Changes

==Republican leader==

==Republican leader==

From 1800, when he campaigned for [[Thomas Jefferson]], he remained a resolute [[Republicans (Jeffersonian)|Republican]]. A keen judge of the motives of men, he seldom permitted a difference in politics to interfere with personal friendship. Moreover, he was a middle-of-the-road man, always ready to compromise an issue and at all times ready, as he said, to let the people have what they wanted.  He rose rapidly in New York politics, first joining the [[DeWitt Clinton]] faction in opposing [[Aaron Burr]] and then splitting with Clinton and fighting him for control of the state party. The side-changing gave him a reputation as a fox-like ambitious manipulator; that and his red hair made him "the red fox of Kinderhook." In 1812, Van Buren was elected to the state senate, where he organized and led the "[[Albany Regency]]," the anti-Clinton faction. Chosen attorney-general of the state in 1816, he was defeated by the Clinton forces in 1819, but was triumphantly elected to the United States Senate two years later.  

From 1800, when he campaigned for [[Thomas Jefferson]], he remained a resolute [[Republicans (Jeffersonian)|Republican]]. A keen judge of the motives of men, he seldom permitted a difference in politics to interfere with personal friendship. Moreover, he was a middle-of-the-road man, always ready to compromise an issue and at all times ready, as he said, to let the people have what they wanted.  He rose rapidly in New York politics, first joining the [[DeWitt Clinton]] faction in opposing [[Aaron Burr]] and then splitting with Clinton and fighting him for control of the state party. The side-changing gave him a reputation as a fox-like ambitious manipulator; that and his [[Red Hair|red hair]] made him "the red fox of Kinderhook." In 1812, Van Buren was elected to the state senate, where he organized and led the "[[Albany Regency]]," the anti-Clinton faction. Chosen attorney-general of the state in 1816, he was defeated by the Clinton forces in 1819, but was triumphantly elected to the United States Senate two years later.  

In the decades after the [[War of 1812]] increasingly competitive political parties became characterized by greater popular participation and organizational sophistication, in what is called the "[[Second Party System]]." Silbey (2002) credits Van Buren the major role in this transformation. He introduced a new level of party organization, unswerving loyalty and recruitment of likely young men as campaigners and candidates, Throughout his career, Silbey contends, Van Buren was "the prime organizer, articulator, and manager of the nation's political conflict."  

In the decades after the [[War of 1812]] increasingly competitive political parties became characterized by greater popular participation and organizational sophistication, in what is called the "[[Second Party System]]." Silbey (2002) credits Van Buren the major role in this transformation. He introduced a new level of party organization, unswerving loyalty and recruitment of likely young men as campaigners and candidates, Throughout his career, Silbey contends, Van Buren was "the prime organizer, articulator, and manager of the nation's political conflict."