January 30th 2012
Day 109
Math: 2 pages
LA Book: 1 pages
Weather Review:
Study, study, study! To Be taken on February 1
Latin Vocab
Flashcards: study for Quiz, Feb. 1
Bio Report: Edit,
revise, Works Cited, & Print
Text of report is below but follow link to Google Docs for
Final Report
Bio Report: Google Docs link
Dolley
Payne Todd Madison was a remarkable woman who was not afraid to stand out and
do what she had to do even during tough times of the early 19thcentury.
She risked her life and did her duty for America during the burning of the
White house in the War of 1812. Dolley is remembered now as the first “First
Lady” of the United States and Dolley is a wonderful example of a true
American. Now one of the most important things that you will have to know to
understand this biography report is that Dolley Madison was married to James
Madison, the 5th American President. James was also president during
the War of 1812, which made being the first lady extra difficult for Dolley. I
had a lot of fun learning about Dolley Madison and I suspect you will too. We
shall start off with her young life and first marriage.
Dolley
Madison was born on May 20, 1768 in the Quaker settlement of New Garden, New
Jersey. When Dolley’s father John Payne got a job in Pennsylvania, Dolley’s
family moved to Philadelphia, the temporary capital of the United States at the
time. Dolley had eight siblings, four boys, and four girls, but she best got
along with her sister Anna who was one year younger than Dolley. In 1790 Dolley’s
father died; Dolley’s mother initially made ends meet by opening a successful
boarding house. Before John Payne died, he told Dolley that he wanted her to
marry John Todd, a business man and Quaker. Dolley obeyed her father and
married John Todd that same year.
John Todd
and Dolley were not truly in love and rarely ever got along. Dolley and John
Todd had two sons together though, Payne Todd in 1792 and William Temple Todd
in 1793. John and Dolley lived together in Philadelphia in a small house near
Dolley’s mother. In February 1793 Anna got married to a farmer in Virginia and
Dolley was left alone. Later that summer in August, yellow fever struck
Philadelphia killing many people including Dolley’s mother, two of her brothers
and one of her sisters, her son William Temple Todd, and Dolley’s husband John
Todd. Dolley became scared and sad left alone with Payne Todd, her eldest son,
in Philadelphia at her mother’s old boarding house. Anna left her husband in
Virginia to visit Dolley and to help find her another husband.
In about
1794 James Madison, a very well known political man, noticed Dolley walking
down the streets of Philadelphia with Anna. James asked his friend and partner
Aaron Burr to introduce Dolley to James. They instantly fell in love and were
to be married in September later that year. James and Dolley lived in
Philadelphia for a few more years until they moved to Montpelier in Virginia in
1797. James Madison was elected president in 1808 and Dolley was very excited
as well as overwhelmed! She knew that she would have a big duty as the wife of
the president and wasn’t sure she was ready for it.
James and
Dolley moved into the White House in 1809. Dolley refurnished the White House
with the most stylish of patterns in the 19thcentury. Dolley was a
very stylish woman herself. In fact most of the women in the United States at
this time looked to Dolley as their fashion statement. As I said earlier,
Dolley was not afraid to stand out and to be herself.
Living in
the North for so long, Dolley did not have slaves. When she moved to the south
and was known as the First Lady (Dolley invented the term “First Lady” term),
she did have slaves, which were common in southern estates. Her slaves were
known as Emily and Paul Jennings. Dolley was very loyal to her slaves, although
she did enjoy having them.
Now at
this time James Madison had signed the declaration for the War of 1812 and it
was mostly being fought in British North America (Canada).It was 1814 and James
Madison was in England trying to get the treaty of peace to end the war. No one
had any idea that the British were planning an attack on Washington D.C. The
British got sticks covered with fire and threw them on the Congress building,
the White House, and many other buildings in Washington. Dolley got only a
brief warning of the attack so she knew what she had to do. She told Emily and
Paul to rush out of the house while she stayed in and saved the grand portrait
of George Washington, the U.S Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence
out of the burning building. Just in the nick of time Dolley got out safely,
but all of the furniture Dolley designed for the White house was ruined.
Dolley was
probably most famous for saving these artifacts out of the White House and this
is one of the major reasons that I am writing about her. After James Madison
retired from being President, the Madison’s moved back to Montpelier in Virginia.
Montpelier was in what is now known as Orange, Virginia. Montpelier was a
tobacco plantation owned by the Madison family. There were 2,650 acres of land
at Montpelier and it was much bigger than what Dolley was used to in
Philadelphia, but she liked it. On June 28, James Madison died, being the last
of the founding fathers to die. Dolley was heartbroken, she had lost both of
her husband’s now although she really only loved James.
During all
of this time that Dolley was living with James Madison moving from
Philadelphia, to Virginia, to Washington, and then to Virginia again, Payne
Todd, Dolley’s only living son was spending his mother’s money gambling and
drinking. Dolley was very disappointed in her son because he did not grow up
the way she wanted him to. When James and Dolley were living in Washington in
the White house, Payne was alone on Montpelier and let all of the tobacco
plants fail for the eight years. Payne Todd died the same year as Madison and
no one knows exactly how.
Since
Payne Todd took all of Dolley’s money, she didn’t have much left to pay the
bills. Dolley began to sell Montpelier bit by bit until nothing but the house
on the plantation was hers; she decided to sell that in 1837 and move back to
Washington. In Washington she sold all of James’ papers to raise money to buy a
small house. She did end up purchasing a house near the White House. Dolley
Madison became close friends with the current first lady of America, Mrs.
Rachel Jackson. Dolley Madison had a very famous daguerreotype photograph taken
of her in 1848 the year before she died.
And yes
that year approaches now in the story, because in 1849, Dolley Madison died at
her home in Washington D.C. Dolley Madison was a wonderful woman that many
people in America at this time looked up too. Dolley’s funeral was one of the
most visited funerals for that decade because over 30,000 people came. Dolley
was buried next to James Madison in the Madison family graveyard in Montpelier.
Now I told
you, you would learn a lot! Dolley Madison is a very fascinating person right!
I learned a lot about Dolley and I hope you did to. I learned about Dolley
mostly because she exemplifies the War of 1812 because of the remarkably heroic
act where she saved the artifacts out of the White House. But you learned a lot
of other little details that are just as important, correct? Thank you for
reading my biography report on Dolley Madison.
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