Name of President: __ Martin Van Buren ________

Number of Presidency:______8th President______

Years in Office: _______4 years in office__________

In the following ten categories, grade your president from an A to an F. (You may “acknowledge” border-line grades with a – or a +).  You will need to give a 50 word justification as to why your candidate scored as they did. 

Category	Grade	Comments
Ability to handle and deal with a crisis	A	Advocated lower tariffs and free trade. Maintained support of the South for the Democratic Party. Succeeded in setting up a system of bonds for the national debt. Reversed Andrew Jackson's policies and sought peace at home, as well as abroad. Van Buren wanted to seek a diplomatic solution to the problem.
Ability to work with Congress and Cabinet	D	Inflamed public opinion on both sides. Van Buren took the blame for hard times, as Whigs ridiculed him as Martin Van Ruin. He was affraid of losing Missouri's vote, so he didn't help the Mormons who were kicked out of the state.
Character and Integrity	B	Van Buren advocated lower tariffs and free trade, and by doing so maintained support of the South for the Democratic Party. He succeeded in setting up a system of bonds for the national debt. His party was so split that his 1837 proposal for an "Independent Treasury" system did not pass until 1840. It gave the Treasury control of all federal funds and had a legal tender clause that required (by 1843) all payments to be made in specie, but it further inflamed public opinion on both sides.
Education	A	He went to basic school up until he was fourteen. Then he began studying law as an intern at the office of Peter Silvester. He then entered the bar in 1808. He excelled in speech classes and composition.
Empathy	C	The Governor of Missouri had issued an executive order on October 27, 1838, known as the "Extermination Order". It authorized troops to use force against Mormons to "exterminate or drive [them] from the state". In 1839, after moving to Illinois, Joseph Smith and his party appealed to members of Congress and to President Van Buren to intercede for the Mormons. According to Smith's grandnephew, Van Buren said to Smith, "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you; if I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri"
Foreign Policy	B	In the case of the ship Amistad, Van Buren sided with the Spanish Government to return the kidnapped slaves. Van Buren oversaw the movement of Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw and Seminole tribes from Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina to theOklahoma territory, executing the orders passed under Jackson. To help secure Florida, Van Buren also continued the Second Seminole War, which had begun while Jackson was in office. Fighting was not resolved until 1842, after Van Buren had left office.
Relates to the common man	B	Van Buren received a basic education at a poorly lit schoolhouse in his native village and later studied Latin briefly at the Kinderhook Academy and at Washington Seminary in Claverack. Had five sons and one daughter
Persuasiveness	B	In the election of 1832, the Jackson-Van Buren ticket won by a landslide. When the election of 1836 came up, Jackson was determined to make Van Buren, his personal choice, President to continue his legacy. Martin Van Buren's only competitors in the 1836 election were the Whigs, who ran several regional candidates in hopes of sending the election to the House of Representatives, where each state delegation would have one vote
Political Experience	A	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
Public speaking & Communication	A	He is the first president not to have spoken English as a first language, having spoken only Dutch growing up. an Buren grew up in a Dutch-speaking community. His native language was Dutch, and to date, he is the only U.S. President who has spoken English as a second language