It was on this date in 1862 that former American President Martin Van Buren passed into history. Few Canadians are aware today that Upper Canada's rebel hero -- or villain, depending on one's perspective -- William Lyon Mackenzie, penned a biography of Van Buren while the former was in exile after the Upper Canadian rebellion of 1837. And, Mackenzie was no fan of Van Buren, the latter having made the former’s exile in New York State far from easy.And, as all readers of Art’s History know, little me has always been fascinated by the careers of Presidents and PMs after they leave office. I mention this because Van Buren was one of the five living former Presidents the newly-elected Abraham Lincoln had to navigate around upon his becoming President in 1861. The complicated relationships -- with the backdrop of slavery and the U.S. Civil War --- between Lincoln and his predecessors, are worthy of a movie or five!
Luckily Chris DeRose, a US historian of commanding ability, wrote the Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them. It is a remarkable story of Van Buren and the other members of the Presidents' Club at a critical time in US history.But I digress. So, back to the matter at hand. Happy Van Buren Death Day, with an Upper Canadian nod to William Lyon Mackenzie, rebel and grandfather to William Lyon Mackenzie King himself!
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.
Luckily Chris DeRose, a US historian of commanding ability, wrote the Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them. It is a remarkable story of Van Buren and the other members of the Presidents' Club at a critical time in US history.But I digress. So, back to the matter at hand. Happy Van Buren Death Day, with an Upper Canadian nod to William Lyon Mackenzie, rebel and grandfather to William Lyon Mackenzie King himself!
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.