Hero of the Week – Horia Cretan
NY Post
October 1, 2009
A Good Samaritan, shown on video dramatically rescuing a child from a Bronx fire, has moved on to another great moment in his life — proposing to his girlfriend on live TV.
Horia Cretan got down on one knee on ABC’s “Good Morning America” today, and told the woman, identified only as Desiree, there’s “never going to be a dull moment.”
She said, “Yes!” — and Cretan slipped a ring on her finger.
Moments earlier, Cretan recalled being in his store on Wednesday and hearing “desperate screams.”
He rushed outside, saw “waves of smoke” billowing from a fourth-floor window and used a ladder to get to the fire escape.
A firefighter handed him a limp, unconscious 4-year-old. Using a curtain as a shield from falling debris, Cretan carried the boy to safety.
“I broke the windows … the old man came out… he told me a boy was inside,” Cretan told WNYW-TV/Fox 5.
Cretan tried CPR on the boy.
“The little [CPR] I knew … when he opened his eyes it was a beautiful morning… I can’t wait to see him.”
The child is expected to survive.
Source NY Post
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Mom and Dad: What You Need to Know About Me
by SafeKids/PIO
Sept. 29, 2009
I may roll my eyes at your safety rules, but I’m really listening. I am trying to be independent and show I’m in control.
I still don’t really understand risks. I think I’m invincible and nothing will ever hurt me. That kind of stuff only happens to other kids.
While you’re not watching, I’ll try new things. Sometimes I’ll take a risk just to show-off for my friends.
That’s why you should talk to me about ways to stay safe since you can’t follow me around. Empower me to make safe choices because I still trust you to teach me the right things to do.
Did you know…?
I am starting to understand risks, but may take them anyway.
I still have trouble avoiding obstacles and preventing falls.
My visual perception is less defined than older kids’.
I can’t always identify oncoming cars in busy intersections because I’m not fully able to recognize an object from a busy background.
I’m very influenced by my friends and concerned about what they think of me.
I’m very likely to be injured by cooking equipment-related fires, candle fires or by fireworks.
I’m more likely to be completely unrestrained in a car than little kids.
Safety Tips Checklist
Preventing Falls & Injuries at Play
- Make sure your child wears a helmet and protective gear every time he or she bikes, rides a scooter, skates, skateboards, skis, etc.
Preventing Motor Vehicle Injuries
- Pre-teens should always use a lap and shoulder belt on every ride.
- Pre-teens under about 4 foot 9 inches and 80 to 100 pounds should use a booster seat with a lap and shoulder belt.
- Never put the shoulder belt behind the back or under the arm.
- All children under age 13 should ride in a back seat.
Preventing Burns & Scalds
- Install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
- Practice an escape plan with your family.
- Teach your pre-teen to never play with matches, lighters or fireworks and to never light candles in his or her bedroom.
- Set your water heater at 120 degrees Fahrenheit or below.
- Place hot foods and liquids on the center of the table. Don’t set them on the edges of tables or counters.
- Don’t let your child use a microwave until he or she is tall enough to reach the items in it safely and understands that steam can cause burns.
Preventing Poisonings
- Talk to your pre-teen about the dangers of poisonous items like inhalants and prescription medicines.
Source: Safe Kids
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Medal of Honor Recipient – US Army Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Sept. 29, 2009
Each week we at the Chronicle will be honoring one of these true heroes. We will call it Medal of Honor Recipient of the Week. We hope you will join with us to honor these true heroes. Who have given us the greatest sacrifice that one could give their life, to save their fellow soldiers?
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
This Week’s Hero: Army Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an M2 .50-caliber Machine Gunner, 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, in connection with combat operations against an armed enemy in Adhamiyah, Northeast Baghdad, Iraq, on 4 December 2006.
That afternoon his platoon was conducting combat control operations in an effort to reduce and control sectarian violence in the area. While Private McGinnis was manning the M2 .50-caliber Machine Gun, a fragmentation grenade thrown by an insurgent fell through the gunner’s hatch into the vehicle. Reacting quickly, he yelled “grenade,” allowing all four members of his crew to prepare for the grenade’s blast.
Then, rather than leaping from the gunner’s hatch to safety, Private McGinnis made the courageous decision to protect his crew. In a selfless act of bravery, in which he was mortally wounded, Private McGinnis covered the live grenade, pinning it between his body and the vehicle and absorbing most of the explosion.
Private McGinnis’ gallant action directly saved four men from certain serious injury or death. Private First Class McGinnis’ extraordinary heroism and selflessness at the cost of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Source: US Military
Who Were Our Presidents? Part 9
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Sept. 29, 2009
Editor’s Note: How many of us along with our children? Know who our Presidents were and what they have done in Office.
Each week we will pick a President and tell you about them and their accomplishes.
We hope that you will enjoy this series. And let us know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com
9. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 1841
“Give him a barrel of hard cider and settle a pension of two thousand a year on him, and my word for it,” a Democratic newspaper foolishly gibed, “he will sit … by the side of a ‘sea coal’ fire, and study moral philosophy. ” The Whigs, seizing on this political misstep, in 1840 presented their candidate William Henry Harrison as a simple frontier Indian fighter, living in a log cabin and drinking cider, in sharp contrast to an aristocratic champagne-sipping Van Buren.
Harrison was in fact a scion of the Virginia planter aristocracy. He was born at Berkeley in 1773. He studied classics and history at Hampden-Sydney College, then began the study of medicine in Richmond.
Suddenly, that same year, 1791, Harrison switched interests. He obtained a commission as ensign in the First Infantry of the Regular Army, and headed to the Northwest, where he spent much of his life.
In the campaign against the Indians, Harrison served as aide-de-camp to General “Mad Anthony” Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which opened most of the Ohio area to settlement. After resigning from the Army in 1798, he became Secretary of the Northwest Territory, was its first delegate to Congress, and helped obtain legislation dividing the Territory into the Northwest and Indiana Territories. In 1801 he became Governor of the Indiana Territory, serving 12 years.
His prime task as governor was to obtain title to Indian lands so settlers could press forward into the wilderness. When the Indians retaliated, Harrison was responsible for defending the settlements.
The threat against settlers became serious in 1809. An eloquent and energetic chieftain, Tecumseh, with his religious brother, the Prophet, began to strengthen an Indian confederation to prevent further encroachment. In 1811 Harrison received permission to attack the confederacy.
While Tecumseh was away seeking more allies, Harrison led about a thousand men toward the Prophet’s town. Suddenly, before dawn on November 7, the Indians attacked his camp on Tippecanoe River. After heavy fighting, Harrison repulsed them, but suffered 190 dead and wounded.
The Battle of Tippecanoe, upon which Harrison’s fame was to rest, disrupted Tecumseh’s confederacy but failed to diminish Indian raids. By the spring of 1812, they were again terrorizing the frontier.
In the War of 1812 Harrison won more military laurels when he was given the command of the Army in the Northwest with the rank of brigadier general. At the Battle of the Thames, north of Lake Erie, on October 5, 1813, he defeated the combined British and Indian forces, and killed Tecumseh. The Indians scattered, never again to offer serious resistance in what was then called the Northwest.
Thereafter Harrison returned to civilian life; the Whigs, in need of a national hero, nominated him for President in 1840. He won by a majority of less than 150,000, but swept the Electoral College, 234 to 60.
When he arrived in Washington in February 1841, Harrison let Daniel Webster edit his Inaugural Address, ornate with classical allusions. Webster obtained some deletions, boasting in a jolly fashion that he had killed “seventeen Roman proconsuls as dead as smelts, every one of them.”
Webster had reason to be pleased, for while Harrison was nationalistic in his outlook, he emphasized in his Inaugural that he would be obedient to the will of the people as expressed through Congress.
But before he had been in office a month, he caught a cold that developed into pneumonia. On April 4, 1841, he died–the first President to die in office–and with him died the Whig program.
Source: White House
Editor’s Note: There is a special prize if you can tell us the accomplishemts of William Henry Harrison as the 9th President of the United States. dan@youngchronicle.com
Swine Flu: Truth Need To Know
by Julia Halewicz
Sept. 28, 2009
Should you be worried? And how can you protect yourself and your grandkids? We asked an expert.
Reports of widespread swine-flu infection in Mexico, Japan, and the United States, and as many as eight deaths in the U.S. — some suspected flu fatalities remain unconfirmed — have shaken parents and grandparents across the country. Pharmacies have sold out their supplies of face masks and schools have closed for disinfecting. The World Health Organization has raised this virus strain’s classification to level 5, which means it has confirmed widespread human-to-human transmission.
Grandparents.com spoke to Dr. Joseph Bocchini, chairman of the department of pediatrics at Louisiana State University Health Science Center and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee of infectious diseases, about how grandparents and parents should prepare for the possible threat of swine flu in their families.
GP: How does the swine flu spread, and how can we protect ourselves and our grandchildren from possible infection?
Dr. Joseph Bocchini: Everyone should realize that this virus spreads the same way that other strains of influenza spread. For individuals who are sick: Don’t go to work, don’t go to school, and don’t participate in public activities. Avoid large crowds, and do frequent hand washing. Handwashing is probably the best way to protect yourself because this virus will survive on surfaces. If you touch someone who is contaminated, you get the virus on your hands, and then if you touch your eyes or your nose or your mouth you could spread the virus.
GP: What else can we do?
JB: People who are coughing or sneezing should have Kleenex and they should sneeze into the Kleenex and then throw the Kleenex in the trash. That will help reduce the spread of the organisms into the community or to the people around them.
GP: Is it safe to take grandchildren to the supermarket, to play dates, and to public parks?
JB: The Centers for Disease Control will update on a regular basis what’s happening and provide recommendations for if we need to change what we are doing. If people are staying home as they should when [they have] an acute illness, then routine things that you do in a community [including] playgrounds would be fine unless there is a high degree of activity in your area for which the public health authorities [would advise] not to. If a grandparent is in good health, has no underlying major medical problems and normally goes out, I would continue to do that unless there was some recommendation by the public-health people to avoid that.
GP: What possible changes would public-health authorities recommend?
JB: Public-health authorities will do things that will try to reduce contact. They will close schools, they will close daycare centers, movie theaters, and other public areas to try to reduce the risk of transmission.
GP: Should families prepare for such measures?
JB: I think what families can do right now is think about what they need to do to prepare just in case a school closes and their children will be at home, or if the daycare closes and their children will be at home. Obviously, if we closed school or a daycare, we would rather those children stay at home rather than go out into the community to malls and places where they still might be exposed to the virus. [Discover 7 ways to stay active indoors.]
GP: If grandparents are able to babysit for the grandchildren, should they offer to do so in lieu of sending the kids to daycare?
JB: Not now. I would ask those people to see what their local health authorities are proposing. Much of the response to influenza is going to be on a community-by-community basis. [Read about 5 tricks to staying well when sitting for sick grandchildren.]
GP: How long does it take for swine flu to incubate in a person?
JB: Influenza has a very short incubation period. Usually one-to-three days after exposure would be when we would expect symptoms to begin. The longest incubation period is probably a week. So if someone, for example, has come back from Mexico City and they don’t get sick within a week, they probably don’t have influenza. A week is probably the longest time.
GP: What are the signs of swine flu that we should be alert to?
JB: It is very important that if someone has the classic signs of influenza — sudden onset of chills, high fever [100.3 degrees Fahrenheit], a bad headache, cough, mild nasal congestion, mild nausea, sometimes even vomiting and diarrhea — they should seek advice from their physicians. Tests can be done to determine if they have influenza, and then if they do, they can be treated with Tamiflu or Relenza, antivirals the organism is susceptible to. Our goal would be to treat anybody with influenza early to see if we could modify the course of the infection. The influenza virus that is spreading has been tested and is susceptible to some of the antiviral drugs we normally use.
GP: How can we tell the difference between swine flu symptoms and those of the common cold?
JB: Influenza is a very characteristic illness. Most viruses that produce colds produce a very little fever, and the children who have them usually don’t feel too bad, so that they tend to be able to continue to play or do other things they normally would. Influenza is different. Influenza starts abruptly with hot fever, and the symptoms that we have talked about. Younger kids are irritable, fussy; they don’t want to do things; they want to lie around. Older children will tell you that they’ve got severe headaches, or muscle aches and pains, or lower-back pain — these patients with influenza look different from patients who just have a cold. Any child who has a respiratory illness with significant fever, that’s a patient that needs to be seen by their physician to decide whether they need to be tested for flu. [Learn more about responding to medical emergencies when you’re watching your grandchildren.]
GP: How should families prepare in case their children get infected?
JB: Having your pediatrician’s telephone number available, knowing their office and how it runs and what to do after hours is always good so that you can call and get information and make decisions about what to do for your children.
GP: If a school has been closed because cases of swine flu have been confirmed in the student body, does that mean the street or neighborhood is contaminated?
JB: The virus will survive for a short period of time on clothing or other areas [like money] but outside in the environment, after a very short period of time, the virus is not going to be viable.
GP: What is a “short period of time”?
JB: We’re talking within minutes. For example, if someone has their hand contaminated and they touch the door of a car as they enter the car, and then somebody follows that within five or ten minutes, the chances are that that virus is still viable and if they touch their eye or nose or mouth then they may transmit the virus. An hour later, that is not going to be a problem.
GP: Will wearing a face mask help protect us from swine flu?
JB: Well, that’s arguable. There is very little data on the effectiveness of face masks. If someone is coughing or sneezing, some of the virus that is in the air could be stopped. That’s a small benefit. You’re better off [washing your hands]. Certainly if someone wants to add a mask, it could offer some help but we wouldn’t recommend that as a major way to reduce infection risk.
GP: Should we avoid pork and vegetables grown in Mexico?
JB: There is no evidence of transmission from any food product.
GP: How long will it be before we know how badly the global community will be affected by swine flu?
JB: It is going to depend on whether we reach a peak of activity and it disappears or if the activity just keeps going. I think within a week we will know a lot more. Whether that’s enough to tell us the extent of severity, I wouldn’t be ready to predict.
Editor’s Note: For more of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations for responding to the swine flu scare, visit its website. The academy also has specific flu-prevention advice for childcare providers. Visit slate.com to learn about the limitations of face masks in preventing the flu.
To find out about specific swine-flu warnings that may be in place in your area (or your grandchildren’s), check the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state-government websites, or your local newspaper.
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Source: Grandparents
Safe Kids:Prevent Trunk Entrapment
By Safe Kids/PIO
Sept. 24, 2009
Unlocked cars are open invitations for children to explore. To keep kids safer around vehicles, they must learn that cars are not toys and a trunk is never a good place to play.
Children can access trunks in several ways, even without having the vehicle’s keys. Most cars have a lever or button located near the driver’s seat that pops the trunk open, while other cars also have fold-down seats or a “pass through” that enables children to climb into the trunk from the back seat.
| Safety Tips To help prevent children from being trapped inside a car’s trunk, follow these safety tips:
|
Q&A of the Week
Q: What is an emergency trunk release and how does it work?
A: Cars manufactured after 2001 must have an emergency trunk release – a glow-in-the-dark handle that will open the trunk from the inside in an emergency. Simply pull the handle and the trunk pops open. Teach your older kids how to use the emergency release once they are strong enough to use it to open the trunk but never allow your child to get into the trunk to test it.
Source: Safe Kids
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Our Children Sing Songs of Obama’s Glory
September 24, 2009 by Kim
Filed under Features, Photo of the Day
By Allahpundit
Sept. 24, 2009
No word on where or when this was shot but it was posted to YouTube just two days before The One’s speech to students, which makes me wonder if it was part of some school’s festivities for the screening.
I think parents’ fears about their kids being politically indoctrinated are usually overblown, but I’m open to persuasion by compelling evidence — like, for example, this, or the vid you’re about to see. Getting little kids to croon about how awesome the president is troubles me less than the pop quiz the boss posted, mainly because they’re too young to understand and/or assimilate the agenda they’re singing about (and way too young to vote, natch). But Guy Benson got my atheist ire up when he noted that one of the lines about The One here, heard near the beginning from the kid who’s singing solo, is an adaptation from a hymn about how much Jesus loves the little children.
Which makes this an extreme example of what the boss was so worried about vis-a-vis Obama’s speech: Not that he’d say something nutty or overtly political to kids but that some of his more devout cultists in the teaching ranks would take the speech as a license to push the political envelope in the classroom. And here we are.
Source: Hot Air Fox Nation
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? And did you know this was going on in your child’s school? dan@youngchronicle.com
Medal of Honor Recipient – Cpl. Jason L. Dunham USMC
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Sept. 23, 2009
Each week we at the Chronicle will be honoring one of these true heroes. We will call it Medal of Honor Recipient of the Week. We hope you will join with us to honor these true heroes. Who have given us the greatest sacrifice that one could give their life, to save their fellow soldiers?
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
This Week’s Hero: Cpl. Jason L. Dunham USMC
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Rifle Squad Leader, 4th Platoon, Company K, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines (Reinforced), Regimental Combat Team 7, First Marine Division (Reinforced), on 14 April 2004.
Corporal Dunham’s squad was conducting a reconnaissance mission in the town of Karabilah, Iraq, when they heard rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire erupt approximately two kilometers to the west.
Corporal Dunham led his Combined Anti-Armor Team towards the engagement to provide fire support to their Battalion Commander’s convoy, which had been ambushed as it was traveling to Camp Husaybah. As Corporal Dunham and his Marines advanced, they quickly began to receive enemy fire. Corporal Dunham ordered his squad to dismount their vehicles and led one of his fire teams on foot several blocks south of the ambushed convoy.
Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade.
Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines.
By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty, Corporal Dunham gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon him and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
Source: US Military
Toddlers and Biting What do We Do?
By Wiki How
September 23, 2009
Toddlers bite when they’re frustrated and don’t know how else to express it, when they’re interested in finding out more about someone, and when teething. These are some pieces of advice to convince toddlers to stop biting people.
Steps
Give your toddler another way to express frustration. If they’re not talking too much yet, they may be able to use sign language to communicate instead – even if they have no hearing problems at all. Other ways to express frustration include things like hitting a pillow, or teaching them one new special word to say when they’re angry.
A teething toddler may bite to relieve the pain and communicate irritation at the same time. Provide your toddler with something safe to chew on. Cold drinks and topical anaesthetics help with teething pain, too.
When toddlers want to interact physically with people (such as during wrestling games), they may bite. Give them other safe options for physical play. Avoid play that encourages biting from a child until you have the behavior more under control, especially if it involves biting other children with whom they wrestle.
Remind your child that teeth are not for biting people, and moreover, that teeth are for other things – chewing food, smiling, etc. A long-winded explanation is not necessary either, and will not help to stop the behavior. Instead, use a short, firm (not “angry”) statement such as, “No biting.” This not only teaches the child what you mean, but gets their attention (and teeth) off whomever they are biting.
Be persistent. Toddlers can not change any behavior after one reminder or one day. Consistent, repeated reminders about appropriate behavior will eventually become a change in that behavior.
Check with a pediatrician to make sure there isn’t a medical problem. Many times, hearing loss goes undiagnosed until a child is a toddler, and the frustration of being expected to be able to hear is huge.
Maintain as regular a schedule as possible. Children appreciate having set routines for breakfast, bedtime, nap time, and playtime. If your child knows what to expect from most of the day, they’ll be more able to deal with new circumstances.
Tips
Think of what it’s like to be so much smaller than everyone else, to be told what to do all the time when you’re excited about discovering the world, and not understanding a lot of what older kids and grown-ups are doing. Now think of how that feels when you don’t have any words to use to tell people how you feel, and if you do have the words, they may not understand you anyway. Now add being tired all the time on top of that. You might start biting people, too!
Though you may not understand what your toddler is saying to you when they talk, or when they bite, they understand a lot more of what you’re saying than you think. Talk to them all the time, and give them lots of love and hugs.
Warnings
- Do not, under any circumstances, bite your toddler back. That only reinforces the behavior and shows that you’re willing to cause them pain.
Source: WikiHow
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com
Who Were Our Presidents? Part 8
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Sept. 22, 2009
Editor’s Note: How many of us along with our children? Know who our Presidents were and what they have done in Office.
Each week we will pick a President and tell you about them and their accomplishes.
We hope that you will enjoy this series. And let us know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com
8. MARTIN VAN BUREN 1837-1841
Only about 5 feet, 6 inches tall, but trim and erect, Martin Van Buren dressed fastidiously. His impeccable appearance belied his amiability–and his humble background. Of Dutch descent, he was born in 1782, the son of a tavernkeeper and farmer, in Kinderhook, New York.
As a young lawyer he became involved in New York politics. As leader of the “Albany Regency,” an effective New York political organization, he shrewdly dispensed public offices and bounty in a fashion calculated to bring votes. Yet he faithfully fulfilled official duties, and in 1821 was elected to the United States Senate.
By 1827 he had emerged as the principal northern leader for Andrew Jackson. President Jackson rewarded Van Buren by appointing him Secretary of State. As the Cabinet Members appointed at John C. Calhoun’s recommendation began to demonstrate only secondary loyalty to Jackson, Van Buren emerged as the President’s most trusted adviser. Jackson referred to him as, “a true man with no guile.”
The rift in the Cabinet became serious because of Jackson’s differences with Calhoun, a Presidential aspirant. Van Buren suggested a way out of an eventual impasse: he and Secretary of War Eaton resigned, so that Calhoun men would also resign. Jackson appointed a new Cabinet, and sought again to reward Van Buren by appointing him Minister to Great Britain. Vice President Calhoun, as President of the Senate, cast the deciding vote against the appointment–and made a martyr of Van Buren.
The “Little Magician” was elected Vice President on the Jacksonian ticket in 1832, and won the Presidency in 1836.
Van Buren devoted his Inaugural Address to a discourse upon the American experiment as an example to the rest of the world. The country was prosperous, but less than three months later the panic of 1837 punctured the prosperity.
Basically the trouble was the 19th-century cyclical economy of “boom and bust,” which was following its regular pattern, but Jackson’s financial measures contributed to the crash. His destruction of the Second Bank of the United States had removed restrictions upon the inflationary practices of some state banks; wild speculation in lands, based on easy bank credit, had swept the West. To end this speculation, Jackson in 1836 had issued a Specie Circular requiring that lands be purchased with hard money–gold or silver.
In 1837 the panic began. Hundreds of banks and businesses failed. Thousands lost their lands. For about five years the United States was wracked by the worst depression thus far in its history.
Programs applied decades later to alleviate economic crisis eluded both Van Buren and his opponents. Van Buren’s remedy–continuing Jackson’s deflationary policies–only deepened and prolonged the depression.
Declaring that the panic was due to recklessness in business and overexpansion of credit, Van Buren devoted himself to maintaining the solvency of the national Government. He opposed not only the creation of a new Bank of the United States but also the placing of Government funds in state banks. He fought for the establishment of an independent treasury system to handle Government transactions. As for Federal aid to internal improvements, he cut off expenditures so completely that the Government even sold the tools it had used on public works.
Inclined more and more to oppose the expansion of slavery, Van Buren blocked the annexation of Texas because it assuredly would add to slave territory–and it might bring war with Mexico.
Defeated by the Whigs in 1840 for reelection, he was an unsuccessful candidate for President on the Free Soil ticket in 1848. He died in 1862.
Source: White House
Editor’s Note: There is a special prize if you can tell us the accomplishemts of Martin Van Buren as the 8th President of the United States. dan@youngchronicle.com