Dolley Madison

Dolley Madison was the wife of the fourth President of the United States, James Madison.  She was an amazing woman, far ahead of her time in many ways.  I would like to share with you a few things I learned about her while preparing a research paper for my American History class.

Shortly after her husband took office in 1809, Dolley Madison instituted a weekly "drawing room" gathering.  These were social events where she served drinks and foods, such as the new novelty ice cream.  Dolley invited politicians and their wives, civic leaders, and others from the newly established Washington City community, as well as foreign ambassadors and other visitors to the new capital city.  That doesn't sound like much of a contribution toward strengthening the young government, but in reality she is probably one of the greatest political figures of her time.

Politics is always a very emotional subject, and this was true in the early 1800's.  It was not unusual for Congressmen to yell and scream at one another as they voiced their views.  In fact, they often became more physical, resorting to whacking members of the opposing party with a cane or challenging one another to a duel because of political differences.  Settling differences in a civilized manner was a challenge, to say the least.  James Madison's plans for the country involved establishing unity and cooperation.  Dolley helped him with that goal by deliberately inviting individuals who couldn't stand one another to attend the same gathering.  It is hard to believe that course of action was effective, but it was.  She knew that in polite society, political arguments did not take place during a party where women were in attendance...so she always invited the wives to tag along.  As a result, these political adversaries had to learn to discipline their emotions and communicate like civilized human beings.  She would carefully lead the conversation and helped these strongly principled men learn to compromise and to see the other party's point of view.  One historian went so far as to say that through her efforts she may have prevented the break up of the newly formed nation.  That is quite an accomplishment in an era where women had no political clout. 

Besides playing a part in saving the nation from dissolution, she also played a huge part in preserving the writings of her husband, the Father of the Constitution.  During the War of 1812 (which really lasted several years), the British army attacked the capital city.  James joined his military leaders at the front line, leaving Dolley alone at the White House.  Inhabitants of the city began to leave, but Dolley insisted she was going to stay until her husband returned.  Several times James sent messages to the White House, begging Dolley to flee to safety.  Each time Dolley refused, instead maintaining a vigil on the roof with her telescope.  She could see the smoke from the battle raging only a few miles away but was undaunted.  She would have stayed until James returned, but when one of his advisers delivered James's next message he was able to convince her it was time to leave.  However, she first packed up all the president's writings and history, all his important government papers, and the portrait of George Washington that hung in the White House.  She took everything she feared would be destroyed or taken as plunder.  Several hours later, the British army marked into Washington and set fire to the White House, destroying all of her personal belongings, as well as her home and the symbol of the republic. 

We don't often hear about the brave and talented women who lived at the time of the establishment of this country so I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Dolley Madison.