Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/17

VAN BUREN.  partly from certain measures of President Jackson's Administration, and partly from the spirit of reckless speculation which prevailed at the time. The chief measure of his Administration was the establishment of the independent treasury system for the safekeeping and disbursement of the public moneys. This system, after a short interruption during the Whig supremacy, became a part of the permanent policy of the country. President Van Buren was renominated in 1840 for the Presidency, but chiefly on account of the financial distress of the time, for which he was to a considerable extent held responsible in the popular mind, he was overwhelmingly defeated by the Whig candidate, General Harrison. In 1844 he was again a candidate for the Democratic nomination, but on account of his opposition to the annexation of Texas he was opposed by the Southern Democrats, and was defeated. In 1848 he was nominated for the Presidency by the newly formed (q.v.). His ticket diverted sufficient votes in New York from General Cass, the Democratic candidate for President, to insure the latter's defeat and the triumph of the Whigs. He supported Pierce in 1852 and Buchanan in 1856, and remained to the day of his death a Democrat except on the question of slavery extension. He died at Kinderhook, his birthplace, on July 24, 1862.

Van Buren attained eminence at the bar, but never practiced after his election to the United States Senate in 1821. As a politician he was surpassed by few, if any, men of the time, and for many years was the controlling spirit of the Albany Regency (q.v.). He was the author of a fragmentary work entitled An Inquiry into the Origin and Cause of Political Parties in the United States, published in 1867. A number of biographies have been published, the latest and most valuable one to students being that of Edward M. Shepard (Boston, 1888), in the "American Statesmen Series." (See .) One of his sons, John (1810-66), popularly known as "Prince John," graduated at Yale in 1828, became an able and prominent lawyer, and was Attorney-General of New York in 1845-46.

 VAN BUREN, (1819-83). An American surgeon, born in Philadelphia. He studied two years in Yale: graduated at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1840: entered the army and served in Florida and on the Canadian frontier; was on the staff of Bellevue Hospital from 1849 till 1852; was professor of anatomy in the Medical College of New York University from 1852 till 1860; and from 1860 till shortly before his death occupied the chair of surgery in Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He translated Bernard and Huette's Operative Surgery and Medical Anatomy (1855), and Morel's Compendium of Human Histology (1861). He also published: Contributions to Practical Surgery (1865): Lectures on Diseases of the Rectum (1874); and, with Dr. E. L. Keyes, Text-book on Diseases of the Urino-genital Organs with Syphilis (1874).

 VANCE, (1830-94). An American soldier and politician, born in Buncombe County, N. C. He attended Washington College, Tenn., and in 1851-52 studied law at the University of North Carolina. In 1852 he was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the State Legislature in 1854, and in 1858 was elected to Congress as a Whig to fill the unexpired term of Thomas L. Clingman (q.v.). He opposed secession as long as possible, hut raised a company which became a part of the Fourteenth North Carolina Regiment. Later he was elected colonel of the subsequently famous Twenty-sixth North Carolina Regiment, and served in eastern North Carolina and in the Seven Days' Battles. In 1802, while in the field, he was elected Governor, and at once bent all his energies to the successful prosecution of the war. Upon the collapse of the Confederacy, he was imprisoned in Washington from May 20, to July 5, 1805, but was then released on parole. In 1870 he was elected to the United States Senate, but, as his disabilities had not been removed, was refused admission. He resigned in 1872, and resumed the practice of law in Charlotte. In 1870, after an exciting campaign, he was for the third time elected Governor. He was again elected to the United States Senate in 1879, and was reelected in 1885 and 1891. Consult Dowd, Life of Zebulon B. Vance (Charlotte, N, C, 1897).

 VAN CLEVE, (1851—). An American musician, born in Maysville. Ky. He received his musical education under native teachers, and from 1872 to 1875 was employed as musical teacher at the Institute for the Blind, Columbus; after which he occupied a similar position at Janesville, Wis. In 1879 he removed to Cincinnati, where until 1897 he was engaged in teaching, musical journalism, and as lecturer at the Conservatory and College of Music. In 1897 he removed to Chicago, and became prominently identified with the musical life of that city. He published several pianoforte pieces, and contributed largely to the more important musical periodicals.

 VAN COR'LEAR, or VAN CURLER, (c. 1600-07). A Dutch colonist in America, born in Holland. Emigrating to New Amsterdam (New York) about 1630, he became superintendent of Rensselaerswyck in 1642, and as such was called upon to conduct frequent negotiations with the Indians, whom he treated with uniform consideration and justice and over whom, in consequence, he exercised a powerful influence by which he preserved peace for many years between them and the whites. Throughout the Mohawk country, and to a certain extent among the eastern Indians generally, the name 'Corlear' soon came into use to designate the English governors (especially of New York), and was so used for more than a century. On several occasions Van Corlear rescued French prisoners from the Iroquois, or saved them from torture. In 1661 he bought the 'Great Flat' of the Mohawk River from the Indians, and in 1662 founded Schenectady, the first agricultural settlement in the province in which farmers could hold land in fee simple, free from feudal annoyances. In 1667, while on his way to Quebec to visit the French Governor, he was drowned off Split Rock, in Lake Champlain.

 VAN CORT'LANDT, (1749-1831). An American soldier and legislator, born in Westchester County, N. Y. He became a land-