Martin Van Buren was first exposed to politics in his father's tavern in Kinderhook, New York, which was patronized by politicians traveling between the state capital at Albany and New York City. Maybe this was inspiration for Van Buren, who grew up to serve as a state senator and attorney general before creating his own powerful political "machine" (organization) called the "Albany Regency."

Van Buren used the Regency's power to get elected to the U.S. Senate and continued to dominate New York politics from his Senate office in Washington. How did Van Buren earn the nicknames "Little Magician" and "Red Fox of Kinderhook"?