Source
Martin van Buren
Born: December 5, 1782
Died: July 24, 1862
Slaves Owned: 4+
Known for: Being the 8th president. Being president during the worst economic depression to that date, and doubling down with Andrew Jackson's economic policy, which worsened the depression. Being a one-termer.
Van Buren came from a slave-owning family, and apparently only owned a few himself, but it's a few too many humans to own. The only acceptable amount of humans to own, is zero.
Van Buren also opposed the annexation of Texas, because it would have been a slave territory. Before you get excited to see it as proof that he wasn't so bad after all, just know that the motive was to keep the fragile balance of the Union in place. Slave-owning states and free states always teetered back and forth, and this would have tipped it too far in favor of slave-owning states, which would have angered the free states and lost his chances at reelection from them. It was entirely political and self-preservation at its heart. He was ultimately a fan of, beneficiary of, and enforcer of, the status quo of slavery in the United States.
Sources:
Article about his refusal to annex Texas.
The official White House page.
The role the Founding Fathers had on him.
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