The following was the electoral vote cast in 1836: Martin Van Buren, of New York, Democrat, 170; William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, Whig, 73; Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, Whig, 26; Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, Whig, 14; Willie P. Mangum, of North Carolina, Whig, 11. For Vice-President, Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, Democrat, 147; Francis Granger, of New York, Whig, 77; John Tyler, of Virginia, Whig, 47; William Smith, of Alabama, Democrat, 23. The vote for Johnson as Vice-President was not sufficient to elect him, but he was chosen by the House of Representatives. MARTIN VAN BUREN. Martin Van Buren, eighth President, was born December 5, 1782, at Kinderhook, N.Y., and died July 24, 1862. He became eminent as a lawyer, and his skill as a Democratic politician caused him to be known as the "Little Magician." He held a number of public offices, being State senator, United States senator, 1821-28; governor of New York, 1828-29; and secretary of State under Jackson, 1829-31, when Jackson appointed him minister to England, but his political opponents secured his defeat in the Senate. Becoming Vice-President under Jackson, he presided in the Senate from 1833 to 1837. Jackson was so pleased with Van Buren that he chose him as his successor. He was the Free Soil candidate for the presidency in 1848, and thereby brought about the defeat of Cass by Taylor. The administration of Van Buren was one of the most unpopular we have ever had, and through no fault of his. A great deal of the prosperity of Jackson's term was superficial. He had been despotic, as shown in his removal of the United States Bank deposits and the issue of the specie circular of 1836. Confusion ensued in business, and an era of wild speculation followed a distribution of the surplus in the treasury among the States. The credit system took the place of the cash system, banks sprang up like mushrooms, and an immense amount of irredeemable money was put in circulation. [Illustration: MARTIN VAN BUREN. (1782-1862.) One term, 1837-1841.] These institutions were known as "wild-cat banks," and their method of defrauding the public was as follows: They bought several hundred thousands of cheap bills which, having cost them practically nothing, they used in offering higher prices for public lands than others could pay in gold and silver. They trusted to chance that their bills would not soon come back for redemption, but if they did so, the banks "failed" and the holders of the notes lost every dollar. The fraud was a deliberate one, but the establishment of the national banking law since then renders a repetition of the swindle impossible. THE PANIC OF 1837.