The basic definition of democracy in its purest form comes from the Greek language: The term means ârule by the people.â But democracy is defined in many ways â a fact that has caused much disagreement among those leading various democracies as to how best to run one.
President Martin Van Buren 8th President Martin Van Buren, a member of the Democratic Party, took office as the 8th President of the United States on March 4, 1837 at age 54. Van Buren served in office for 4 years and left when he lost reelection. He was born in Kinderhook, NY and received an education from Kinderhook Academy and Washington Seminary.
After being bedridden with a case of pneumonia during the fall of 1861, Martin Van Buren died of bronchial asthma and heart failure at his Lindenwald estate in Kinderhook. He was 79. Legacy. Born six years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Martin Van Buren was the first President who was born a citizen of the United States. (All prior Presidents had been born British subjects.)