Martin Van Buren (or Maarten as he was originally named) was born in 1782 in the small community of Kinderhook, New York. Kinderhook was originally part of the New Netherlands colony. And even though the territory came under the possession of the British all the way back in 1664, the people of Kinderhook had never taken to speaking English. Instead, Van Buren’s family, along with the rest of the community spoke Dutch.
Thus, Van Buren grew up speaking the language and only began to learn English as a subject taught in the local school. And it wasn’t until he was in his teens that he developed a full fluency in English. Van Buren’s wife, Hannah, was born in the same community and like Van Buren, she spoke Dutch as her native language and had a distinct accent when speaking English.
But Van Buren’s political career also speaks to the way that ethnic and linguistic differences didn’t play as much of a role in someone’s career prospects in the United States as they did back in Europe. And in fact, Van Buren’s experience interacting with people of different cultural backgrounds seems to have been what made him successful in his early years of local politics. And Van Buren himself followed a fairly standard path into politics at the time, starting as a lawyer in the city of New York.
Van Buren was active in politics from a young age, joining the Republican Party at 18. The Republican party was founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and ran on a platform advocating state’s rights and championing the interests of independent farmers. And this original “Jeffersonian Republican” party isn’t quite the same as the modern party, which was founded in 1854.
Van Buren played a role in helping several Republican representatives get elected in his native New York. But the party struggled in the northern states due to the fact that they were a primarily southern party. Martin Van Buren would experience the difficulties the party faced in New York after he served in the state legislature for a brief period, only to be replaced when the rival Federalist Party won a majority and sacked him from his position as a surrogate. But luckily for Van Buren, he was able to get elected to the State Senate.
In the Senate, Van Buren was involved in several legislative efforts. During the War of 1812, he worked to organize the state militia in preparation for a British attack. And later he helped to expand voting rights to more people. Although, in a reflection of the attitudes at the time, he resisted efforts to extend the vote to everyone and wanted to keep property requirements for voters.
The fact that Van Buren was fundamentally a man of his time is also reflected by the fact that like many people in the United States, he owned a slave named Tom. Although when Tom later escaped and was found living in Massachusetts, Van Buren seems to have been happy to let him remain free.