Dolley Madison
Dolley
Madison is best known as the wife of the 4th President of the
United States, James Madison, who served from 1809 to 1817.
In 1790, Dolley married John Todd, a Quaker lawyer in
Philadelphia. The couple had two sons, John Payne and William Temple.
In August 1793, a yellow fever epidemic broke out in
Philadelphia. More than 4,000 people died over the spring and summer
months. By mid-September, thousands had fled the city. Dolley’s
husband John and son William died of yellow fever on the same day. She
was a widow at the age of 25, with her young son Payne to support.
It was not long before she met the man who would
become her second husband. James Madison was a delegate to the
Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia. In 1794, Madison asked
his friend Aaron Burr to introduce him to Dolley, who was well known and
liked in the city’s social circles. Madison was 43, a lifelong
bachelor 17 years older than Dolley. Several months later, Dolley
accepted his proposal of marriage. They were married on September 15,
1794, and remained in Philadelphia for the next three years. Since James
Madison was not a Quaker, Dolley had to relinquish her religious
affiliation in order to marry him.
Dolley Madison made her presence felt in Washington.
Since President Thomas Jefferson was a widower, he frequently called on
the smart and vivacious Dolley to serve as his First Lady at official
functions. James Madison was a long time friend of Jefferson's and his
Secretary of State. Dolley also contributed to the development and
decoration of the White House, the First official presidential residence
in the new United States.
In 1808, the Democratic-Republican caucus nominated
James Madison to succeed Jefferson. He won two terms in office, serving
from 1809 to 1817. Dolley’s weekly gatherings contributed to her
husband’s popularity as president and provided a social setting for
politicking.
An important event in the building of Dolley’s
character occurred during the War of 1812. As the British army neared
Washington in 1814, Dolley Madison ordered the White House staff to save
a portrait of George Washington from the flames. Dolley Madison fled the
city, crossing the Potomac into Virginia. A few days later, she returned
to the city, where she continued to host parties, maintaining the social
energy of the badly damaged capital.
In
1817, James Madison retired from public life, and he and Dolley returned
to the Montpelier plantation in Virginia. They remained in Virginia
until James Madison’s death on June 28, 1836.
Dolley’s financial situation had been weakened by
the exploits of her son, Payne Todd. In 1830, Todd went to debtors’
prison in Philadelphia. The Madisons sold land and mortgaged half of the
Montpelier plantation to pay his debts.
After James Madison’s death, Dolley spent the year
organizing and copying her husband’s papers. Congress authorized
$55,000 as payment for editing and publishing seven volumes of the
Madison papers. Dolley’s son and her sister Anna stayed with her
during this time.
In the fall of 1837, Dolley Madison returned to
Washington, moving into a house on Lafayette Square. She left Todd in
charge of Montpelier, but it quickly became apparent that his alcoholism
made him unable to maintain the plantation. Dolley first attempted to
sell the remainder of James Madison’s papers to help support her son.
Unable to find a buyer, she sold Montpelier and its remaining slaves.
Dolley Madison died at her home in Washington in
1849. She was 81. Initially buried at the Congressional Cemetery, she
was later re-interred at Montpelier, where she lies next to her husband.
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