Van Buren was born on Dec. 5, 1782, in Kinderhook, N.Y., of a middle-class family. He was well educated by private tutors, becoming a lawyer at the age of 20. His law practice was unusually successful, and it enabled him to cultivate the elegant tastes in clothing and life-style that were to earn him a reputation as a dandy. "His political career also thrived. He served in the New York state senate from 1812 and 1820 and was the state attorney general from 1816 to 1819. In 1821 the state legislature that he had come to dominate elected him to the U.S. Senate."
Van Buren was a master politi…
