American Experience (1988) s22e04 Episode Script

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NARRATOR: In July 1849, the entire
United States government shut down
for a funeral.
It was said to be the largest
Washington, D.C., had ever seen.
President Zachary Taylor,
his entire cabinet,
members of the diplomatic corps,
the Senate
and House of Representatives
and thousands of ordinary
citizens were honoring a person
who had held
no government office,
had written no influential laws,
nor won any military battles.
Dolley Madison came to be known
as this country's first
first lady.
More than anyone else, she had
created that unofficial office
and in the process changed
the face of the presidency.
COKIE ROBERTS:
They called her "Queen Dolley"
because she reigned supreme
over Washington.
RICHARD NORTON SMITH: She was a heroine
at the center of heroic events.
But there is the public
Dolley Madison
and then there is this
extraordinarily difficult,
even tragic, private life
that she's living out.
NARRATOR:
Family meant everything to her,
but her only child
nearly ruined her.
She helped establish
Washington, D.C.,
only to see it almost destroyed
by an invading army.
People described her
as sunny and charming,
but at her core
was a will of iron.
DOLLEY (dramatized):
There is a secret in life
better than anything
a fortune teller can reveal.
We all have a great hand in
the forming of our own destiny.
NARRATOR: In 1783,
the year that America won its
independence from Britain,
a family traveled from rural
Virginia to a new home.
John Payne was bringing his wife
and eight children
to the country's largest
and most cosmopolitan city,
Philadelphia.
Payne was a devout Quaker,
and his sect had just called
for its members
to free their slaves.
He had complied, though it meant
giving up his livelihood.
Now he was starting over,
in this center of
the Quaker religion.
Years later, Lucia Cutts,
Dolley's grandniece,
would write a biography
of her famous relative.
In it, she described
Dolley's family life
under the watch of her
stern father.
Mr. Payne was very exact
with his children
and brought them up
in that religion
that has utility for its basis.
Ornaments and the graceful
female accomplishments
were equally forbidden
as savoring too much
of the vanities.
Dolley, like all children,
was taught to obey her parents
unquestioningly.
NARRATOR: But cosmopolitan Philadelphia
offered the young Quaker woman
tantalizing glimpses
of a different world.
DOLLEY: Dear Betsy:
Here's what's in circulation.
Thy old admirer Mr. W.S
And Susan Ward are,
according to the common saying,
to be made one.
The bride-to-be is setting up
house not far from here.
The old Quakers, of course,
very much do not approve
of this parade.
There are more matches afoot,
but they're still so uncertain
that I can't tell you
their names yet.
Oh, but Sally Bartram,
she ran off and married
a Roman Catholic!
And Betsy Wister
and Kitty Morris
They're Quakers, too eloped.
So you see, dear Betsy,
love's no respecter of anything,
and some will follow the choice
of their hearts.
LUCIA CUTTS: She had beauty,
loveliness of character, and
perfect freedom from vanity.
She soon had numerous suitors.
Her powers of fascination
were wonderful.
QUAKER MAN: She has a rosy
complexion, jet black hair
and a sweet, engaging smile.
She could raise the mercury in
the thermometers of the heart
to fever heat.
She has often given offense by
her caps and the cut of her gown
and the shape of her shoes.
I have lectured her at length
about this;
She smiles while I am talking
and then falls asleep.
NARRATOR: In 1789, Dolley's
life was thrown into turmoil.
Her father's new business failed
and, forced to declare
bankruptcy,
he was cast out
of the Society of Friends.
HOLLY SHULMAN:
The Quakers didn't read you
out of their society
because you got in debt.
It was how he didn't
pay his debts back.
There was a dishonesty there
in some way.
And it's that which
was so shameful
and that which must have been
so painful to the whole family.
NARRATOR: The humiliation
broke Dolley's proud father.
He took to his bed,
turning his back to the world.
Two of Dolley's brothers
were also banished
from Quaker society.
SHULMAN: The circumstances
are mysterious.
We know they're read out of
the Society of Friends as well,
and we know that
it's covered up.
So to me what it says is
that they were doing something
that was
they were not proud of.
They've somehow shamed
the family.
There seems to be something
that runs in the family
of alcoholism and gambling.
CATHERINE ALLGOR: Her mother
had to open a boardinghouse
just to make a living.
And there's a great deal
of grief.
And what that bred in Dolley
was a desire
to not just avoid confrontation,
but to smooth things over,
to please, to make everything
all right.
And this was a quality that
would take her through her life.
Dolley was called
to her father's bedside
and told that he wished her
to become the wife of John Todd,
a young man of whom he had
the highest opinion.
Mr. Todd was a promising
young lawyer of means,
a man who had shown him great
kindness in his troubles.
I didn't wish to marry
It was a hard struggle
But I couldn't think of
disobeying my father's wishes.
I gave up my girlhood and
married Mr. Todd in 1790.
NARRATOR: Dolley Todd
soon had two young sons.
Now 25, she seemed on course
to finally having a secure,
if unremarkable, life.
Then, in August 1793,
Philadelphia was racked with
an epidemic of yellow fever.
Within a few days,
Dolley's father-in-law and
mother-in-law both died.
Soon afterwards, her husband
and younger son were stricken.
They died on the same day.
DOLLEY: I, too, took the
fever and was very ill.
My baby, just an infant
was taken from me.
NARRATOR: Dolley and her
older son, Payne, survived.
She had to fight
for her husband's property
and even for the custody
of her son,
who was considered part
of her husband's estate.
ROBERTS:
It's important to remember
that women had no political
rights or legal rights.
Married women could not
own property.
They were the property
of their husbands.
So she really did have to think
long and hard about remarrying.
But Dolley also understood that
having a husband in her life
would be useful for her son.
CUTTS: She was still young.
It was only natural that she
should have many admirers.
Gentlemen would station
themselves outside of her house
just to watch her pass;
So much so that a Quaker friend
out walking with her
chided her, saying,
"Really, Dolley,
thou must hide thy face,
there are so many men staring
at thee."
Mrs. Todd would laugh heartily
and obediently put up both hands
to her face.
TOM FLEMING: It was widely
said around Philadelphia
that she couldn't come out
of the house
without about ten people, men,
all standing at the head
of the street waving to her.
NARRATOR: Philadelphia was the
temporary capital of the country,
and James Madison was a
representative at Congress Hall,
just around the corner
from Dolley's house.
The 43-year-old bachelor took
notice of the young widow
out walking with her cousin.
Madison was known as
a monumental intellect.
He was a seminal figure
in the establishment
of the United States
Constitution
and a champion of
the Bill of Rights.
One of the country's most
prominent political leaders,
he was also shy,
sickly and short.
He's an anchovy.
He looks like
a country schoolmaster
mourning over one of his pupils
he's just whipped to death.
SHULMAN: He was the
opposite of charismatic.
But in small groups he was known
to be extremely charming
and very funny and known
for his dirty jokes.
So I don't think he was quite
as sobersides
as we may ordinarily
imagine him to be.
He had never had enormous luck
with the ladies.
And Dolley is a babe.
And that James ever got up
the nerve to court her
is one of history's mysteries.
NARRATOR: Madison asked a common
acquaintance, Aaron Burr,
to arrange an introduction.
Senator Aaron Burr says
that the great little Madison
has asked to be brought
to see me this evening.
Mr. Madison was 17 years
her senior
and was thought to be
a life-long bachelor,
but it only took one meeting
for her to conquer this
reclusive bookworm.
Cousin, he told me
that he thinks about you
so much in the day that
he's lost his tongue.
At night he dreams of you
and starts in his sleep,
calling on you
to relieve his flame,
for he burns to such an excess
as to be almost consumed.
With sparkling eyes,
he's given me full permission
to tell you all this.
SHULMAN: James Madison was
determined to have her.
Shy he may have been;
Short he may have been;
Determined he was.
FLEMING: Madison was a
very, very famous man,
and people pointed him out
as he walked the streets
of Philadelphia.
Dolley was ambitious
in her own way, too,
and she was delighted to get
this kind of attention.
She was instantly on the inside
of the top tier
of the political world,
and that meant a lot to her.
Rumors about us created quite
a sensation in Philadelphia.
It even reached
the presidential mansion
and I was summoned to tea
with Mrs. Washington.
"Dolley!" she said to me,
"Is it true that you are engaged
to James Madison?"
I was taken aback
and I stammered,
"No, I think not"
"If this is so," she said,
"Don't be afraid to confess it,
be proud!
"He will make thee
a good husband,
all the better that
he is an older man."
NARRATOR: Within four months
of their first meeting,
Dolley Payne Todd
and James Madison were married
at her sister's home
in Virginia.
On her wedding day, she wrote
a letter to a friend.
I've stolen away from the family
to communicate with you
to tell you, in short,
that I have given my hand
to the man who of all others
I most admire.
In this marriage I look forward
to a soothing future,
and my little Payne will have
a generous and tender protector.
Best love to you and yours,
Dolley Payne Todd,
now Mrs. Madison alas.
FLEMING:
When the wedding was over,
she went back and she signed it,
"Dolley Madison, alas."
Which has puzzled a great many
people for a long time.
SHULMAN:
She married him in 1794.
She may not have learned to love
him until 1795, 1796, 1797,
who knows?
She might have loved him
when she married him.
But she clearly developed with
him a wonderful partnership
and a real love.
SMITH: It's a classic case
of opposites attracting.
She had a charisma
that completed Madison
in a way that probably no one
else could have,
with enormous consequences
for this country.
When Dolley married
James Madison,
she was read out
of Quaker meeting
because she had married
out of the sect.
But I think she was
probably pretty ready
to get out of it anyway.
The transformation after she
marries Madison is radical.
Suddenly for the first time,
you start seeing images
of her shoulders
and her neck and her bosom.
She is not in any way shy
from wearing the most
fashionable fashions
of that Philadelphia era
and showing her body off
a little bit.
There were a lot of people
who commented on the fact
that Dolley Madison kind of took
those fashions
as far as they could go
sort of respectably.
Friend Dolley, I send you this
gift of some handkerchiefs
to shade your lovely bosom
from the admiration
and gaze of the vulgar.
NARRATOR: In 1797, with his
Republican Party out of power,
Madison retired from
the House of Representatives.
Dolley and James and her
five-year-old son Payne
moved to Madison's 5,000-acre
Virginia plantation,
called Montpelier.
ALLGOR: When Dolley
married James in 1794,
it was not a foregone conclusion
that she would be
a politician's wife.
James Madison of course had been
a very prominent politician.
But it wasn't at all clear that
he would continue in politics.
James and Dolley went to
Montpelier for a retirement.
This of course would prove to be
a false retirement.
As John Adams said, political
plants seem to grow best
in the shade.
NARRATOR: Dolley slipped easily
into life at Montpelier,
which relied for its wealth
on the labor of slaves.
ALLGOR: Dolley Madison
was part of a generation
who had a particular attitude
towards slavery.
James Madison, Thomas Jefferson
and people like that
thought of slavery
as a necessary evil.
They knew it was wrong
on some level.
But they had a whole life
built on it,
and they just couldn't
let it go.
SHULMAN: When Dolley Madison's father
decided to emancipate his slaves
in Virginia, it foreshadowed
ruin in the Payne family.
So, from her personal
experience,
living with slaves
supporting you
was a far easier life
than living in poverty
as her father's daughter
with no slaves.
NARRATOR: For four years, Dolley and
James lived the comfortable life
of wealthy planters
at Montpelier.
During their long lives,
they would rarely be apart.
There only survive
about 30-odd letters
between Madison and Dolley
across the whole span
of their lifetime.
And that's because once
they were married
they were very seldom apart
and they didn't have occasion
to write letters.
But at one point,
Dolley developed a problem
on one of her knees,
and she went to Philadelphia
for medical treatment.
So we do have a series
of letters between them.
They're playful,
they're affectionate.
Dolley talks about how
she weeps for joy
when she receives
one of his letters.
My dearest husband,
I am getting well as fast
as I can,
knowing that my reward will be
seeing again my beloved.
But I had a nightmare last night
that you were in your room sick
and I was not there
to nurse you.
Write soon so that I may chase
away this terrible vision.
Farewell until tomorrow,
my best friend.
Think of thy wife,
who thinks and dreams of thee.
My dearest, your letter fans
my anxious wishes and hopes
for your perfect recovery,
but my happiness will not
be complete
till I have you with me.
Everything around and within
reminds me that you are absent.
I can't give you any news
about the horse races
or of the theater
I've been to neither,
nor have I wanted to
without you.
Payne is well, and I am trying
hard to keep him
paying some sort of attention
to his books.
All my affection embraces you.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson
was elected president,
and Mr. Madison became
secretary of state.
Mr. and Mrs. Madison
traveled to Washington
from their Virginia plantation.
In those days
railroads were unknown
and stagecoaches ingeniously
uncomfortable,
and the journey took what to us
would seem to be
an incredible many days.
NARRATOR: The building
of Washington, D.C.,
had started from scratch
nine years earlier.
Now the nation's capital,
the city was still very much
unfinished.
FLEMING: It was a city composed
of houses with no streets
and streets with no houses.
And that was about it;
It was the wilderness.
ROBERTS: Washington was created out
of a swamp and was this muddy mess.
There was a muddy little creek
running down the middle of the
city, grandly called The Tiber,
and it was of course infested
with mosquitoes.
So it was a miserable
little town.
NARRATOR: European diplomats,
accustomed to majestic cities
and glittering courts,
were shocked.
could be a beautiful city
if it were ever built.
But it is not, so I can't say
much about it.
There is, however, excellent
partridge shooting in the swamp
near the Capitol building.
It would have been daunting,
I think, for anyone to think,
"I've got to actually start
living here."
But for someone like Dolley,
who had, deep down,
an optimistic nature
and an embrace of change
and liveliness,
I think it would have been
very stimulating.
NARRATOR: For the next 16 years,
Dolley Madison's fortunes
and those of her adopted city
would rise together.
Washington was very different
from what the world thought
a capital should look like.
The royal courts of Europe,
with their opulence
and formal rituals,
had always been the embodiment
of a ruler's legitimacy.
But the United States was
a republic, not a monarchy.
Its leaders needed to create
a new vocabulary of power
that represented the nation's
democratic ideals.
BERKIN: The greatest concern
for George Washington
and for Adams after him was,
"Well, I'm not a king and I
don't have a royal court.
"On the other hand,
the dignity of the republic
"is sort of embodied in me.
"And so how do I introduce a
kind of note of dignity and pomp
without crossing the line into
decadent European behavior?"
They had no previous
presidential protocol to go by,
and so they just did what was
quite natural,
which was to sort of present
a Yankee version
of the British court system,
the British social etiquette.
ALLGOR: And so we have
these strange moments
where George Washington
is trying to decide
how many pairs of matched horses
will convey the proper amount
of authority, and how many would
be too monarchical.
But I think he settled on three
would be just right.
NARRATOR: George Washington had
received guests from a raised dais,
bowing slightly to visitors,
never deigning to touch hands.
Thomas Jefferson was appalled
that the leader of a republic
would behave like a king.
Once elected president,
he determined to send a message
to the country and the world.
Anthony Merry was
the first official envoy
of the British government
to be sent to Washington.
When he arrived at
the executive mansion
to present his credentials,
Jefferson made a point
of receiving him
not in formal attire,
but in bathrobe and slippers.
Jefferson continued his lesson
in democracy
at a formal diplomatic dinner
in Merry's honor.
Dinner is served.
STAGG: Seeing the Merrys were
supposed to be the guest of honor
for the evening,
the assumption was
that Jefferson would offer
his arm to Mrs. Merry,
and he would escort her
to the dining table.
Instead, he offered his arm
to Dolley Madison.
To leave a woman standing
without an escort
to go in to dinner is
such a slap in the face.
And it must have been
for Merry's wife,
not just insulting,
but so disconcerting,
because nothing
in her experience
could have prepared
her for this.
It was unheard of
in polite society.
It was certainly unheard of
in diplomatic society.
It was unheard of
in ordinary society.
ANTHONY MERRY (dramatized): I was
left to give my hand to Mrs. Merry
and lead her to whatever seat
at the table we could snare,
a situation degrading
both to her personally
and to the country
which we represent.
It is intolerable!
I blush to even have to talk
about this nauseous subject,
but Mr. Merry,
Minister of the Crown,
is writing back to Great Britain
about that affair of etiquette,
the frivolous business of who
leads who into dinner parties.
The Spanish minister is now
telling me that he supports
the British.
I've no idea what will be
the result of all this nonsense.
The Merrys remain
greatly offended.
Now they're refusing to accept
any more social invitations
from the administration.
Mrs. Merry is always going out
alone, riding on horseback.
She hardly associates
with anyone.
NARRATOR: Anthony Merry advised his
government to take a hard line
with the United States.
ROBERTS: There are some who even
think that it was one of the reasons
for the War of 1812.
I think that's going a little
overboard, but that is
that is a theory.
Dolley knew this was something
that should never happen again.
And on her watch
it was definitely not going
to happen again.
NARRATOR: The wife of the
secretary of state now embarked
on a campaign
of back-channel diplomacy.
Dolley Madison sets out
on a charm offensive.
She sets out to woo Mrs. Merry
and becomes a friend of hers.
I'm not sure she really likes
Mrs. Merry,
but she woos her and charms her.
ALLGOR: Dolley brought a
feminine vocabulary of politics
to the table that stressed
empathy and civility.
She would actively appease.
She would always reach out.
All of these things
she brought with her into
her future public life.
My dear sister,
I long for a letter to tell me
that you've arrived safely
in Boston after your journey.
We go on as usual.
We have two parties this week:
At Duvals and Dearborns,
tonight at Thorntons,
tomorrow night here.
Payne is at school.
He has written to you,
but his writing is so bad
I've told him to write it again.
NARRATOR: Dolley had
great hopes for her son,
but he was proving to be
anything but a scholar.
ALLGOR: Payne was a problem.
He probably needed the guidance
of a father,
he probably needed boundaries
set by his mother,
but he got none of those things.
You're supposed to do
all your work.
ALLGOR: James Madison seems
to have been a very loving
but rather detached stepfather.
And Dolley Madison, well,
this avoidance of confrontation
that stood her in such good
stead in her political world
was probably fatal
in raising a son.
NARRATOR: In her seven
years in Washington,
Dolley Madison had built up
a broad social network
of influential politicians
and their wives.
She now put this network
to good use.
SMITH:
There was nothing automatic
about Madison's election in 1808
to succeed Thomas Jefferson.
James Madison, who was not
a terribly charismatic figure,
was married to a woman
who was hugely charismatic.
And she played a critical
behind-the-scenes role
in bringing together,
throughout the campaign season,
people who not only supported
her husband's candidacy,
but those who might support it
as well as those who were
pledged to other candidates.
It was all done very deftly.
In those days no candidate could
openly campaign.
So the campaign went on
at parties and dinners
and receptions.
You suddenly see this new model
sort of rising of
the presidential couple,
or the candidate and his wife.
And that was created
by Dolley Madison.
NARRATOR: By lobbying for
her husband's candidacy,
Dolley was taking a great risk.
In the early 19th century,
it was considered
almost scandalous
for a woman to publicly engage
in politics.
The newspapers attacked
Dolley Madison personally,
intimating that she
and her young sister
had been, in essence,
prostituted out by Jefferson
to foreign dignitaries.
ROBERTS: She was accused
of having affairs
with various members
of Congress.
And in the case of Madison,
one of the attacks on him
was that his wife was
overly sexed
and had unsexed him because
he had no children
and she did have a son
by her first marriage.
I could make the hair
on congressmen
stand as erect as the quills
on a porcupine
with evidence
of the sexual insatiability
of a certain Republican woman
Leader of the flock.
In high places, love and smoke
cannot long be hidden.
FLEMING: Most other women would
have been so infuriated by this
that they would never have
spoken to a Federalist again.
"How dare they say this about
me," and so forth.
But instead Dolley told
a friend,
"Oh, whenever people say things
like that to you,
"the thing to do is just smile.
They're only trying to affect
your sensibility."
You wonder what sort of cost
she paid, if any,
psychologically, internally,
for this performance,
because she was putting on
a performance, clearly.
After one particularly
vicious diatribe,
Dolley's response was,
"It was as good as a play."
Which, when you stop to think
about it,
is the perfect putdown.
NARRATOR: In 1809, James
Madison was sworn in
as president
of the United States.
His opponent, Charles Pinckney,
said in defeat,
"I might have had
a better chance
"had I faced Mr. Madison alone.
I was beaten by
Mr. and Mrs. Madison."
My beloved Phoebe,
you must pardon
the appearance of neglect
with regards to your
charming letter.
When tranquility once again
resumes its reign in my life,
I promise to write volumes.
I'm glad you take no more snuff,
but I must.
Adieu, sweet one.
NARRATOR: The Madison presidency
began with an inaugural ball,
the first ever held
in Washington.
From the start, Dolley resolved
to establish a new style
for the new administration.
SHULMAN: By the time James
Madison becomes president,
you have had
this Federalist government
with its royal protocols
and then this democratic radical
republicanism
on the part of Jefferson.
And what the Madisons do is
to say, "We don't want either."
This is a new administration,
it's a new day in Washington."
And because everything
has to be created,
there are opportunities there.
You start with nothing
except your imagination.
ALLGOR: She dressed in a
beautiful fine fabric,
which is, in the Quaker
tradition, a beautiful velvet,
but it was of a simple color,
a buff color that they call,
so kind of off white.
And she wore the most American
of jewelry, pearls.
SHULMAN:
Pearls were a major statement.
A British aristocrat,
male or female,
encrusted himself in diamonds.
And Dolley Madison wore pearls
rather than diamonds.
ANTHONY: Dolley Madison, and I think
she did this very consciously,
kind of cooked up a formula that
ultimately became the formula
for a genuinely successful
first lady
in her time and I think even
to this day.
And that is this very fine
balance between, if you will,
queen and commoner.
NARRATOR: This inaugural
ball would be very different
from the formal occasions
of previous administrations.
Dolley wanted to include a true
cross section of her countrymen.
And it was said that although
400 people were invited,
in fact anyone who could afford
the four-dollar price
of a ticket could attend.
ROBERTS: For some gentlemen,
this was a bit of a shock,
to be sipping cider next to
a humble farmer or whomever.
But for Dolley, it was important
to show that all were welcome,
that this was a country
where everyone was equal.
SHULMAN: And Dolley had a ball.
And I think everyone who went
there probably had a ball
except for James Madison,
who told Margaret Bayard Smith
he'd rather be at home.
The power of adaptation was
the life-giving principle
in my aunt's nature,
but it was sorely tested
in a very new society.
NARRATOR: The political atmosphere
in Washington was poisonous.
In 1809, with the country
barely 20 years old,
members of Congress
had not yet figured out
how to make the government
function.
Foreign relations, taxation,
states' rights
All were matters
of bitter dispute.
Madison had been a key figure
in creating the blueprint
for the American system
of government.
As president, he passionately
wanted to make it work.
There's a great deal of anxiety
in this period
about the republican experiment,
whether it's going
to fall apart or not.
This was a terribly violent era
in the early republic.
This is the era where men fought
and murdered each other
over ideologies.
They shot each other,
they beat each other with canes.
And not on the streets
or in the boardinghouses,
but on the floors of Congress.
Duels happened every day.
There's a dueling ground
right here, Bladensburg,
where members of Congress would
call each other out.
These were men who were at each
other's throats, literally.
(loud arguing)
NARRATOR: Everything in
Washington seemed to exacerbate
political divisions.
Jefferson had had dinners
in which he deliberately kept
the two parties apart,
inviting Republicans one night
and Federalists the next.
Even the living arrangements
intensified the partisanship,
with Federalists staying
in one boardinghouse
and Republicans in another.
ALLGOR: For politics to happen,
you need the social sphere.
That's the place where people
can work out things,
they can compromise, they can
talk, they can make deals.
In Washington city there was no
place for the unofficial sphere.
BERKIN: There are no public
spaces for interactions.
There aren't hotel lobbies.
There aren't bars.
I mean, there are not places
where people could come together
socially as opposed to
in an argument over politics.
NARRATOR: Dolley realized
that the executive mansion
could be used for this
political purpose.
During previous administrations,
the building was simply the
president's private residence.
She would transform it
into a place
where politicians could come
together informally,
a politically neutral space
with music, food and civility.
She began by decorating
and furnishing
its austere public rooms.
To execute the work,
Dolley chose the architect
of the U.S. Capitol building-
Benjamin Henry Latrobe.
She knew her choice of
decoration would be seen
as a political statement.
The president's house had to be
elegant enough
to indicate the power
of the office,
but it also had to reassure the
most pure-minded of democrats
that this was an executive
mansion fit for a republic.
One of the great gifts that
Dolley brought to James Madison
was this understanding
Unconscious, intuitive
Of the importance of symbols.
And she understood she was
creating a symbol for America.
NARRATOR: Dolley required that the
furnishings be American-made.
The chairs and sofas
incorporated.
Grecian and Roman motifs.
The meaning was clear:
Americans were the heirs
of democracy's creators.
Dolley insisted that
Gilbert Stuart's portrait
of the country's founder
have a prominent place
in the public rooms.
But Benjamin Latrobe
had a definite idea
where it should go.
I am sorry to have counteracted
any wish of yours
as to General Washington's
picture.
The dining room is properly
the picture room,
and I therefore intended
him to occupy
either the place at the west end
of the room between the windows,
or at the east end.
NARRATOR: Dolley had
her own sense of style
and chose brightly colored
furnishings,
which did not sit well with her
more conservative architect.
The curtains.
Oh, the terrible velvet
curtains.
They will blind everyone
with their brilliance.
The effect will ruin me!
SHULMAN: Thomas Jefferson's idea
of decorating the White House
was to bring his own furniture
from Monticello.
I'm sure it was elegant,
I'm sure it was beautiful,
but it didn't provide
for future generations.
When the Madisons entered
the White House,
they say, "We're building
a permanent structure"
"for the presidency.
We're building for the future."
This is firm, this is solid,
this is for America.
It's such a pleasure
to see you here.
MAN: Very nice to see you.
NARRATOR: The executive
mansion quickly became
the center of Washington's
social life.
(guests chatting)
Every Wednesday, Dolley threw
open the doors for a party.
These events were so popular
and crowded
that people
called them "squeezes."
CATHERINE COLES: Mrs. Madison
passes from one guest to another
and from room to room,
greeting everyone.
All are taken
with her wish to please
and her willingness
to be pleased.
Oh, Mr. Carten!
NARRATOR: Up to this time, social
events hosted by heads of state
had always been
highly formal affairs.
The idea of a president
entertaining legislators
and even some members of the
public in informal gatherings
was something new.
SMITH: The fact of the matter
is, it has always been true
that much of the business
of government in this city
transpires after 5:00.
It doesn't take place
in official offices.
It takes place in the drawing
room or around the dinner table.
That began with Dolley Madison.
SHULMAN: Dolley Madison provided a
place for people to meet and greet
who did not like each other
or did not even want
to meet each other.
It's no guarantee that if you
had dinner with someone
and a glass of port wine
afterwards
that you will not hurl
a spittoon at them the next day
on the floor of Congress.
But it probably diminishes
the chances sufficiently
that it was worth the dinner.
ANTHONY: What was going
on underneath all of that
was promoting her husband's
political agenda.
If there were members
of the Federalist Party
who had earlier that day
in Congress
said antagonistic things
about her husband,
she would sort of guide them
through the rooms
and somehow end up
in a poorly lit corner,
and there would be
President Madison.
And it would be damn near
impossible for those guys
to then sort of ungallantly and
rudely say, "No, Mrs. Madison",
"I'm going to have some
of your famous ice cream,
but I'm leaving."
They were there, and she had
sort of gotten them.
I mean, that was brilliant.
ROBERTS: Henry Clay said
to her at one point,
"Everybody loves Mrs. Madison."
That's the atmosphere
that she created.
And she said to him,
"Well, that's because
Mrs. Madison loves everybody."
Now, I've read her mail;
That's not true.
But she certainly put on
a good show of it.
ALLGOR: She brought everybody
in the room together,
and they learned to work
together in bipartisan ways
Ways that, it turns out, though
no one could have known it,
were absolutely necessary
for building a democracy
and a nation state.
NARRATOR: Soon Americans were
calling the executive mansion
by a new name the White House.
Dolley Madison had made it
a national home.
In the succeeding years, Dolley
would become the public face
of her husband's administration.
Her doings were reported
in newspapers across
the growing country.
Women copied her wardrobe.
Her feathered turbans were
the talk of the town.
And when she served ice cream
at her squeezes,
it became a national sensation.
Dolley wrote to influential
women all over the country,
asking for recipes to use
at White House dinners.
This seemingly innocuous act
had a political purpose,
creating allies for her
husband's administration.
Dolley Madison saw her position
as the president's wife
as a full-time job.
She was, in fact,
a public entity.
SMITH: Dolley Madison, I think,
has a larger claim
than anyone else
to having invented
this unsalaried
and ill-defined position
that we all now take for
granted, that of the first lady.
Certainly nobody knew
what a first lady was.
The term didn't come
into use, really,
until Dolley Madison's time.
SHULMAN: Martha Washington was
always George Washington's helper,
but she didn't really like
being out in the limelight.
Abigail Adams didn't see
the importance of it
and she didn't want to do it.
So her letters may be far more
interesting than Dolley's
in terms of politics
and public policy
and political philosophy,
but in fact it was Dolley who
had an impact in that sense,
not Abigail.
She had very much a sense
of what a public face
for a woman should be.
She could come to the fore,
she could come to the front,
she could be public,
she could be out there,
because she was still graceful
and feminine.
To make the final
declarations and supply
NARRATOR: In 1812, Dolley
Madison's political skills
would be put to the test.
The country was split over
the biggest crisis of the day.
For ten years, a major war
had been raging
between Great Britain
and France.
The president wanted the United
States to remain neutral
and continue trading
with France.
Enraged, the British retaliated
by attacking American ships
and kidnapping American sailors.
Madison realized peace
was no longer possible.
On June 18, 1812, the United
States declared war
on Great Britain.
Half the country supported
the war
and half violently opposed it.
ROBERTS: The farmers hated it
because they couldn't export
their goods.
The merchants hated it
because they couldn't import
their goods.
And the shippers hated it
because they were
put out of business.
NARRATOR: New England politicians
were even threatening
to secede from the Union.
Adams and Jefferson had sought
to imprison their critics.
But Madison was
ideologically opposed
to expanding the power of the
presidency, even in wartime.
His supporters
as well as his enemies
took his principled stand
as a sign of weakness.
The war was going badly,
and everyone blamed Madison.
One day a lady drove up
to the president's house,
loosened her long,
beautiful hair,
and, standing up
in her carriage,
shouted that she'd be happy
to let someone cut it off
and use it to hang
the president.
FLEMING: They called the
president "Little Jemmy"
"Jemmy" short for "James."
And their implication
was that he just didn't have the
capacity to lead the country,
this little guy, he didn't have
the qualities for leadership.
Our president is weak, feeble
and pusillanimous.
He is a corrupt, bribe-taking,
whoremongering coward.
America was totally
unprepared for war.
America had about 20 ships,
and Britain had a thousand.
Britain ruled the waves.
Some people thought it would be
all over in a matter of weeks.
NARRATOR: But Britain, distracted
by its war with France,
could not yet turn
its full attention to America.
Far from being over quickly,
the War of 1812 would drag on
for more than two years.
Earlier in July I wrote to you,
my dearest Payne.
I hope you've received
this letter.
I wrote to you again but not a
word from you has reached me.
You ought to realize how
impatient I am to hear from you.
I assume from your silence
that you're busy on important
business in Europe.
Farewell, and may Heaven bless
and protect you.
SHULMAN: Dolley Madison
had an internal life
which was very different
from her public life.
There is a monster
in her closet,
and that is a sense
of the failure
of the men in her family.
She was often very anxious
and very unhappy,
but kept it from the public.
In some ways perhaps she was
like the child of an alcoholic
who always wants
to make things good,
who always wants to heal things.
NARRATOR:
Dolley's son Payne was now 21
and showed no enthusiasm
for pursuing his studies
or finding a profession.
Hoping to interest his stepson
in government,
James Madison sent Payne
to Europe
as part of a diplomatic mission.
ALLGOR: In Europe, of course,
he's treated as the prince
of America
That's the only way they can
understand the president's son
And indulged
at every opportunity.
And this is disastrous.
He went with Albert Gallatin to
Ghent, but then he disappeared.
And she thought,
oh, he must be coming home
because he's so homesick.
He wasn't coming home,
he was going to Paris.
(laughing):
Having a wonderful time.
ALLGOR: James and Dolley were
exasperatingly forgiving.
They adopted
a sort of philosophy
that still waters run deep,
that "straws float above,"
I believe is the phrase,
"and pearls below."
Even though Payne gave no
indication of pearls below.
(coins jangling on table)
DOLLEY: "Master Todd has
decided to remain in Paris."
"He feels his knowledge
of French is not perfect,
de langue to give him polish
"a woman who teaches
that language to gentlemen.
I'm told she's beautiful
and young."
STAGG: All the men in her family
had failed in one way or another.
Her father failed.
All her brothers failed.
Failure plus alcoholism.
And, uh, Dolley, I think,
sees the same pattern
that's going to be
repeated with her son,
because the son,
she had great hopes for him,
and if there was one thing he
did consistently in his life,
it was let his mother down.
My poor boy.
Forgive his eccentricities.
He has a good heart.
NARRATOR: In 1814, with
the French in retreat,
Britain turned its military
might against the United States.
DOLLEY: The British sent word
that unless I leave Washington,
my house will be burned
over my head
and I will be taken hostage
and paraded
through the streets of London.
We are making efforts
at defense.
(inhales deeply)
I may be a Quaker, but I've
always supported the principle
of fighting when attacked.
And I keep my old Tunisian saber
within reach at all times.
NARRATOR: On August 24, 1814,
4,000 British troops sailed
up the Patuxent River,
heading for Washington.
Congress and most of the
citizens had fled in terror.
President Madison was
with the army at Bladensburg,
waiting to confront
the British forces.
Dolley Madison refused to leave
until her husband returned
from the front.
She remained in the White House,
alone with a few slaves.
DOLLEY: Since sunrise I've been
turning my spyglass
in every direction,
watching in an agony of fear
that my dear husband
has been taken prisoner.
NARRATOR: With Dolley was a 15-year-old
slave named Paul Jennings.
Many years later,
he would write a memoir
of his life with the Madisons.
Mrs. Madison ordered dinner
for when the president's party
was supposed to return.
I brought up the ale,
cider and wine
and placed them in the coolers.
Then I set the table.
NARRATOR: Suddenly, they heard the
sound of an approaching horseman.
James Smith came galloping up
to the house waving his hat,
crying out,
"Clear out, clear out!"
The army was in full retreat,
people running
in every direction.
The British were expected
in a few minutes.
NARRATOR: The American soldiers
had been defeated at Bladensburg
and were running
for their lives.
Washington was now
completely undefended.
Dolley directed Paul Jennings
and the other slaves
to save the public documents,
along with
the presidential silver
and the red velvet curtains.
PITCH: She knows an enemy army
is about to capture the city,
and she is now focused on saving
Gilbert Stuart's portrait
of George Washington
that hung on the west wall
of the large dining room
in the president's home.
She knew that the very first
and indeed
the ultimate war trophy
that the British army would take
away from the White House
would be the portrait
of Washington.
They'd take it with them
and they'd march it
through the streets of London
as the ultimate trophy
of their victory.
And so she was going to prevent
that from happening
at almost any cost.
I insisted on waiting
until the large picture
of General Washington
was unscrewed from the wall.
But it took too long, so I
ordered the frame to be broken
and the canvas rolled up.
It is done.
And now I must leave this house.
Where I shall be tomorrow
I cannot tell.
Only when she was absolutely
certain that this painting
had been carried away
to safety in a wagon
did she decide to leave
in her carriage.
SMITH: This is part of what
makes her so interesting.
She has in some way what we like
to think of, at least,
as a very modern,
almost sixth sense
about the psychological value
of national symbols.
Stop and think
In 1814, this country
didn't have a lot of history.
It didn't have a lot
of unifying symbols.
It had George Washington.
And even more, it had the
mythology of George Washington.
Rescuing that portrait was an
act of patriotism and defiance,
which, if she had
done nothing else,
would have immortalized
Dolley Madison.
NARRATOR: The advancing British
troops burned the Capitol building
and then moved on
to the executive mansion.
There they discovered the table
handsomely laid out
for Madison's guests.
The soldiers toasted Dolley,
devoured her dinner,
and then they got to work.
There was no shortage
of kindling:
Writing tables, ornamented beds,
gilded sofas, and Latrobe's
hand-painted chairs
with red velvet cushions.
JENNINGS:
I heard a tremendous explosion,
and rushing out I saw
that the public buildings,
the navy yard, the rope walks,
were all on fire.
CUTTS: A panic filled
the defenseless city
as soon as the populace saw
the flames rise
from the presidential abode.
It was rumored that the whole
city was to be destroyed
by fire or sword.
(thunder)
NARRATOR: Suddenly a huge
storm struck the city.
The two-hour-long deluge
extinguished the flames.
CUTTS: My great-aunt returned
to find her home in ruins,
smoke still rising from the
heaps of blackened timbers.
The streets were deserted.
With a sickened heart, she drove
to my mother's house
to await the return
of her husband.
Such destruction,
such confusion.
I can't tell you what I feel.
I wish we could sink our enemies
to a bottomless pit!
NARRATOR:
The British left Washington
and moved the battle
to other American cities.
The war dragged on, with neither
side able to claim victory.
The capital was in ruins,
and now there was serious talk
of abandoning Washington
forever.
ROBERTS: It was this
miserable little city,
and now it was a burned-out
miserable little city.
And so, having to start
over again seemed
something easy to denigrate,
and so why do it?
"Move to Philadelphia
We have buildings."
The city of Philadelphia
was offering them
good old Independence Hall,
and they'd go back to the
comforts of a civilized capital.
It was very tempting.
And the first vote in Congress
was very heavily in favor
of moving out.
But Dolley had really done more
to create this city
than anybody else,
and she was not going to see
Congress walk out of this place.
ROBERTS:
Dolley Madison understood
that Washington was an important
symbol, and she felt strongly
that to go back to Philadelphia,
tail between legs,
was in some ways a concession
to the British.
NARRATOR: The Madisons moved
into a building
called the Octagon House,
around the corner from the
burned-out executive mansion.
Dolley immediately began
to give parties.
FLEMING: And the whole message
of these dinner parties was,
"Don't abandon Washington."
She got in her carriage and
she rode all over Washington,
leaving her calling cards
everywhere.
SMITH: It's Dolley Madison
as much as anyone else
who, in her inimitable way,
largely behind the scenes,
she takes tangible measures
to make clear to everyone
that she believes in the future
of Washington.
NARRATOR: Dolley championed
the establishment
of an orphan asylum for girls
left behind by the war.
She was the first first lady
to adopt a charitable cause.
ROBERTS: And she was
the first directress.
And in fact she gave, I think,
twenty dollars and a cow
and offered to cut patterns
for the clothes for the girls.
SMITH: It was the
symbolism of the gesture.
She's telling Congress that
Washington has a future.
And the fact is, by a very
narrow vote, nine votes,
Congress decides to stay put
in Washington,
to return to this ravaged city
and to rebuild.
NARRATOR: On February 14,
1815, Washington got the news
that a treaty with Great
Britain had finally been signed.
JENNINGS: A Mrs. Sally Coles,
a cousin of Mrs. Madison,
came to the head of the stairs
crying, "Peace, Peace!"
and told Mr. Freeman
to serve out wine
to the servants and others.
I played the president's march
on my violin.
Mr. Madison was also pleased,
but he didn't show it.
Mrs. Madison threw open the door
for a huge party.
Such a joyful time was never
seen in Washington.
SMITH:
The War of 1812 is, in effect,
the second war
of American independence.
And a draw, which is
basically what we got,
was as good as a win.
Never again would Great Britain
menace the existence
of the United States.
The War of 1812 signified
that we were going to last as a
nation, we were here to stay.
SMITH: Madison actually gives us
an alternative model
of wartime leadership
for which he really
ought to be remembered.
He didn't abuse executive power.
No one went to jail because they
differed with the president
or because they criticized the
president's conduct of the war.
And so the fact is, the War of
1812 provided the ultimate test
about a free government,
and what was this democratic
experiment
that we had been fighting
to defend?
No one defined that experiment
better than James Madison
by what he didn't do
as president.
The war has made Americans
more American.
We feel and act as a nation.
I now have some hope for the
permanency of the United States.
FLEMING: Madison's popularity
proceeded to soar.
And for the next two years
it was just a love feast
in Washington.
And much of this could be
traced, in many ways,
to Dolley to that display
of courage
and her already established
talent for leadership.
NARRATOR: In 1817, after eight
years in the White House,
the Madisons retired
from public life
and returned to Montpelier.
For the next 20 years, they once
again lived the quiet life
of Virginia planters.
Madison was in increasingly
frail health.
He and Dolley devoted
much of their time
to editing his papers.
Madison was counting on earning
badly needed income
by their publication.
SHULMAN: He's not a wealthy man.
In public, they have
a beautiful house,
they have a hundred slaves,
they have the luxury and
the grandeur and the beauty
of Montpelier,
but in fact he doesn't have the
money that he appears to have.
NARRATOR: The Madisons entertained
a steady stream of visitors,
but Dolley's heart remained
back in the city
and the social world she did
so much to establish.
Here I sit alone,
a poor dull creature,
and I must live as well as I
can separated from others.
Cousin, you will soon be going
to all the parties.
Write as often as you can,
giving me details
of what's happening
with all the various characters
in Washington.
I confess I don't miss all the
battles political and social
But from my quiet retreat I'm
still anxious to hear the news
from both fronts.
Oh, and please send me
paper patterns
of the latest fashion
at the sleeve,
and also describe for me
the width of a dress
and its waist
and how bonnets are being worn
in the city.
NARRATOR: Dolley's son
Payne was back in America,
but spent most of his time
in New York and Philadelphia.
MAN: Ah, yes, the son.
He is to Montpelier
what the serpent was
to the Garden of Eden.
BETH TAYLOR: He was very
definitely Dolley's blind spot.
She loved him to death.
She wanted more from him that
was never forthcoming.
And as the years went by,
it only got worse.
He adopted the strategy
of asking his mother for money
and not telling his stepfather,
and doing the same
Asking his stepfather for
money, not telling his mother.
Three months and we haven't
heard from you.
You show absolutely no regard
for our feelings.
I can't even begin to tell you
how distressed your mother is.
She is even threatening
to go to Philadelphia
to discover the cause
of your mysterious absence.
SHULMAN: We know from James Madison's
letters that he shielded her.
He only tells her
some of what's going on.
He shields her from the gravest
truths about her son.
STAGG: Dolley herself by this time
had sort of given up any hopes
that the son would make anything
of himself.
At the end, she was just reduced
that he would find a nice girl,
marry, settle down and do
something respectable.
But he couldn't
even manage that.
He never married at all.
She never stopped loving him,
she never stopped paying
for him.
And indeed it was his profligacy
that condemned her and James
Madison to a penurious old age.
I was with Mr. Madison
all the time then.
He couldn't walk,
but his mind was bright
and he had lots of visitors
and he talked with them
His voice as strong as I ever
heard in his best days.
FLEMING: Towards the
end of Madison's life
he became almost
completely bedridden.
He was crippled by rheumatism.
And Dolley sat at his bedside,
practically ten, 12 hours a day.
She rarely left him for more
than 15 or 20 minutes at a time.
JENNINGS:
One day, I was with him
when Sukey brought him
his breakfast as usual.
He was having trouble
swallowing.
His niece was with him
and she asked,
"What's the matter,
Uncle James?"
"Why, nothing more than a change
in mind, my dear," he answered.
Then his head dropped instantly,
and he stopped breathing
as quietly as the snuff
of a candle goes out.
85 years old.
Mrs. Madison gave way to the
grief and the dejected spirit
that could not be restrained.
TAYLOR:
Dolley was beside herself.
At the time of the procession
two days later
out to the family burial site,
she was up in her room,
unable to attend.
I mean, these life partners had
been together for 40-some years.
And when the end came,
it was a great hardship
for Dolley to bear.
And now began
her pecuniary embarrassment.
For years she had been living
without any idea
of how much money
she was spending.
And now the crops at Montpelier
had failed,
the Negroes' food and clothing
and the plantation expenses
had to be paid for,
and there was no income
from any other source.
Her son, still fond
of his pleasures,
borrowed money at high interest
from the money lenders,
and this only increased
her difficulties.
SHULMAN: Dolley Madison is the
proverbial well-taken-care-of widow
who has never written a check.
Her son continues to drain her.
And so in the early 1840s, she's
being called to court on debts.
She's being called to court
because she is responsible
for debts that she cannot pay.
NARRATOR: Dolley traveled to
Washington to visit her sister,
leaving her son in charge
of her affairs.
Through incompetence
and outright thievery,
Payne Todd made her already
desperate money problems
even worse.
But she refused
to give up on him.
My dearest son.
It's been too long since I was
cheered by a line from you.
What are you doing
that prevents you from
communicating with your mother?
I have just heard
that you sold some
of the furniture that I needed.
I only wish you had
consulted me.
SHULMAN: Dolley Madison begins
selling off pieces of Montpelier.
600 acres here, 50 acres there,
the mill there.
And the slaves
are watching this.
There's less and less
for them to cultivate.
And Dolley Madison finally
becomes unable
to sustain Montpelier,
and everyone knows
she's going to have to sell it.
And what is that going to mean
for the slaves?
WOMAN: My mistress
I don't like
to send you bad news,
but the condition of all of us,
your servants, is very bad
and we do not know whether you
are acquainted with it.
The sheriff has taken all of us
and says he will sell us
at the next court
unless something is done before
to prevent it.
We are afraid we shall be bought
by what are called Negro buyers
and sent away
from our husbands and wives.
If we are obliged to be sold,
perhaps you could get
neighbors to buy us
that have husbands and wives,
so as to save us
from some misery that is
sure to fall upon us.
We are very sure that you are
sorry about the state of things
and don't like to trouble
you with it,
but think, my dear mistress,
what our sorrow must be.
The sale is two weeks
from next Monday.
Your dutiful servant, Sarah.
NARRATOR: In his will,
Madison had stipulated
that his slaves could not be
sold without their consent.
But Dolley was
virtually bankrupt.
The slaves were seized by the
bailiff to pay off her debts.
She did ensure that they would
be sold to neighbors
so that families would not be
split apart.
Finally, she was forced to sell
the last of Montpelier.
She sold Paul Jennings,
Madison's faithful manservant,
to a friend.
TAYLOR: Paul Jennings, at one
point, expected his freedom.
He thought that he would be
freed in James Madison's will;
That did not happen.
He thought he would be freed
by Dolley Madison,
and in a will in 1841,
she said as much,
"the only slave so treated."
She wrote, "I give to my mulatto
man Paul his freedom."
But that was not her last will.
There were
at least three others,
and she never mentioned
slaves again.
NARRATOR: Jennings eventually bought
his freedom from his new master.
As a free man, he would continue
to visit Dolley Madison
to the end of her life.
Now she lived
in a state of absolute poverty.
I thought sometimes that she
didn't even have enough to eat.
I visited her often,
bringing a market basket
full of provisions,
and I looked around the house
to see whatever else she needed.
She made me buy my freedom,
and now it was me that gave her
money from my own pocket.
NARRATOR:
In an exceptional move,
Congress offered to alleviate
Dolley's poverty
by buying some
of Madison's papers.
They put the money in a trust
controlled by her friends
to keep it out
of her son's hands.
Payne was furious
and threatened to sue.
Dolley's half-century
of indulgence finally gave way.
DOLLEY: I am much
distressed by your threats.
You must abandon
the idea immediately.
Your mother would have
no desire to go on living
after her son had deprived her
of her friends.
I have nothing more
to convey to you.
NARRATOR: All but one of Dolley's
seven brothers and sisters were dead,
as were most
of her contemporaries.
She seemed destined to live out
the rest of her days
in impoverished obscurity.
But the life of Dolley Madison
had one last act.
In 1844, she finally moved
back to Washington.
The capital, now grown
to 50,000 inhabitants,
had changed dramatically.
There had been
six administrations
since Madison's time.
The national government
was now in turmoil,
split apart by the most
intractable issue
of the early republic
The institution of slavery.
The comfortable life of Southern
gentry Dolley's world
Would soon disappear
in a bloody civil war.
CUTTS: She said that coming back
to Washington was like a dream,
as if she had been asleep
for 20 years
and now had woken up
surrounded by strangers.
The city was indeed
very different
from when she had been mistress
of the White House.
NARRATOR: Dolley moved into a
modest house on Lafayette Square.
She immediately began calling
on old friends
and charming new ones.
SHULMAN: She doesn't know
how to manage a plantation,
but she does know
how to run a salon.
And she does know how to be a
grande dame in Washington, D.C.
Dolley is living only a few
doors down from the White House.
Mrs. Polk becomes a very close
friend of Dolley's.
So she's very much
in the midst of things.
ALLGOR:
And this is where she enters
what I think of
as her iconic era.
She becomes a symbol
of an earlier time,
the time of the founding,
and people wanted to be part
of that symbol.
NARRATOR: Dolley Madison, born in
the era of horse-drawn carriages,
had survived into a time
of railroads
and the newest sensation,
photography.
When President James Polk
commissioned a group photograph
in front of the White House,
there she was,
a blur standing beside him.
SHULMAN: It's wonderful that we
have photographs of Dolley Madison.
We don't of James.
It shows the world of difference
between the 1830s and the 1840s.
If you look at them carefully,
you will see
that Dolley is always wearing
the same black dress
and the same blouse
underneath it
and usually the same hat
with the same pin
and the same earrings.
I suspect that was
her best outfit,
and it's what she wore in public
because she doesn't have
a lot of money.
But you also see a woman who's
not at the height of fashion.
And I suspect that she's
very conscious,
not only that she doesn't have
the latest in style,
but that by dressing
in a certain way,
she comes to represent, perhaps,
the founding era
The Constitution, an era
of republican virtue.
FLEMING: Here was a
woman who had drunk tea
with George and Martha
Washington,
and she could reminisce
and remember things
that everybody said
all the way back
to those early days.
She mesmerized every party
she went to.
NARRATOR:
Dolley was invited to celebrate
the laying of the cornerstone
of the Washington Monument.
When the first telegraph line
in the world was erected
between Washington
and Baltimore,
she was asked to be
the first private citizen
to send a message.
She was even awarded an honorary
seat in Congress
The only private citizen
to receive such a privilege.
During the last year
of her life,
she seemed
very busy with the past.
She had me read old letters to
her to revive happy memories.
She was 81 and she suffered
from many physical problems,
but her mind was not
in the least impaired.
Sometimes, however, when she was
confused and annoyed
by conflicting advice
from her friends,
she would sigh for the help
of her long departed husband,
and cry aloud,
"Oh, for my counselor!"
When her last sleep came upon
her, she lingered for two days,
apparently without suffering.
Several times she murmured,
"My poor boy!"
Then she gently relapsed into
that long rest which is peace.
NARRATOR: Dolley Madison died in
July of 1849 at the age of 81.
Her son Payne died
just two years later.
The entire country mourned
the passing
of the woman who had done
so much to create
the style and meaning
of the nation's capital.
"She is the only permanent power
in Washington,"
declared Daniel Webster.
"All others are transient."
Dolley had wanted to be buried
near her husband.
But for ten years, her body
remained in a temporary vault
in Washington.
Every time money was raised
to bury her properly,
it had to go to paying off
Payne's debts.
Finally, Dolley was buried in
the family plot at Montpelier,
near the man she once called
"the great little Madison."
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