Inauguration of Martin Van Buren

The inauguration of Martin Van Buren as the eighth President of the United States took place on Saturday, March 4, 1837, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 13th inauguration and marked the commencement of the only four-year term of both Martin Van Buren as President and Richard Mentor Johnson as Vice President.[1] Vice President and President-elect Van Buren rode with his predecessor Andrew Jackson in a small phaeton built from the wood of USS Constitution drawn by four gray horses.[2] This was the first time that the outgoing and incoming president rode together to the Capitol.[1] Van Buren would become the last sitting vice president to be inaugurated as president through an election until George H. W. Bush in 1989.

Presidential Inauguration of Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren
DateMarch 4, 1837 (1837-03-04)
LocationUnited States Capitol,
Washington, D.C.
ParticipantsMartin Van Buren
8th President of the United States
— Assuming office
Roger Brooke Taney
Chief Justice of the United States
— Administering oath
Richard Mentor Johnson
9th Vice President of the United States
— Assuming office
William Rufus DeVane King
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
— Administering oath

The event proved less a celebration of the incoming president than a tribute to the outgoing one. Van Buren's inaugural address took wistful note of it:

In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well, I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and success. But ... I may hope that somewhat of the same cheering approbation will be found to attend upon my path.[3]

With a single exception, the new administration retained Jackson's entire cabinet, and Van Buren pledged to "tread generally in the footsteps of President Jackson."[3]

See also

References
  1. "The 13th Presidential Inauguration: Martin Van Buren, March 04, 1837". United States Senate. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  2. Morison, Samuel Eliot (1965). The Oxford History of the American People. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 452.
  3. "Martin Van Buren: Domestic affairs". Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.