a fair exposition of the public sentiment in this State.
It... Continue Reading
Sender: Thomas Cooper
I have received your letter of the 2d inst. and cheerfully comply with your request. You have inadvertently fallen into an error in supposing that the questions propounded to me by the honorable Sherrod Williams, in 1836, embraced the subject of Abolition. My views and opinions in regard to it were, however, communicated to the people of the United States, in reply to a letter received in the... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
It will give me great pleasure to be of service to the friend of your friend Mr Hubbard notwithstanding his tenacity in refusing to recognize me when I meet him.
When you write to me again be so good as to say Mrs Dudley and Miss Sarah desire to be remembered to their friend Mr V. B. They may not have asked you to do so, but then you know I shall not be advised of that.
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Charles Edward Dudley
The responsibility you have assumed is exactly what I would have expected from you. You know I have always described the best trait in your character to be firmness in time of real difficulty. Do but complete the work and you may rest assured you will never have occasion to regret your course. The enclosed will show you what is thought of the report here. It speaks the language of every one who... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Charles Edward Dudley
I understand by letters from several of our friends that a serious diversity of opinion exists amongst you at Albany on the subject of the propriety of an expression of opinion on the Presidential question. The objections to that course are certainly not without weight and if our freinds at Albany are seriously impressed with a conviction that their doing so would endanger our State elections... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Charles Edward Dudley
What can I do or say to the strange & ridiculous notions of Govr Yates. If he is determined to make himself the laughing Stock of the nation so let it be. Notwithstanding the serious manner in which the fact is asserted here there are very few who place the least confidence in the truth of the Story. It is universally considered as a quiz set on foot by his enemies to degrade him. He had made... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Recipient: James Campbell
Yates has just left me In spite of all that can be urged he has ^is^ determined to call the Legislature together as soon as Congess adjourns. Of this there is no doubt if his most peculiar declarations are any evidence of his intentions. Would it not be well to write to all our judicious friends particularly of the Senate apprising them of the fact that they may take the measures immediately Your... Continue Reading
Sender: James Alexander Hamilton
Recipient: MVB
Slave Trade
Page 6. Objection to the Treaty stated viz
I. That the establishment of a mixed tribunals in the Territories of the Respective parties is essential to the <execution> of its provisions—that the U. States could not concur in this 1st. because they have no colonies either on the coast of Africa or in the W. Indies & 2dly. because it is doubtful whether the power of the Govmt.... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
I send you by the mail of to day Pickerings review. You will see that He <did> the asperities ^violence^ of his disposition ^political antipathies^ instead of yielding in the course of nature to the influence of time & retirement have increased with his years. There is I fear too much reason to believe that his individual case form ^furnishes^ a correct data ^criterion^ by which to... Continue Reading
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Thomas Jefferson
Your letter of the 25th. of Septbr. received on the 29th. has caused me much perplexity, not from any hesitation as to the principles which should govern my conduct, but from want of sufficient knowledge of the facts.
It is evident that I ought not to decline from mere personal motives and in order to avoid the mortification of a defeat, especially if this should be in any degree injurious to the... Continue Reading
Seizing the only leisure time before the meeting of my Court, to visit Washington, to find a winter quarters. ^I went there on Monday &^ I found myself plunged, somewhat unexpectedly, into very grave & important matters of state—of which I wish to say a word—but, first, of the real object of my errand.
On my arrival at W. I found Mrs. Clark's engaged by Col. Benton & Ellcott who had... Continue Reading
Sender: Louis McLane
Recipient: MVB
I enclose you an other letter from Best. You see how fond people are of making mountains out of molehills. The judgmt he speaks of I suppose relates to the Bond & Warrant he gave me for my produce he sold. If you can make a reasonable settlemt you may discharge all. But if possible let me have no lawsuit. I go in the morng.
Sender: MVB
Recipient: Peter I. Hoes
I have received yours the 23d. Istant of the date of 18th. Instant, ^you^ request me to inform you whether it would be convenient for me to advance you Some money, in an[sw]er I must inform you that money is very Scarse in the Country, it is impossible for me to get any from those against I have demands till after harvest, besides I am at present—building a Barn, which renders it more inconvient... Continue Reading
Recipient: MVB
Extracts of a letter from the Board of Navy Commissioners to the Honble Benjamin Crowninshield, Sec. of the Navy–dated Feb. 11th 1817—
The Commissioners of the Navy have the honor to return the list of candidates for promotion on the merits and qualifications of whom their opinion was requested in your letter of the 8th inst—
x x x x x x x x x x
The Commissioners... Continue Reading