Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782July 24, 1862) was the eighth President of the United States (1837–1841). Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President (1833–1837) and the tenth Secretary of State (1829–1831), both under Andrew Jackson.
Van Buren was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president not of British or Scots-Irish descent"?his family was Dutch. He was the first president to have been born a United States citizen, since all of his predecessors were born British subjects before the American Revolution. He is the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, having grown up speaking Dutch, and the first president from New York.