Van Buren Administration - Domestic Issues
Domestic Issues
In many ways Martin Van Buren could not have picked a worse time to become president of the United States. The surging economy of the mid-1820s to 1830s, based largely on land speculation and entrepreneurial extension, came crashing down around him as soon as he had taken office, and much of his work was devoted to fighting off the depression. A rising sectional consciousness also continued to divide the nation, with abolitionists and other northerners strongly condemning the prospective annexation of Texas. Expansionists, on the other hand, increasingly called for annexation and the removal of American Indians to territory west of the Mississippi River. Van Buren, with shaky support in Congress, was unwilling to alienate either wing of his own party; he often found himself pursuing policies designed to please both sides—but pleasing neither.
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