The eighth president, Martin Van Buren -- which I only knew because I toured his post-presidential home with calimac and benjd in June.
But one might argue that when Van Buren was born in 1782 we weren't yet a country, or rather we were thirteen countries -- it's technically so. We didn't become the country known as the U.S.A until September 1788, in which case the first president born after the founding was the tenth president, John Tyler -- who was the first vice president to succeed to the office, no mean feat as the nature of succession had not yet been tested and there was some question whether Tyler should actually become president or merely serve as Acting President -- Tyler of course chose the former, and was pretty mean to anyone who so much as implied otherwise (this included returning all mail addressed to "Acting President Tyler"). It seems like an important precedent to have established.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-07-29 04:53 pm (UTC)But one might argue that when Van Buren was born in 1782 we weren't yet a country, or rather we were thirteen countries -- it's technically so. We didn't become the country known as the U.S.A until September 1788, in which case the first president born after the founding was the tenth president, John Tyler -- who was the first vice president to succeed to the office, no mean feat as the nature of succession had not yet been tested and there was some question whether Tyler should actually become president or merely serve as Acting President -- Tyler of course chose the former, and was pretty mean to anyone who so much as implied otherwise (this included returning all mail addressed to "Acting President Tyler"). It seems like an important precedent to have established.