A British Traveler's Observations of Van Buren's Servants
Martin Van Buren was sometimes criticized for his kingly airs, but during his administration the White House was sparsely staffed. The 1840 census of Washington, D.C., indicates that only two or three white servants, and about five free “colored persons,” resided in the Executive Mansion, although others may have lived elsewhere.1The British writer James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855), a former Member of Par