April 19

The Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation
By Catherine Allgor

Yesterday we heard the sad news that former First Lady Barbara Bush died of complications from congestive heart failure and COPD at age 92.  She was a popular first lady who came across as much more warm and approachable than her husband.  Asked why, her reply was something like, "Oh, I guess it's because I'm old, wrinkled, and not a threat to anyone".   With the exception of Abigail Adams, she was the only first lady who was also a "first mother".  Here's a biography of Dolley Madison, one of the first to live in the new capitol, Washington DC.

Dolley Payne grew up in comfort on her parents' plantation in North Carolina (still a colony in her childhood); her parents were Quakers who emancipated their slaves at the end of the Revolutionary War, then moved to Philadelphia, the early US capitol.  Dolley met and married John Todd, a Philadelphia lawyer in 1790.  But the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic hit Philadelphia in 1793, and both Dolly's husband and their young son William were among its thousands of victims.  Widowed at age 25, Dolley met and married James Madison, a bachelor US congressman from Virginia, the following year.  When Thomas Jefferson was elected in 1800, he appointed James Madison as Secretary of State.  During Jefferson's 2 terms, Dolley worked with architect Benjamin Latrobe to furnish the new White House, and served on occasion as hostess for the widowed Jefferson.  The author actually presents a rather unflattering description of Thomas Jefferson, and I'd have to do more research to determine whether this is revisionist history or if he really was as antisocial is he is portrayed.

Allgor credits Dolley Madison for being the role model for the President's wife.  In the early 19th century, when politics was still only the wealthy man's domain (and perhaps that has become the case once again), she brought grace and style to the new capitol, which was still fairly rustic.  Allgor describes Washington as a kind of outpost full of muddy roadways, far from the more civilized New York and Philadelphia.  One of the big events during the Madison presidency (1809-17) was the War of 1812, during which the British set fire to the White House and Dolley is credited (this may be just a legend) for saving the portrait of George Washington.

Each First Lady leaves her mark on her husband's legacy, and both Dolley and Barbara appear to have been more popular than their president husbands and made important and lasting contributions.