making lemonade...............

 

In 1819 Van Buren had read a series of pseudonymous articles from a western New York newspaper criticizing him.  He wasn't bothered by the attacks.  In fact, he was impressed by the author's writing skills, presentation of argument, and grasp of law and politics.  Van Buren inquired whose pen was behind the series and was told it was a young Federalist attorney from Oneida County named Samuel A. Talcott, a Connecticut native and a graduate of Williams College.  When Van Buren spotted him one day on a steamboat, he introduced himself, and they soon became friends.  Van Buren told Talcott, who had just turned thirty, that he was "misplaced in the political field" and that "his chances for fame and public usefulness would be increased by joining us."  Talcott accepted.  The Skinner council made him the new attorney general.

-James M. Bradley, Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician