Fashion and Politics Memorandum to Mr

Resource 5: Fashion and Politics Memorandum to Mr. Zantzinger for Purchases

olley Madison’s in 1809, she wore a white linen 2 Looking Glasses, long, and large as can be bought for $100 .00 imposing figure, and dress and purple velvet bonnet, a 100 yds the best carpeting that can be had for $1 pr yd— 100 .00 her flare for clothing, plain look to keep attention focused 1 piece Black Levantine, 1 piece cheap white satin made her a style icon . on her husband . Plainness was not 1 piece queens grey florence silk, 20 yds Blond Lace 3 inches wide— DShe loved French fashion, which her aim when she dressed for her 1 small Box assorted Feathers, do . Flowers, do . Ribbons— also coincided with her politics: Wednesday night squeezes (see 2 pieces of fine cambric a 2 or three Dolls pr . yd . Democratic Republicans were pro- Resource 4) . One dress was rose- 2 pieces pocket Kerchiefs Cambric, at 75 Cents or one Doll pr . kerchief France, while Federalists were more colored satin, with a long white 10 yds fine Lace at 4 or 5 Dolls pr . yd—1 dito at 2 dols, narrow/ aligned with England . With its high velvet train lined in lavender silk and 2 doz: pr . white & one doz pr . black silk stockings large size— “Empire” waist, the gown at right, edged with lace . She added a belt, 2 doz pr . white Kid gloves long, & large— 4 doz short do assorted colours one of her five surviving dresses, was necklace, and bracelet (all gold), 1 Doz pr . shoes with heels—one doz pr . without— distinctively French . Corsets were and a white velvet turban decorated —1 piece white crape— — a print, of the bust, of N . Bonaparte, large temporarily out of style, so it was with white ostrich feather tips and as life, taken by an elève of David; it may be found in the shops comfortable as well . But the Empire embroidered with gold thread . of the Marchands des gravures < . . . > the price some months since cut also mirrored the clothing of was, 20 francs . —4 Orange, or bright yellow Marino Shawls ancient Greece, and reinforced the Dolley’s fashion often suggested Dolley Madison’s Silk Satin Open Robe . not exceeding 12 or 15 Dollars—one large white shawl $20 or 25 connection Americans proudly European courts, and some people The National Museum of American with a rich border—Two Spring bonnets—Two dito for History, Smithsonian Institution . felt to the Greek republic . Dolley were horrified by her displays . But Winter—Two of them for a large Head—one understood this symbolism . For she did not dress as royalty actually of each for a smaller head . all, for the morning her, a dress was never just a dress . dressed, more the way Americans one douzn fanciful but very cheap snuff boxes thought they dressed . And her Dolley Payne Todd Madison’s Memorandum to Mr . Zantzinger for Purchases, [1801–1807], in The Dolley If Dolley knew someone heading friendly behavior seemed very Discussion Questions Madison Digital Edition, ed . Holly C . Shulman . Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2004 . to Paris, she provided a shopping American, down-to-earth . The http://rotunda .upress .virginia .edu/DPM3372 (accessed by M . Waters, 9-7-16) ✮✮ What does this shopping list list . In this one, she ordered a few combined message—European reveal about Dolley Madison’s Notes small-size items, possibly for her style and New World informality— wardrobe? yds. = yards sister, Anna . She also added price subtly signaled that the United levantine = a silk fabric, woven for extra texture ✮ limits, a step she may have neglected States would take its place among ✮ Why did the clothing of the do., dito = ditto (the same as the previous item) a few years later, when she spent a the world’s great powers, but it president’s wife matter? Does dols and doll = dollars it still matter today? Why or staggering $2,000 . She sometimes would do so on its own terms . pr. yd = per yard why not? hid these expenses from James, Sources: Catherine Allgor, A Perfect Union: Dolley pr. = pair, or per who was driven toward debt by Madison and the Creation of the American Nation ✮✮ Why did Dolley Madison doz, douzn = dozen Dolley’s sprees . But her wardrobe (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006); Mar- garet Bayard Smith, letter to Miss Susan B . Smith, choose to dress very plainly elève = student (in French) was extensive because of her many March 1809, The First Forty Years of Washington David = French artist Jacques-Louis David Society, portrayed by the family letters of Mrs. Samuel for her husband’s inauguration responsibilities as a political wife . Harrison Smith from the collection of her grandson when she was known for francs = French currency J. Henley Smith (New York: Charles Scribner’s dressing extravagantly for their marino = a high-quality wool Sons,1906), https://babel .hathitrust .org/cgi/pt?id=m- Dolley made clothing choices dp .39015027775694;view=1up;seq=11 (accessed by weekly parties? < . . . > = missing or unreadable text

Saving Washington: The New Republic and Early Reformers, 1790–1860