Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Dolly Madison Famous First Lady by Mary R. Davidson Biography. Dolley Madison was the much-admired wife of the fourth U.S. president, (1751–1836). She was highly respected by some of history's greatest politicians, including President Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), who. Life in . Dolley Payne Madison was born on May 20, 1768, on a farm in New Garden, North Carolina. Her parents were John Payne Jr. and Mary Coles Payne, who were Quaker Virginians. (The Quakers were a religious society that was started in the seventeenth century.) In 1783 after the Revolutionary War (1775–83), in which the American colonies fought for independence from British rule, her parents made the decision to sell their plantation. They freed their slaves and moved the family north when Dolley was fifteen years old. Her father used the money made from selling the plantation to set up a business in Philadelphia, . When Dolley was nineteen years old, the representatives to the Constitutional Convention (May 25–September 17, 1787) gathered in Philadelphia. Many important representatives attended the convention, which resulted in the creation of the U.S. Constitution. George (1732–1799), Alexander (1755–1804), and Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) were among those who attended the convention. At this time Dolley saw for the first time a Virginian named James Madison, who was later called the "Father of the Constitution." Family tragedy. Dolley Payne grew into a beautiful and popular woman. At the age of twenty-one she met John Todd, a lawyer, and the two were married in January 1790. The couple eventually had two sons. Then, in August 1793, an outbreak of yellow fever (a deadly disease that is spread by mosquitoes) occurred. A great number of people died, including Dolley's husband and her youngest son. Although she also became ill, she eventually recovered after a long, slow fight. A new life. In the spring of 1794 James Madison requested a meeting with Dolley Payne Todd. Madison was an extremely ambitious man who was well known in Philadelphia. He helped draft the Constitution, the document that represents the basic laws on which America is founded. He also was responsible for suggesting the Bill of Rights, the first ten constitutional amendments that safeguard an individual's civil freedoms. Within a few weeks after the two met, it was widely rumored that they were engaged. Although she denied this rumor, it proved to be true, as Dolley Payne Todd and James Madison were married in September 1794. Over the next several years, Dolley and James observed and at times were directly involved in some of the most important events in the history of the United States. In 1797 they saw John Adams inaugurated as president. In 1801 began the first of his two terms as president. At that time, James Madison was made secretary of state. In 1803 the United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France. As a result of this purchase (the ), the United States had suddenly doubled in size. As first lady. When Jefferson decided not to run for a third term, James Madison was elected president of the United States. Madison began his first term in 1809, and Dolley Madison became the first lady. Some say she took on the job as if she had been born to fill it. She was widely known for her caring and loving nature, her fashion sense, and her graceful manners. In 1812 James Madison was reelected and the (1812–14) began. The war was fought between Great Britain and the United States over Britain's disregard for American neutrality and their practice of boarding American ships and forcing sailors to join the British navy. On August 24, 1814, British troops moved into Washington, D.C., and Dolley Madison was told that she should leave the city. She made certain that she saved her husband's important papers, the silver, and a portrait of George Washington. Madison narrowly escaped the British, who burned the Capitol Building and set fire to the President's House. In the following years, Madison witnessed the end of the war and 's inauguration as president. After leaving office, the Madisons moved to Montpelier, Virginia. They found peace in Virginia during their retirement years. They spent their time improving James's beloved home, where Dolley Madison would remain for the next twenty years. James Madison's death. James Madison died in 1836. He willed his papers to Dolley Madison so that she could make some money by having them published. The Madison papers were James's writings on the many years of significant historical events. After her husband's death, Dolley Madison moved back to Washington, D.C. She then sold some of her late husband's papers to Congress and received $30,000 for them. In the remaining years of Madison's life, she would see four different presidents enter office, the rest of the Madison papers sold to Congress, the laying of the first stone for the Washington Monument, and the introduction of the first telegraph (an early communication system). She had led a full, active, and productive life. On July 12, 1849, Dolley Madison died in Washington, D.C. For More Information. Davidson, Mary R. Dolly Madison: Famous First Lady. Champaign, IL: Garrard, 1966. Reprint, New York: Chelsea Juniors, 1992. Flanagan, Alice K. Dolley Payne Todd Madison, 1768–1849. New York: Children's Press, 1997. Gerson, Noel B. The Velvet Glove, A Life of Dolly Madison. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1975. Moore, Virginia. The Madisons: A Biography. McGraw Hill, 1979. Pflueger, Lynda. Dolley Madison: Courageous First Lady. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1999. Dolley Madison. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Dolley Madison , née Dolley Payne , also called (1790–93) Dolley Todd , Dolley also spelled Dolly , (born May 20, 1768, Guilford county, North Carolina [U.S.]—died July 12, 1849, Washington, D.C., U.S.), American first lady (1809–17), the wife of James Madison, fourth president of the United States. Raised in the plain style of her Quaker family, she was renowned for her charm, warmth, and ingenuity. Her popularity as manager of the White House made that task a responsibility of every first lady who followed. Dolley was one of eight children of John Payne, a merchant, and Mary Coles Payne. Soon after her birth, her father’s business fell on hard times and the family moved to eastern Virginia, where they were active members of the Society of Friends. When she was 15 her family moved to Philadelphia, where Dolley married a young lawyer, John Todd, in 1790. The couple had two children, but in 1793 her youngest son and husband died during an epidemic of yellow fever, widowing Dolley at 25. A few months later Aaron Burr, then a United States senator from New Jersey, introduced Dolley to James Madison, who was 17 years her senior; though a small man physically he was a towering political figure. There was a mutual, immediate, and strong attraction between James and Dolley, and they wed on September 15, 1794, at her sister’s home in Virginia. Because her husband was Episcopalian, however, the Quakers disowned her. Soon after their marriage, accompanied by her son, the Madisons moved to Philadelphia, then the nation’s capital, where James served as a member of the House of Representatives. During the presidency of John Adams (1797–1801), the Madisons lived on James’s estate, Montpellier (now Montpelier), in Virginia. Soon after the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800, they relocated to Washington, D.C., where James served as secretary of state and Dolley assisted the widowed Jefferson as hostess at official events, giving her ample preparation for her future role as first lady. The first president’s wife to preside over the White House for any significant amount of time, Dolley Madison set many precedents. She established the tradition that the mansion would reflect the first lady’s tastes and ideas about entertaining. With the help of Benjamin Latrobe, architect and surveyor of public buildings, she decorated and furnished the house so that it was both elegant and comfortable. Unfortunately, not many Americans had the chance to see it before the British burned the mansion in August 1814 during the War of 1812. Dolley underscored the first lady’s responsibility for caring for the mansion and its contents when she directed the removal and safe storage of precious holdings, including the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington that still hangs in the East Room. As hostess, Dolley Madison carefully balanced two competing traditions in the new nation: the democratic emphasis on equal treatment and the elitist notion that the president’s house was the province of the privileged few. At weekly receptions she opened the doors to virtually anyone who wanted to come and then moved among the guests, greeting all with charming ease. In her stylish turbans and imported clothes, she became enormously popular and much imitated. Although most Americans approved, she did have her critics, including Elijah Mills, a senator from Massachusetts, who complained that she mixed “all classes of people…greasy boots and silk stockings.” Although she eschewed taking public stands on controversial issues, Dolley had a shrewd political sense and cultivated her husband’s enemies as carefully as his friends. When President Madison dismissed his secretary of state, Robert Smith, she invited him to dinner; when he failed to accept she went to call on him personally. In the election of 1812, when many Americans complained that Madison had led them into an unnecessary war, she used her invitation lists to win him favour and a second term, according to some historians. She insisted on visiting the household of every new representative or senator, a task that proved very time-consuming as the nation grew and the number of congressmen increased. Since many representatives chose to bring their families to Washington, dozens of households expected a call from the president’s wife. Her successors found the practice too burdensome and stopped it. Dolley Madison enjoyed a happy marriage; different as she and her husband were in personality, they doted on each other. However, her relationship with her son, John Payne Todd, was a different matter. He spent money recklessly and expected his mother to cover his debts and losses. When James’s second term ended in 1817, he and Dolley moved back to Montpellier, where they lived until his death in 1836. James’s last decades were not prosperous, and the debts of young Payne Todd depleted the family’s resources. To supplement Dolley’s income after James’s death, a sympathetic and grateful Congress appropriated $30,000 to purchase the Madison papers. In 1837 Dolley moved back to Washington. Living in a home opposite the White House, she was the nation’s most prestigious hostess. Presidents and social leaders called on her, and she was a frequent White House guest. But her profligate son continued to try her patience and deplete her purse. In 1842 she traveled to New York City to arrange a loan from the wealthy fur magnate John Jacob Astor, and Congress came to her aid once more by agreeing to buy the remaining Madison papers for $25,000, but only on the condition that the money be placed in trust so that her son could not get it. When Dolley Madison died in 1849 she was one of the most popular figures in Washington and the nation’s favourite first lady. At her funeral Pres. Zachary Taylor, his cabinet, the diplomatic corps, and members of Congress lined up to pay their respects. She was buried beside James Madison at a family plot near Montpelier. Dolly Madison: Famous First Lady by Mary R. Davidson. Much more so than her predecessors, Dolley Madison embraced the role of First Lady as we think of it today. In fact, she pretty much created it, setting the bar upon which all later First Ladies have been judged. While Abigail Adams acted as a private adviser to her husband, Dolley was a very public partner to James. In the eulogy he gave at her funeral in 1849, President Zachary Taylor called Dolley “the first lady of the land for half a century.” It was the first time a president’s spouse had been referred to as a “first lady,” although the term did not become an official title until the 1860s when newspapers began using it for Mary Todd Lincoln. When she died, Dolley Madison was the last public figure from America’s founding generation. Dolley was born to John and Mary Coles Payne, both strict Quakers, on May 20, 1768. She was raised in the Quaker faith, which taught equality between women and men. Dolley took that teaching with her throughout her life, never seeming to act like she was of lesser status because she was a woman. Her parents relocated the Payne family to Philadelphia when Dolley was young and it was in that city in 1790 that she married John Todd. The Todds had two children, John Payne and William. The yellow fever epidemic that swept through Philadelphia in 1793 took the life of John on the same day the infant William died. Though John had made Dolley the executor of his will, her brother-in-law kept everything from her and left her in near-poverty until she took legal action to obtain what was rightfully hers. Because she was a woman, she also had to fight in court to be the guardian of her own surviving son. By 1794, Mary Coles Payne was widowed and running a boarding house to earn an income. One of her boarders, Aaron Burr, had been persuaded to arrange a meeting between the eligible new widow and his close friend/persuader, James Madison, in May 1794. The two began a courtship, which was not approved by the Society of Friends because there had not been an appropriate mourning period for John and because James was not a Quaker. When Dolley and James married in September 1794, she was excommunicated from the Quaker church. This marked a liberating shift in her life. Taking after her mother, Dolley kept the Todd house in her own name, took on renters, and earned her own, separate income for a period of time after she and James were married. For a brief few years after their marriage, James retired from politics and the two lived peacefully on the Madisons’ plantation in Virginia. When James’ political ally, Thomas Jefferson, became President in 1801, he was convinced to return to politics and serve as Jefferson’s Secretary of State. For the next 16 years, the Madisons would be the most powerful couple in Washington. Dolley Madison. 1848. Jefferson, a widower, asked for Dolley’s assistance in entertaining, which worked out well because the Madisons lived with Jefferson in the President’s House (as the White House was then called) for the first year of his first term. Acting as hostess for Jefferson provided her with a great deal of experience in Washington’s political and social scenes before actually becoming First Lady herself. In addition to being Jefferson’s hosting partner throughout his administration, Dolley also helped to raise funds for Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. While she did act as Jefferson’s hostess when needed, he did not entertain at the President’s House often and his gatherings were as low key as he could manage to make them. After they moved into their own place a couple blocks away, Washington’s social scene became centered around the Madisons’ home, thanks to Dolley. It is quite possible that Dolley’s social gatherings, to which she invited a bipartisan mix of important political leaders and the social elite, helped her husband win the presidency himself 1808. Dolley Madison's silk gown. For the occasion of James’ inauguration in 1809, a Navy captain asked Dolley if a formal dinner and dance could be thrown in the couple’s honor. Upon saying yes, Dolley approved the tradition of the inaugural ball that continues to this day. As First Lady, she continued her by then well- known style of entertaining, but on a larger scale. In public, James and Dolley Madison appeared to be virtual opposites. James was quiet, reserved, and also short at a time when a man’s physical prowess correlated with his political power. Dolley, on the other hand, was very outgoing, personable, and significantly taller than her husband. James was not good at leading conversation so he had Dolley sit at the head of the table at dinners so she could direct the night’s topics. She was able to draw out people’s views on certain issues and relay that information back to her husband. James, who was also not good at bridging the gap between opposing political parties, deferred the peacemaking between political foes to Dolley. Once, she got two fighting members of Congress to call off a duel. Unlike his wife, James was not a flashy dresser. After being excommunicated from the Society of Friends, Dolley ditched the very conservative garb worn by Quaker women for the extravagant, but classy, style she became known for. Dolley made a point to dress a certain way that stood out without making her look too much like royalty. She dressed in bright colors, started a new trend with the trademark turbans she wore around her head, and caused a stir with her low-cut empire waist gowns. She was inspired by European fashions of the day, but made them distinctly American and fitting with the republican style government of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Though some critics thought she looked too “queenly,” most newspapers talked about her style as if they were proud she was, through her clothing, showing the American people “something to aspire to as a new nation.” Women across the country seemed to also approve of her style, as many began copying it. One of the first things Dolley did after her husband took office was redecorate the President’s House, a task considered at the time to be men’s work. She made it a point to have the house look classy but not royal, like her clothing. She also made it a point to purchase all American-made furnishings. While serving as First Lady, Dolley used the limited political power she had as a woman to the fullest extent. Every Wednesday, she hosted “drawing room” gatherings at the house that were much less formal than social gatherings hosted by Martha Washington and Abigail Adams. These drawing rooms were so well attended, they were often referred to as her “squeezes” because so many people crowded into the reception room. Dolley is said to have made an effort to at least shake hands with everyone in attendance. By inviting a diverse crowd of Washington’s most important people and guests to the city, she tried to publicly override the underlying feeling many people had that the new country was on the brink of falling apart. Dolley also held what she called “dove parties,” at which she and the wives of other political figures would discuss current events. As First Lady, she attended debates in Congress and encouraged other women to do the same. She was the first First Lady to be interviewed by a newspaper and the first to use her public role for good. After the War of 1812, she donated $20 and a cow to the Washington City Orphans Asylum, and sewed clothing for the children there. She also promoted the cause in hopes of getting other citizens to help out as well. Portrait of George Washington saved from the White House during the War of 1812. The War of 1812 was the marking event of the Madison administration, and James was becoming less and less favorable in the eyes of many Americans because of his and his administration’s handling of it. Throughout the war, Dolley showed unwavering support for her husband, even giving speeches to boost morale and show support for the war effort. With the American military dwindling, James left Dolley at the President’s House to be with army officers in Bladensburg, Maryland in August 1814. British officers had their sights set on the capital city and they began verbally attacking and making threats to Dolley, not James, as they neared, a sign of the true political power she held. They claimed they were going to eat at her dinner table, bow in her drawing room, take her as a prisoner of war, and parade her through the streets of London. This did not deter Dolley, as she stayed in Washington waiting for James to return in an attempt to show the American people their government would stand strong. As the British advanced, she could hear cannons firing at nearby battles but looking out from atop the President’s House roof, she could only see citizens and soldiers abandoning the city. James had ordered 100 armed soldiers to protect the President’s House. By August 23, all 100 had fled and the city was nearly a ghost town. Dolley was virtually alone with a few slaves and servants. James sent her a message from the battlefield urging her to get out of Washington. She began packing up trunks full of irreplaceable national documents, such as James’ extensive notes on the proceedings of the Continental Congress and the Madison cabinet papers, as well as silverware and red curtains from the President’s House, sending them away and hoping they would be safe. She invited people to her regularly scheduled drawing room on the 24th and ordered for the dinner table to be set, despite the fact that no one accepted her invitation. In a letter written to her sister between Tuesday, August 23 and Wednesday, August 24, 1814, Dolley says a friend, Mr. Carroll, had come to take her away from the city the afternoon of the 24th. She finally agreed to leave, but only after she did what perhaps she is most famous for – saving the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington. The frame was bolted to the wall and the slaves and servants assisting her did not have the tools or the time to take it off, so Dolley ordered them to break the frame and cut the portrait out. She finished the letter to her sister saying, “I must leave this house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it…When I shall again write you, or where I shall be tomorrow, I cannot tell!” According to a later account by one of the Madisons’ slaves, Dolley grabbed an original copy of the Declaration of Independence on her way out and left for safety in Virginia. About two hours later, the British arrived on the grounds of the President’s House with torches ready to burn it down. Before they set the house ablaze, the officers sat down and tasted Dolley’s drawing room meal. They then moved on to destroy other federal buildings. The Madisons both returned to Washington quickly after the burning of the city to show the country that their government was still running. They rented a house near where the charred President’s House stood, resisting urgings from members of Congress to move the capital to somewhere safer. Dolley resumed her weekly drawing rooms and other socially political activities. After James’ presidency was over, the couple retired to their Montpelier home in Virginia. Dolley remained the social life of the party, hosting gatherings larger than she ever had as First Lady. When James’ health started to decline, Dolley helped him ready his papers for publication and acted as his secretary on the matter when he could no longer write. After his death, Dolley sold Montpelier due to financial problems and moved back to Washington, where she was treated like a national treasure. Upon hearing about her financial state, people, including at least one former slave, gave her whatever they could. She was invited to all the social events and continued to host her own. During the Polk administration, people would leave Sarah Polk’s dry parties to go over to Dolley’s. Upon her return to Washington, Congress unanimously voted to give her an honorary seat in the House of Representatives – the only First Lady to be the recipient of such a gesture. They also voted to give her franking privileges so she would not have to pay postage on any letter she mailed for the rest of her life. Just as popular with the American people as she was with those who ran the government, Samuel Morse gave her the opportunity to be the first private citizen to send a telegraph (after himself), which she did, sending her love to a cousin in . When Dolley Madison died on July 12, 1849 at age 81, the whole country grieved. The government closed so people could pay their respects at her funeral – the largest state funeral in the country’s history at the time. O'Brien, Cormac. Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You about the Women of the White House . Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2009. Roberts, John B. Rating the First Ladies: The Women Who Influenced the Presidency . New York: Citadel Press, 2003. The Last Turban-Wearing Women of Salem. At a symposium on Hawthorne’s House of the Seven Gables last week, members of Salem State’s English Department offered really interesting insights into the text, its themes, context (and subtext) and characters. One presentation in particular, by the very prolific Nancy Schultz, focused on the connections between the two old characters in the book, the house itself and Hepzibah Pyncheon. This was particularly resonant for me, as I’m always interested in “Olde Salem” and Hawthorne’s description of Hepzibah, as quoted by Professor Schultz, immediately reminded me of a description of another woman, who lived in my house at almost exactly the same time in which The House of the Seven Gables was set: Mrs. Harriet Paine Rose. Let’s look at the descriptions of these two women, one fictional and the other real, but both very much characterized by their turbans. Hawthorne is not very complimentary towards “Our miserable old Hepzibah”, a “gaunt, sallow, rusty-jointed maiden, in a long-waisted silk gown, and with the strange horror of a turban on her head!” The author of the entry in the Pickering Genealogy obviously holds Mrs. Rose in much higher esteem: she is (or was) beautiful and virtuous but was notably also “the last person in Salem who wore a turban”, implying that she was also a bit out of style. I would love to see the pencil sketch of the turban-wearing Mrs. Rose alluded to above, but haven’t been able to find it anywhere (it’s probably locked away in the Lee papers in the Phillips Library), but of course we have many illustrations of Hepzibah in her turban, as it was identified as such a “horrible” and characteristic feature of her persona. Such a contrast of an (un-)fashionable portrayal with those much more charming depictions of turban-wearing ladies earlier in the nineteenth century. Mary Ann Wilson, Young Woman Wearing a Turban, c. 1800-1825, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Portrait of a “fashionable” woman, c. 1810, Northeast Auctions; Hepzibah and her turban (or turbans, as they all seem to be different styles) by Maude and Genevieve Cowles (1899), A.A. Dixon (1903) and Helen Mason Grose (1924), and a more recent (1997) Classics Illustrated cover depicting a very grim turban-wearing woman indeed. Hepzibah’s turban also reminded me of the most famous turban-wearer of all, Dolley Madison, who was photographed and painted wearing her characteristic headpiece in the year before her death in 1849, long after turbans were fashionable. This was her look and she was sticking to it, whether out of necessity or by design. It certainly does not look like a “strange horror”! Photograph of Dolley Madison by Mathew Brady, 1848, ; Painting by William S. Elwell, also 1848, National Portrait Gallery. Dolley descends upon the White House and witnesses her husband’s presidential oath, be-turbaned of course, in two YA books, Dolley Madison, First Lady, by Arden Davis Melick (with illustrations by Ronald Dorfman), 1970 & Dolly Madison, Famous First Lady, by Mary R. Davidson (with illustrations by Erica Merkling), 1992. Dolley Madison. Dolley Madison (1768-1849) was an American first lady (1809-1817) and the wife of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States. One of Washington, D.C.’s most successful hostesses, Dolley Madison used her social skills, charm and personal popularity to win over her husband’s political opponents and help advance his career. Dolley Madison helped to define the role of first lady and established many of the precedents that her successors would follow, including working with local charities and organizations on social issues important to her and overseeing the decoration of the executive mansion to reflect the importance of the presidency. She is probably best remembered for saving the White House’s historic Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington from certain destruction by advancing British troops during the War of 1812. Dolley Payne was born in the Quaker settlement of New Garden in Guilford County, North Carolina, and moved to a plantation in Virginia’s Hanover County at 10 months old. The eldest daughter of Mary Coles and John Payne, she learned such domestic skills as needlework, food storage and managing household help, receiving little formal education outside the home. After Payne emancipated his slaves in 1783 and brought the family to Philadelphia, Dolley was exposed to a cosmopolitan existence markedly different from her early years. However, she also experienced misfortune when her father’s business failures rendered him unable to pay his debts, leading to his expulsion from the Quakers and the onset of the emotional distress that contributed to his death in 1792. Accommodating the wishes of her father, Dolley married lawyer and fellow Quaker John Todd Jr. in 1790. She gave birth to sons Payne in 1792 and William in 1793, but her domestic tranquility was interrupted that summer when a yellow fever epidemic swept through Philadelphia. Todd lingered in the city for too long to tend to business, a decision that proved fatal when he contracted the disease. Dolley had escaped to a suburban resort with their boys, but William also became infected and died on the same day as his father. Compounding the difficult situation, Dolley’s brother-in-law attempted to hoard the family estate, denying her the opportunity to attain the financial relief needed to get back on her feet. While in Philadelphia for sessions of Congress, Virginia Representative James Madison came to notice the attractive young widow who lived near his boardinghouse. A shy man known more for his intellect than his charm, he asked New York Senator Aaron Burr to arrange an introduction. Dolley was initially taken aback by the interest of the “great little Madison,” but she came to appreciate his affection and the potential for security, and they were married on September 15, 1794. Subsequently expelled from the Quakers for marrying outside the sect, she discarded her plain clothing and began wearing the fashionable outfits that became an indelible part of her public image. Madison’s appointment to secretary of state in 1801 marked the start of Dolley’s transformation into celebrated political wife and public servant. She served as the female co-host for the widower President Thomas Jefferson’s receptions, helping to mend any breaches in decorum that arose when dealing with foreign dignitaries. She also undertook the responsibility of leading fundraising efforts for Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the western wilderness. Although a woman’s involvement in political affairs was frowned upon, Dolley rallied support for her husband in the 1808 presidential race through her extensive networking. Her success prompted the opposition candidate Charles Pinckney to grumble, “I might have had a better chance had I faced Mr. Madison alone.” A dazzling figure at the first presidential inauguration ball, Dolley displayed an enthusiasm for social affairs that proved useful to her husband’s administration and the continued development of the Union. She established the executive mansion as Washington, D.C.’s social center, her popular “squeezes” providing an environment in which political rivals could mingle outside of the heated floors of Congress. After the British razed the city in 1814, Dolley resumed hosting parties almost immediately after settling in a new residence, a show of determination believed to have helped convince her friends in Congress to vote down a plan to move the capital back to Philadelphia. When finances started to dwindle, an increasingly frail Madison began preparing his presidential papers with the hope that their sale could provide Dolley with a reliable income. However, she was ill-prepared for the hardships that followed his death in 1836, a situation exacerbated by the misdeeds of her son. Having failed to find a suitable career, Payne borrowed extensively to fund his frivolous lifestyle, forcing Dolley to sell off the family properties to pay his debts. She was finally rescued from financial despair when Congress purchased part of Madison’s papers, setting the money in a trust to keep it out of Payne’s hands. Dolley moved back to the capital permanently in 1844, marking the start of her golden years as the grand dame of Washington. Hailed as a living connection to the country’s founding fathers, she was awarded an honorary seat in Congress and invited to become the first private citizen to transmit a message via telegraph. She also remained closely connected to the public role she popularized by providing guidance to presidential wives Julia Tyler and Sarah Polk. When she passed away at age 81, she was eulogized by President Zachary Taylor as the country’s “first lady,” believed to be the first known public reference to the term. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault. Start your free trial today.