Dolley Madison

Dolley Madison initiated Washington society’s “parlor politics” scene – a previously untapped female-led soft power system. Dolley learned the skill of bringing differing and bickering politicians together within the White House as a hostess for Thomas Jefferson, and she finessed soothing political differences during her husband’s administration. Her most famous act was demanding the removal of George Washington’s portrait from falling into British hands during the War of 1812. After the death of her husband, the acute debts acquired by her son forced her to sell the Madison plantation, Montpelier, and all the enslaved families. Poverty-stricken “Queen Dolley” later returned to the capital as a beloved Washington matriarch.