broke with his political chief in 1813, he had remained long
enough in the Clinton school to learn every trick; and he
possessed such native talent for intrigue, so smooth a manner,
and such a wonderful memory for names, that he soon found himself
at the head of a much more perfect and far-reaching machine than
Clinton had ever dreamed of. The Empire State has never produced
the equal of Van Buren as a manipulator of legislatures. No
modern politician would wish to face publicity if he resorted to
the petty tricks that Van Buren used in legislative politics. And
when, in 1821, he was elected to the Senate of the United States,
he became one of the organizers of the first national machine.

The state machine of Van Buren was long known as the "Albany
Regency." It included several very able politicians: William L.
Marcy, who became United States Senator in 1831; Silas Wright,
elected Senator in 1833; John A. Dix, who became Senator in 1845;
Benjamin F. Butler, who was United States Attorney-General under
President Van Buren, besides a score or more of prominent state
officials. It had an influential organ in the Albany Argus,
lieutenants in every county, and captains in every town. Its
confidential agents kept the leaders constantly informed of the
political situation in every locality; and its discipline made
the wish of Van Buren and his colleagues a command. Federal and
local patronage and a sagacious distribution of state contracts
sustained this combination. When the practice of nominating by
conventions began, the Regency at once discerned the strategic
value of controlling delegates, and, until the break in the
Democratic party in 1848, it literally reigned in the State.

With the disintegration of the Federalist party came the loss of