Martin Van Buren was the eighth president and the first to be born in the newly independent nation.

As the descendant of Dutch immigrants, he was also the first president whose ethnic background wasn't mostly from the British Isles. He was best known for his shrewd political skills. He considered himself a follower of Thomas Jefferson and was one of the founders of the Democratic Party.

We have Van Buren to thank for the expression "OK." He was from Kinderhook, New York, which was sometimes referred to as "Old Kinderhook." "O.K. Clubs" were created to support Van Buren's political campaigns, and the expression "OK" came to mean "all right."