Martin Van Buren: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Further|Petticoat affair|Presidency of Andrew Jackson}}

[[File:Floride Calhoun nee Colhoun.jpg|thumb|Mrs [[Floride Calhoun]], a leader of the "petticoats"]]

In February 1829, Jackson wrote to Van Buren to ask him to become Secretary of State.{{sfn|Niven|1983|p=228}} Van Buren, 46 years old, quickly agreed, and he resigned as governor the following month; his tenure of forty-three days is the shortest of any Governor of New York.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=229–231}} No serious diplomatic crises arose during Van Buren's tenure as Secretary of State, but he achieved several notable successes, such as settling long-standing claims against France and winning reparations for property that had been seized during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. He reached an agreement with the British to open trade with the [[British West Indies]] colonies and concluded a treaty with the [[Ottoman Empire]] that gained American merchants access to the [[Black Sea]]. Items on which he did not achieve success included settling the [[Maine]]-[[New Brunswick]] boundary dispute with Great Britain, gaining settlement of the U.S. claim to the [[Oregon Country]], concluding a commercial treaty with Russia, and persuading Mexico to sell [[Texas]].{{sfn|Cole|1984|p=203}}<ref name=MVB>{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/van-buren-martin|title=Martin Van Buren|website=Biographies of the Secretaries of State|publisher=U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian|access-date=November 8, 2014|archive-date=December 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205052757/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/van-buren-martin|url-status=live}}</ref>

In addition to his foreign policy duties, Van Buren quickly emerged as an important advisor to Jackson on major domestic issues like the tariff and internal improvements.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=250–252}} The Secretary of State was instrumental in convincing Jackson to issue the [[Maysville Road veto]], which both reaffirmed limited government principles and also helped prevent the construction of infrastructure projects that could potentially compete with New York's Erie Canal.{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=261–262}} He also became involved in a power struggle with Calhoun over appointments and other issues, including the [[Petticoat Affair]].{{sfn|Niven|1983|pp=245–247}} The Petticoat Affair arose because [[Peggy Eaton]], wife of [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[John H. Eaton]], was ostracized by the other cabinet wives due to the circumstances of her marriage.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heller III|first=J. Roderick|date=2010|title=Democracy's Lawyer: Felix Grundy of the Old Southwest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u8mM8D9RVu4C&pg=PA177|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|page=177|isbn=978-0-8071-3742-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Cheathem|first1=Mark Renfred|last2=Mancall|first2=Peter C.|date=2008|title=Jacksonian and Antebellum Age: People and Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wjCVfr4oxUC&pg=PA30|publisher=ABC-CLIO, Inc.|page=30|isbn=978-1-59884-017-9}}</ref>