John Van Buren

John Van Buren (February 18, 1810 – October 13, 1866) was an American lawyer, official and politician. In addition to serving as a key advisor to his father, President Martin Van Buren, he was also Attorney General of New York from 1845 to 1847.

A son of Hannah (née Hoes) and Martin Van Buren, John Van Buren graduated from Yale University, studied law, and attained admission to the bar in 1830. He served as secretary of the U.S. legation when Martin Van Buren was US Minister to Britain in 1831 and 1832, after which he practiced law in Albany, New York. He returned to England in from 1838 to 1839, and attended the Coronation of Queen Victoria. Van Buren served as New York's attorney general from 1845 to 1847, and was the chief prosecutor of the leaders of the Anti-Rent War.

Van Buren later practiced law in New York City, where he developed a reputation as an effective trial attorney, with his memory for details and oratorical skills making him a formidable courtroom advocate. In 1848, Van Buren led the Barnburners—New York Democrats opposed to the election of Lewis Cass as president on the grounds that he was too friendly to the slaveholding South. Van Buren persuaded his father to run as the candidate of the Barnburners and the Free Soil Party in order to defeat Cass; Martin Van Buren won enough votes in New York to enable Zachary Taylor to defeat Cass and win the presidency.

In Van Buren's later years he traveled extensively; he died aboard ship while en route from England to New York, and was buried at Albany Rural Cemetery. Provided by Wikipedia