Martin Van Buren ( van BEWR-ən; born Maarten Van Buren; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. He was the first president to have English as a second language – his mother tongue was Dutch – and the first born after the United States had declared its independence from Great Britain. He was the first president to have English as a second language – his mother tongue was Dutch – and the first born after the United States had declared its independence from Great Britain. Van Buren adopted the Democratic-Republican political leanings of his father, despite his association with the Silvesters and Kinderhook's strong affiliation with the Federalist Party. The Silvesters and Democratic-Republican political figure John Peter Van Ness suggested that Van Buren's political leanings constrained him to complete his education with a Democratic-Republican attorney, so he spent a final year of apprenticeship in the New York City office of John Van Ness's brother William P. Van Ness, a political lieutenant of Aaron Burr.