Thomas F. (hardtack) -
Dolley Payne Todd was intelligent, forceful and so beautiful men would post themselves in the street for hours in the hope they would see her walking by. Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton can move over and take a back seat to Dolley Madison, as it was Dolley who set the highest standard on how a President's wife should behave.
Not content to just host dinner parties or take on some approved cause "acceptable for a lady," Mrs. Madison was one of the main political power brokers in early 19th century Washington. And she did it in such a nice way Senators and Representatives from all parties admired her, as well as courted her favor.
While President Thomas Jefferson snubbed the politicians from other parties and even ambassadors from nations he didn't like, it was Dolley and her husband James, Jefferson's Secretary of State for eight years, who threw oil on the water of those bruised egos and made the nation run. They even get credit for avoiding war with Great Britain while Jefferson was President. As Jefferson was a widower, Dolly essentially served as our nation's "First Lady" for sixteen years during the administrations of first Jefferson and then her husband's.
Men who couldn't tolerate each other and argued and threatened each other during their speeches on the floor of Congress, met at her weekly parties and politely compromised, making agreements and enacting laws that governed our nation.
After losing her first husband, John Todd, and one of her sons in the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, Dolley ran a boarding house and eventually met James Madison. After that, history swept her up and she set standards for Presidential wives few since have been able to meet.
And in her day, the papers carried the news of her clothes, home decorations and dinner parties, as if she was the standard all other women needed to adhere to. Yet she did it modestly and on a limited budget.
Unfortunately, her last years were very sorrowful, but she refused to let the world know it. A great lady, and a great American....
Not content to just host dinner parties or take on some approved cause "acceptable for a lady," Mrs. Madison was one of the main political power brokers in early 19th century Washington. And she did it in such a nice way Senators and Representatives from all parties admired her, as well as courted her favor.
While President Thomas Jefferson snubbed the politicians from other parties and even ambassadors from nations he didn't like, it was Dolley and her husband James, Jefferson's Secretary of State for eight years, who threw oil on the water of those bruised egos and made the nation run. They even get credit for avoiding war with Great Britain while Jefferson was President. As Jefferson was a widower, Dolly essentially served as our nation's "First Lady" for sixteen years during the administrations of first Jefferson and then her husband's.
Men who couldn't tolerate each other and argued and threatened each other during their speeches on the floor of Congress, met at her weekly parties and politely compromised, making agreements and enacting laws that governed our nation.
After losing her first husband, John Todd, and one of her sons in the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic of 1793, Dolley ran a boarding house and eventually met James Madison. After that, history swept her up and she set standards for Presidential wives few since have been able to meet.
And in her day, the papers carried the news of her clothes, home decorations and dinner parties, as if she was the standard all other women needed to adhere to. Yet she did it modestly and on a limited budget.
Unfortunately, her last years were very sorrowful, but she refused to let the world know it. A great lady, and a great American....
Dee W. reviewed A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation on + 7 more book reviews
This book interested me for several reasons among others. How did women in early america influence politics (to what they had available to them). The role of America trying to establish itself on the international stage with the ideas of what a 'republic' was.
How politics was shaped and played was unique to a time of great change and hope in the nation. Surprising things, like it was sometimes anticipated that people might read your personal mail and what a great symbol George Washington was to the nation.
How politics was shaped and played was unique to a time of great change and hope in the nation. Surprising things, like it was sometimes anticipated that people might read your personal mail and what a great symbol George Washington was to the nation.
