View source for Dolley Madison

{{short description|First Lady of the United States from 1809 to 1817}}
{{About|the wife of James Madison|the baked goods brand|Dolly Madison|the ship|SS Dolly Madison}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Dolley Madison
| image               = Gilbert Stuart - Dolley Payne Madison (Mrs. James Madison) - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption             = ''[[Portrait of Dolley Madison]]'' by [[Gilbert Stuart]], 1804
| office              = [[First Lady of the United States]]
| president           = [[James Madison]]
| term_start          = March 4, 1809
| term_end            = March 4, 1817
| term_label          = In role
| predecessor         = [[Martha Jefferson Randolph|Martha Randolph]] (acting)
| successor           = [[Elizabeth Monroe]]
| birth_name          = Dolley Payne <!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change birth name as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1768|5|20}}
| birth_place         = [[Guilford, North Carolina|{{Nowrap|Guilford County}}]], {{Nowrap|North Carolina}}, {{Nowrap|British America}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1849|7|12|1768|5|20}}
| death_place         = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| resting_place       = [[Montpelier (Orange, Virginia)|Montpelier, Virginia]], U.S.
| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|38|13|07.5|N|78|10|06.0|W|region:US-VA_type:landmark|display=inline}}
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|John Todd|1790|1793|end = died}}
* {{marriage|[[James Madison]]|1794|1836|end = died}}
}}
| children            = {{hlist|[[John Payne Todd|John]]|William}}
| signature           = Dolley Todd Madison Signature.svg
}}
'''Dolley Todd Madison''' (née '''Payne'''; May 20, 1768 – July 12, 1849) was the wife of [[James Madison]], the fourth [[president of the United States]] from 1809 to 1817. She was known for holding [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] social functions in which she invited members of both political parties, essentially spearheading the concept of [[Bipartisanship|bipartisan]] cooperation.  Previous, founders such as [[Thomas Jefferson]] would only meet with members of one party at a time, and politics could often be a violent affair resulting in physical altercations and even [[duel]]s. Madison helped to create the idea that members of each party could amicably socialize, network, and negotiate with each other without violence.<ref name="New York Historical Society">{{cite web |title=Unofficial Politician: Dolley Madison in Washington |url=https://www.nyhistory.org/womens-history/education/curriculum/saving-washington/module-1-unofficial-politician/introduction |publisher=New York Historical Society |access-date=July 31, 2018 |archive-date=July 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731214947/https://www.nyhistory.org/womens-history/education/curriculum/saving-washington/module-1-unofficial-politician/introduction |url-status=live }}</ref> By innovating political institutions as the wife of James Madison, Dolley Madison did much to define the role of the president's spouse, known only much later by the title [[First Lady of the United States|first lady]]—a function she had sometimes performed earlier for the widowed [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Catherine Allgor|first=Catherine |last=Allgor |title=A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation |location=New York |publisher=Henry Holt & Co. |year=2006 |page=43 |isbn=0-8050-7327-2 }}</ref>

Madison also helped to furnish the newly constructed [[White House]]. When the [[Burning of Washington|British set fire]] to it in 1814, she was credited with saving [[Gilbert Stuart]]'s [[Lansdowne portrait|1796 portrait of George Washington]]; she directed her personal slave [[Paul Jennings (slave)|Paul Jennings]] to save it.<ref name="NPSportraitsaved">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/dolley-madison-washingtons-portrait.htm|title=Summer 1814: Dolley Madison saves Washington's portrait, with some help (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov|access-date=June 14, 2019|archive-date=December 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205114417/https://www.nps.gov/articles/dolley-madison-washingtons-portrait.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In widowhood, she often lived in poverty aggravated by her son [[John Payne Todd]]'s alcoholism and mismanagement of their [[Montpelier_(Orange,_Virginia)|Montpelier]] plantation. To relieve her debts, she sold off the plantation, its remaining enslaved people, and her late husband's papers.

Surveys of historians conducted periodically by the [[Siena College Research Institute]] since 1982 have consistently found Madison to rank among the six most highly regarded first ladies by the assessments of historians.

==Early life and first marriage (1768–1793)==
Dolley Madison was born Dolley Payne on May 20, 1768,{{Efn|Madison later gave her birth date as 1771 or 1772, a misstatement that Historian Côté describes as confusing biographers for "nearly a century."{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=36}}}}to Mary Coles and John Payne Jr.<ref name="virginia1">[http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/madison/overview/chronology.html "Chronology and Dolley Madison"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620021636/http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/madison/overview/chronology.html|date=June 20, 2010}}, ''The Dolley Madison Project,'' University of Virginia Digital History</ref>{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=15–17}} and lived with her family in a log cabin in New Garden, [[Guilford County, North Carolina|{{Nowrap|Guilford County}}]] (present-day [[Greensboro, North Carolina|Greensboro]]), North Carolina. Her parents had married in 1761,{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=15–17, 21}} uniting two prominent [[Colony of Virginia|Virginian]] families.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=20}} Little is known about the family's life before 1793, when Madison was 25, because few documents have survived; Madison's earliest known letter dates to 1783.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=|pp=53, 56}} Mary Coles was from a [[Quakers|Quaker]] family and two years after their marriage the couple applied for membership in the Cedar Creek [[Monthly meeting|meeting]]. The application was considered for a very lengthy time before they were admitted in 1765.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=30}}{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=15–17, 21}} He would become a fervent member of the faith. The family had moved to New Garden, a Quaker community, in 1765. Madison was the family's third child and first daughter.{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=15–17, 21}} The family had an enslaved [[nursemaid]].{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=35}}

In early 1769,{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=48}} the Paynes returned to Virginia for reasons that are unclear.<ref name="virginia1"/> Historians [[Catherine Allgor]] and [[Richard N. Côté]] have speculated in their biographical works on her that the family may have wanted to return to their extended family, become uncomfortable with the religion, faced [[Regulator Movement|local opposition]], or failed at farming or business.{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=17–18}}{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=38}} Madison would later downplay her North Carolina birth, claiming herself to be a Virginian born when visiting an uncle in North Carolina. The family returned to Cedar Creek, where within four years they had moved at least twice.{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=17–18}} They eventually settled on a {{convert|176|acre|ha|adj=on}} farm several miles outside of [[Scotchtown (plantation)|Scotchtown]]. Madison grew up on the farm, working the land with the rest of her family. She was given a strict Quaker upbringing and education, which Côté describes her as "chafing" under.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=|pp=48–51}}

Madison grew close to her extended family in the area. She had three younger sisters (Lucy, Anna, and Mary) and four brothers (Walter, William Temple, Isaac, and John), two of whom were younger.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=4|title=Dolley Madison Biography|access-date=October 7, 2021|website=National First Ladies' Library|archive-date=May 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509065835/http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=4|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=17–18}} Her father did not participate in the [[American Revolutionary War]], as his faith practiced pacifism, and Allgor writes that Madison was seemingly little affected by it.{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=17–18}} By 1783 John Payne had [[emancipate]]d his enslaved people,<ref name="virginia1" /> as did numerous slaveholders in the Upper South.<ref name="Kolchin (1993), p. 81">{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Kolchin |title=American Slavery, 1619–1877 |location=New York |publisher=Hill and Wang |year=1993 |page=81 |isbn=0-8090-2568-X }}</ref> Payne, as a Quaker, had long encouraged [[manumission]],<ref name="Kolchin (1993), p. 81" /> but the act was not legal in Virginia until 1782.{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=17–18}}

When Madison was 15, Payne moved his family to [[Philadelphia]], at the time the second largest American city. They lived at 57 North Third Street,{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=19&ndash;20}} and transferred to the local Northern District Meeting.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=69|pp=}} While living there, Madison often visited [[Haddonfield, New Jersey]], where many Quakers lived. She also met Eliza Collins and [[Dorothea Abrahams]]<ref>''Research Project on Dorothea Abrahams'', Julia A. Powers, [[Armstrong State University]] (1984)</ref> in Philadelphia, with whom she became lifelong friends. During her early years, Payne likely received formal education, though it is not known what this was. Allgor concludes that it was likely better than most Americans at the time,{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=19&ndash;20}} while Côté notes that it was probably "no more than a basic" one.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=57|pp=}} Madison grew into a young woman who Côté writes was described "as one of the fairest of the fair".{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=81|pp=}}

Upon the family's move to Philadelphia, John had attempted to build a career as a starch manufacturer, but the business failed in 1789. This was seen as a "weakness" at his Quaker meetings, for which he was expelled. He was devastated by this failure and died on October 24, 1792. Mary Payne initially made ends meet by opening her home as a boardinghouse beginning in 1791. Before his death, John had arranged Madison's marriage to John Todd, a Philadelphia lawyer. According to Allgor, Madison had rejected marriage with Todd previously and John's marriage arrangement was "manipulation".{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=19&ndash;23}} Conversely, Côté considers their marriage to have been "for love, not just duty".{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=85|pp=}} They were married on January 7, 1790, at a Quaker meeting house. Madison's friend Eliza Collins was her [[bridesmaid]]. The couple moved several blocks away into a high-quality neighborhood.{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=19&ndash;23}}

===Marriage and family===
[[File:Dooley Madison 1794.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Miniature of Dolley in 1794 by James Peale]]
 
Madison and Todd had two sons, [[John Payne Todd|John Payne]] (called Payne, born February 29, 1792) and William Temple (born July 4, 1793). According to Allgor, their marriage grew into a "a loving happy partnership."{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|pp=19&ndash;23}}{{sfn|Witteman|2003|p=11}} Madison's sister Anna Payne moved in with them.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Dolley Madison Project : Overview|url=http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/madison/overview/events.html|access-date=2021-10-21|website=www2.vcdh.virginia.edu}}</ref>

In August 1793, a [[1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic|yellow fever epidemic broke out in Philadelphia]], killing 5,019 people in four months.{{sfn|Witteman|2003|p=12}} Madison was hit particularly hard, losing her husband, son William, mother-in-law, and father-in-law.<ref name="Life Story">{{cite web|title=Life Story: Dolley Madison, 1768-1849|url=https://www.nyhistory.org/womens-history/education/curriculum/saving-washington/module-1-unofficial-politician/life-stories/dolley-madison|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801005552/https://www.nyhistory.org/womens-history/education/curriculum/saving-washington/module-1-unofficial-politician/life-stories/dolley-madison|archive-date=August 1, 2018|access-date=July 31, 2018|website=Women and the American Story: A Curriculum Guide|publisher=New York Historical Society}}</ref> Two of her older brothers died just two years later, and she "never fully recovered" from the emotional toll of these deaths.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=101|pp=}} 

While undergoing the loss of much of her family, she also had to take care of her surviving son without financial support. Her husband had left her money in his will, but the executor, her brother-in-law, withheld the funds, and she sued him for what she was owed.<ref name="Life Story" /> [[Aaron Burr]], who had once stayed at the boarding house of Madison's mother, assisted her in these efforts, offering legal advice. In a will, written around that time, Burr was named the guardian of Madison's only surviving child.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=106|pp=}}

==Second marriage (1794–1800)==
[[File:Dolley Madison miniature.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Pastel portrait of Dolley by James Sharples, Sr. - Madison was painted in pastels by James Sharples, Sr. in 1797, when she was twenty-nine years old. At that time, Dolley lived in Virginia at the Montpelier plantation. Her second husband, James Madison, was active in Virginia politics.]]

Madison, at the time named Dolley Todd, soon met [[James Madison]]. Their relationship was facilitated by Aaron Burr, a longtime friend of Madison.{{Sfn|Côté|2005|p=|pp=101&ndash;109}} In May 1794, Burr made the formal introduction between the young widow and Madison, who at 43 was a longstanding bachelor 17 years her senior. A brisk courtship followed, and by August she had accepted his marriage proposal. As he was not a Quaker, she was expelled from the [[Quakers|Society of Friends]] for marrying outside her faith, after which she began attending [[Protestant Episcopal Church|Episcopal]] services. Despite her Quaker upbringing, there is no evidence that she disapproved of James as a slaveholder.<ref name="Life Story" /> They were married on September 15, 1794, and lived in Philadelphia for the next three years.<ref>Allgor, ''A Perfect Union.'' ch 2</ref>

In 1797, after eight years in the House of Representatives, James Madison retired from politics. He returned with his family to [[Montpelier (Orange, Virginia)|Montpelier]], the Madison family plantation in Orange County, Virginia. There they expanded the house and settled in. [[Thomas Jefferson]], in 1800 elected president of the United States, asked James Madison to serve as his [[United States Secretary of State|secretary of state]]. Madison accepted and moved with Dolley Madison, her son Payne, her sister Anna, and their domestic servants (who were all enslaved people) to Washington. They took a large house on F Street, as Dolley Madison believed that entertaining would be important in the new capital.<ref>Allgor, ''A Perfect Union.'' ch 1</ref>

==In Washington (1801–1817)==
[[File:Dolley Madison sketch.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Portrait of Dolley Madison by Thomas Christian Lubbers, located at the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]].]]
Madison worked with the architect [[Benjamin Henry Latrobe]] to furnish the [[White House]], the first official residence built for the president of the United States. She sometimes served as widower Jefferson's hostess for official ceremonial functions.<ref name=":0" /> Madison would become a crucial part of the Washington social circle,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Unraveling the Dolley Myths|url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/unraveling-the-dolley-myths|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-21|website=White House Historical Association|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150804040800/http://www.whitehousehistory.org:80/unraveling-the-dolley-myths |archive-date=August 4, 2015 }}</ref> befriending the wives of numerous diplomats, among them Sarah Martinez de Yrujo, wife of the ambassador of Spain, and Marie-Angelique Turreau, wife of the French ambassador.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sarah McKean, Marquesa de Casa Yrujo|url=https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_PA990059|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-21|website=National Portrait Gallery|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021012709/https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_PA990059 |archive-date=October 21, 2021 }}</ref>{{Sfn|Allgor|2006|p=60}} Her charm precipitated a diplomatic crisis, called the [[Merry Affair]], after Jefferson escorted Madison to the dining room instead of the wife of [[Anthony Merry]], English diplomat to the U.S., in a major faux pas.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Abrams|first=Jeanne E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNnaDwAAQBAJ&dq=merry+affair&pg=PT222|title=A View from Abroad: The Story of John and Abigail Adams in Europe|date=2021-02-02|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-1-4798-0289-0|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Dolly madison yale miniature.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Watercolor-on-ivory miniature of Dolley Madison at the [[Yale University Art Gallery]].]]

In the approach to the 1808 presidential election, with Thomas Jefferson ready to retire, the Democratic-Republican caucus nominated James Madison to succeed him. He was elected the fourth President of the United States, serving two terms from 1809 to 1817, and Dolley Madison became the [[First Lady of the United States|official White House hostess]]. She had often been the unofficial hostess at the White House during Jefferson's presidency. The term ''first lady'' was not yet in use, but her role as hostess became official when her husband assumed the presidency.<ref>See [[First Lady of the United States#Origins of the title|Origins of the title "First Lady"]] for further detail.</ref> Madison helped define the official functions, decorated the Executive Mansion, and welcomed visitors in her drawing room. She was renowned for her social graces and hospitality, and contributed to her husband's popularity as president. She was the only First Lady given an honorary seat on the floor of Congress, and the first American to respond to a telegraph message.<ref name="firstladies1">{{cite web |url=http://www.firstladies.org/facinatingfacts.aspx |title=Little-known facts about our First Ladies |publisher=Firstladies.org |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=July 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714000059/http://www.firstladies.org/facinatingfacts.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1812, James was reelected. Later that year, he delivered a war request to Congress, signalling the beginning of the [[War of 1812]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=President Madison's 1812 War Message|url=https://edsitement.neh.gov/curricula/president-madisons-1812-war-message|access-date=2021-10-21|website=edsitement.neh.gov|language=en}}</ref>

=== Burning of Washington (1814) ===
{{main|Burning of Washington}}
The United States declared war in 1812 and invaded British North America in 1813, and a British force attacked Washington in 1814. As it approached and the White House staff prepared to flee, Dolley ordered [[Paul Jennings (slave)|Paul Jennings]], her personal servant, to save the Stuart painting, a copy of the [[Lansdowne portrait]],<ref name="NPSportraitsaved"/> of George Washington. She wrote in a letter to her sister at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of August 23:

<blockquote>Our kind friend Mr. Carroll has come to hasten my departure, and in a very bad humor with me, because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. The process was found too tedious for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas taken out. . . . It is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen from New York for safe keeping. On handing the canvas to the gentlemen in question, Messrs. Barker and Depeyster, Mr. Sioussat cautioned them against rolling it up, saying that it would destroy the portrait. He was moved to this because Mr. Barker started to roll it up for greater convenience for carrying.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nationalcenter.org/WashingtonBurning1814.html|title=Dolly Madison on the Burning of Washington - 1814|website=nationalcenter.org|date=November 3, 2001|access-date=March 9, 2019|archive-date=July 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715002910/https://nationalcenter.org/WashingtonBurning1814.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Dolley Madison's letter to her sister as quoted in {{cite book|first=Gilson|last=Willets|title=Inside History of the White House|url=https://archive.org/details/insidehistorywh00willgoog|year=1908|page=[https://archive.org/details/insidehistorywh00willgoog/page/n226 220]|publisher=New York, The Christian herald}}</ref></blockquote>

Popular accounts during and after the war years portrayed Dolley Madison as the one who removed the painting, and she became a national heroine. An 1865 memoir by Jennings stated that she had ordered him to save the painting, and that [[Jean Pierre Sioussat]] and a gardener, McGraw, were the ones who removed it from the wall.<ref name="reminiscences">{{cite book|title=A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison |last=Jennings |first=Paul |year=1865 |publisher=George C. Beadle |location=Brooklyn, NY |url= http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jennings/jennings.html |pages=12–13 |quote="She (Mrs. Madison) had no time for doing it. It would have required a ladder to get it down. All she carried off was the silver in her reticule, as the British were thought to be but a few squares off, and were expected every moment. John Suse (meaning Jean Sioussat), a Frenchman, then doorkeeper, and still living, and McGraw, the President's gardener, took it down and sent it off on a wagon with some larger silver urns and other such valuables as could be hastily got hold of. When the British did arrive, they ate up the very dinner, and drank the wines, etc., that I had prepared for the President's party."}}</ref><ref name="NPR2009">{{Citation |last=Gura |first=David |date=August 24, 2009 |title=Descendants Of A Slave See The Painting He Saved |journal=The Two-Way: NPR's News Blog |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/08/descendants_of_the_slave_who_s.html |access-date=2010-09-11}}</ref> Early twentieth-century historians noted that Sioussat had directed the servants, many of whom were enslaved people, in the crisis, and that they were the ones who actually preserved the painting.<ref>Review: Gilson Willets, ''Inside History of the White House-the complete history of the domestic and official life in Washington of the nation's presidents and their families,'' ''The Christian Herald'', 1908</ref>

Dolley Madison hurried away in her waiting carriage, along with other families fleeing the city. They went to Georgetown and the next day crossed over the Potomac into Virginia.<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Darcy Spencer |date=August 21, 2016|title= Historic McLean Home Set for Demolition |url= http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Historic-McLean-Home-Set-for-Demolition_Washington-DC-390859091.html|access-date=August 24, 2016 |format=news program |publisher= [[WRC-TV]]}}</ref> When the couple returned to Washington, the White House was uninhabitable and Dolley and James Madison moved into [[The Octagon House]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Octagon of Washington, D.C.: The House that Helped Build a Capital (Teaching with Historic Places) (U.S. National Park Service)|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-octagon-of-washington-d-c-the-house-that-helped-build-a-capital-teaching-with-historic-places.htm|access-date=2021-10-21|website=www.nps.gov|language=en}}</ref>

==At Montpelier (1817–1837)==
[[File:DolleyMadison1817.jpg|thumb|Madison at the end of her tenure as First Lady in 1817.]]
Dolley and James Madison returned to the Montpelier plantation in Orange County, Virginia, on April 6, 1817, a month after his retirement from the presidency.<ref name="Allgor, A Perfect Union p 340">Allgor, ''A Perfect Union'' p. 340</ref>

In 1830, Dolley Madison's son Payne Todd, who had never found a career, went to debtors' prison in Philadelphia, and the Madisons sold land in Kentucky and mortgaged half the Montpelier plantation to pay his debts.<ref>Allgor, ''A Perfect Union'' p. 352</ref>

James Madison died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836. He was 85 years old. Dolley remained at Montpelier for a year. Her niece Anna Payne moved in with her, and Todd came for a lengthy stay. During this time, Madison organized and copied her husband's papers. Congress authorized $55,000 as payment for editing and publishing seven volumes of these papers, including James's notes on the 1787 convention.<ref name="Allgor, A Perfect Union p 340"/>

In the fall of 1837, Dolley returned to Washington, charging Todd with the care of the plantation. She and her sister Anna moved into a house, bought by Anna and her husband [[Richard Cutts]], on [[President's Park#Lafayette Square|Lafayette Square]]. Dolley took Paul Jennings with her as a butler, forcing him to leave his wife and children in Virginia.<ref>Allgor, ''A Perfect Union'' p 380</ref>

==In Washington (1837–1849)==
[[File:Dolley Madison daguerreotype 1846.png|thumb|left|A [[daguerreotype]] of Madison in 1846, by John Plumbe Jr.]]

While Dolley Madison was living in Washington, Payne Todd was unable to manage the plantation due to [[alcoholism]] and related illness. She tried to raise money by selling the rest of the president's papers, but was unable to find a buyer. Jennings attempted to negotiate purchasing his freedom; she had previously written a will in 1841 which would free Jennings after her death, though not her other slaves.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite web|url=http://www.montpelier.org/explore/community/paul_jennings.php |title=Paul Jennings—Enamoured with Freedom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918235037/http://www.montpelier.org/explore/community/paul_jennings.php |publisher=The Montpelier Foundation |website=www.montepelier.org |archive-date=September 18, 2012 |access-date=2015-01-06 }}</ref> She instead sold him to an insurance agent for $200 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=200|start_year=1846}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) in 1846. Six months later, Senator [[Daniel Webster]] intervened to buy him from the new owner and gave Jennings his freedom, for which he repaid the senator in work.<ref name="Taylor"/><ref name="WaPo2009">{{Citation |last=Montgomery |first=David |date=25 August 2009 |title=A Washingtonian Discovers an Ancestor Who Was a Slave in Madison's White House |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/24/AR2009082403212.html |access-date=2010-09-11}}</ref> Madison sold Montpelier, its remaining enslaved people, and the furnishings to pay off outstanding debts. Jennings later recalled in his memoir,

<blockquote>In the last days of her life, before Congress purchased her husband's papers, she was in a state of absolute poverty, and I think sometimes suffered for the necessaries of life. While I was a servant to Mr. Webster, he often sent me to her with a market-basket full of provisions, and told me whenever I saw anything in the house that I thought she was in need of, to take it to her. I often did this, and occasionally gave her small sums from my own pocket, though I had years before bought my freedom of her.<ref>[http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jennings/jennings.html "Paul Jennings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014001023/https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jennings/jennings.html |date=October 14, 2021 }}, Documents of the American South, University of North Carolina</ref></blockquote>

In 1848, Congress agreed to buy the rest of James Madison's papers for the sum of $22,000 or $25,000.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Dolley Madison Project : Overview|url=http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/madison/overview/widow.html#:~:text=Finally,%20in%201848,%20Congress%20agreed,fatally%20ill%20in%20July%201849.|access-date=2021-10-21|website=www2.vcdh.virginia.edu}}</ref>

In 1845, Dolley Madison was baptized into [[St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square (Washington, D.C.)|St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square]] in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grimmett|first=Richard F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qKQKhVMFUAwC&dq=St.+John%27s+Episcopal+Church+dolley+madison+%221842%22&pg=PA172|title=St. John's Church, Lafayette Square: The History and Heritage of the Church of the Presidents, Washington, DC|date=2009|publisher=Hillcrest Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-934248-53-9|language=en}}</ref>

On February 28, 1844, Madison was with President [[John Tyler]] while aboard the [[USS Princeton disaster of 1844|USS ''Princeton'']] when a "Peacemaker" cannon exploded in the process of being fired. While Secretaries of State and Navy [[Abel P. Upshur]] and [[Thomas Walker Gilmer]], Tyler's future father-in-law [[David Gardiner (politician)|David Gardiner]] and three others were killed, Tyler and Madison escaped unharmed.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kelly|first=John|date=2014-10-25|title='Lamentation and unutterable woe': Remembering the 1844 explosion aboard the USS Princeton|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/from-peacemaker-to-widowmaker-remembering-the-uss-princeton-disaster/2014/10/25/2587af18-592e-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29_story.html|access-date=2021-10-21|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

She was photographed on at least two occasions, making her the earliest First Lady to have a surviving photograph, with four [[daguerreotypes]] known to survive as of 2021. Three photographs were taken on July 4, 1848, including one featuring her niece, Anna Payne; the final one was taken in 1849, featuring President [[James Polk]], his wife [[Sarah Polk]], future President [[James Buchanan]] and future First Lady [[Harriet Lane]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.tnmagazine.org/little-known-photo-shows-two-presidents-three-first-ladies/ | title=Little-known photo shows two presidents, three first ladies | date=November 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/1848-photograph-of-dolley-madison | title=1848 photograph of Dolley Madison }}</ref>

Dolley Madison died at her home in Washington in 1849, at the age of 81. She was first buried in the [[Congressional Cemetery]], Washington, D.C., but later was re-interred at Montpelier next to her husband.<ref name=":0">[http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=4 "Dolley Payne Madison"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509065835/http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=4 |date=May 9, 2012 }}, National First Ladies Library</ref> She was buried in an air-tight [[Fisk metallic burial case]] with a glass window plate for viewing the face of the deceased.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/blog/death-burial-and-iron-coffins/ |title=Death, Burial and Iron Coffins |last=Warnasch |first=Scott |work=Secrets of the Dead |publisher=[[PBS]] |date=September 21, 2018 |access-date=June 29, 2021 |archive-date=June 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629154144/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/blog/death-burial-and-iron-coffins/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{-}}

==Honors==
[[File:Dolly MAdison.jpg|thumb|left|Madison (second to right) on the portico of the White House alongside Secretary of State [[James Buchanan]], future First Lady [[Harriet Lane]], president [[James Polk]] and his wife, [[Sarah Polk|Sarah]]. |203x203px]]
During World War II the [[Liberty ship]] {{SS|Dolly Madison}} was built in [[Panama City, Florida]], and named in her honor.<ref>{{cite book
  |last= Williams
  |first= Greg H.
  |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=A5oWBAAAQBAJ
  |title= The Liberty Ships of World War II: A Record of the 2,710 Vessels and Their Builders, Operators and Namesakes, with a History of the Jeremiah O'Brien
  |date= July 25, 2014
  |publisher= McFarland
  |isbn= 978-1476617541
  |access-date= December 7, 2017
  |archive-date= October 14, 2021
  |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211014001019/https://books.google.com/books?id=A5oWBAAAQBAJ
  |url-status= live
  }}</ref>

Madison was a member of the inaugural class of [[Virginia Women in History]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/vawomen/listing.htm?sort=year |title=Virginia Women in History |date=June 30, 2016 |publisher=Lva.virginia.gov |access-date=December 13, 2016 |archive-date=February 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214221951/http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/vawomen/listing.htm?sort=year |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Spelling of her name==
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right
 | headerimage=[[File:Mrs James Madison (Dolley Madison), by Bass Otis.jpg|210px]]
 | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?310726-1/lady-dolley-madison First Lady Dolley Madison], [[C-SPAN]]<ref name="cspan a">{{cite web | title =First Lady Dolley Madison | publisher =[[C-SPAN]] | date =March 11, 2013 | url =https://www.c-span.org/video/?310726-1/lady-dolley-madison | access-date =March 12, 2013 | archive-date =September 18, 2020 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20200918200613/https://www.c-span.org/video/?310726-1%2Flady-dolley-madison | url-status =live }}</ref> }}
In the past, biographers and others stated that her given name was ''Dorothea,'' after her aunt, or ''Dorothy,'' and that ''Dolley'' was a nickname. But her birth was registered with the New Garden Friends Meeting under the name ''Dolley,'' and her will of 1841 states "I, Dolly P. Madison".<ref>"Will of Dolly Payne Todd Madison, February 1, 1841", ''Papers of Notable Virginia Families, MS 2988'', Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville Virginia, United States.</ref> According to manuscript evidence and the scholarship of recent biographers, ''Dollie''<!--Surprise spelling needs confirmation--> appears to have been her given name at birth.<ref>Allgor, 415–16</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Richard N. |last=Cote |title=Strength and Honor: the Life of Dolley Madison |location=Mount Pleasant, SC |publisher=Corinthian Books |year=2005 |pages=36–37 |isbn=1-929175-09-4 }}</ref> Printed publications of her day, however, especially newspapers, tended to spell it ''Dolly'': for example, the ''Hallowell (Maine) Gazette'', February 8, 1815, p.&nbsp;4, notes that Congress had allowed "Madame Dolly Madison" an allowance of $14,000 to purchase new furniture; and the New Bedford<!--?--> (MA) of March 3, 1837, p.&nbsp;2, citing important papers from her late husband, said that "Mrs. Dolly Madison" would be paid by the Senate for these historical manuscripts. Several magazines of that time also used the ''Dolly'' spelling, such as ''[[The Knickerbocker]]'', February 1837, p.&nbsp;165; as did many popular magazines of the 1860s–1890s. She was called "Mistress Dolly" in an essay in ''[[Munsey's Magazine]]'' in 1896.<ref>Virginia Cousins, "Old Virginia Homes," Munsey's Magazine, March 1896, p. 714.</ref> Her grandniece Lucia Beverly Cutts, in her ''Memoirs and letters of Dolly Madison: wife of James Madison, president of the United States'' (1896), uses ''Dolly'' consistently throughout.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qgZAAAAYAAJ |title=Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison: Wife of James Madison, President of . . . - Dolley Madison - Google Books |access-date=September 7, 2016 |last1=Madison |first1=Dolley |year=1896 |archive-date=May 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527164757/https://books.google.com/books?id=5qgZAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Representation in other media==
* [[Cecil B. DeMille]], ''[[The Buccaneer (1938 film)|The Buccaneer]]'', 1938 film, played by [[Spring Byington]]
* Irving Stone, ''[[Magnificent Doll]]'' (1946), film directed by Frank Borzage, Universal Pictures, played by [[Ginger Rogers]]
* [[Rita Mae Brown|Brown, Rita Mae]], ''Dolley: A Novel of Dolley Madison in Love and War'' (New York: Bantam Books, 1994); reprint, Presidential Wives Series (Huntington, NY: Nova History Publications, 2001)

==Legacy==
[[File:1999 Dolley Madison Proof Obv.jpg|thumb|180px|The 1999 [[Dolley Madison silver dollar]]]]
* To commemorate the 150th anniversary of her death, the [[Dolley Madison silver dollar]] was issued by the [[United States Mint|U.S. Mint]] in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dolley Madison Commemorative Silver Dollar &#124; U.S. Mint |url=https://www.usmint.gov/coins/coin-medal-programs/commemorative-coins/dolley-madison-silver |website=United States Mint}}</ref>
* In 2024, the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] obtained a [[daguerreotype]] of Dolley Madison, taken about 1846 by [[John Plumbe|John Plumbe Jr.]], that is the earliest known photograph of any U.S. First Lady.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/09/style/dolley-madison-first-lady-photo-smithsonian-tan/index.html|title=Earliest known photograph of a US First Lady acquired by National Portrait Gallery|first=Torey|last=Akers|date=July 9, 2024|website=CNN}}</ref>
* [[Virginia State Route 123]] is named Dolley Madison Boulevard from [[McLean, Virginia]] to [[George Washington Memorial Parkway]].

==Regard by historians==
Since 1982 [[Siena College Research Institute]] has periodically conducted surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president. Consistently, Madison has ranked among the six-most highly regarded first ladies in these surveys.<ref name="Siena2014">{{cite web |title=Eleanor Roosevelt Retains Top Spot as America's Best First Lady Michelle Obama Enters Study as 5th, Hillary Clinton Drops to 6th Clinton Seen First Lady Most as Presidential Material; Laura Bush, Pat Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman Could Have Done More in Office Eleanor & FDR Top Power Couple; Mary Drags Lincolns Down in the Ratings |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/FirstLadies2014Release_Final.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu |publisher=Siena Research Institute |access-date=16 May 2022 |date=February 15, 2014}}</ref> In terms of cumulative assessment, Madison has been ranked:
*4th-best of 42 in 1982<ref name="Siena2014"/>
*4th-best of 37 in 1993<ref name="Siena2014"/>
*3rd-best of 38 in 2003<ref name="Siena2014"/>
*6th-best of 38 in 2008<ref name="Siena2014"/>
*4th-best of 39 in 2014<ref name="Siena2014"/>
*5th-best of 40 in 2020<ref name="Siena2020results">{{cite web |title=Copy of FirstLadies_Full Rankings_working_dl_2.xls |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/First-Ladies-Full-Rankings-2020.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu |publisher=Siena Research Institute |access-date=March 11, 2025 |date=2020}}</ref>

In the 2008 Siena Research Institute survey, Madison was ranked in the top-four of all criteria, ranking the 4th-highest in value to the country and 5th-highest in public image.<ref name="2008Siena">{{cite web |title=Ranking America's First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt Still #1 Abigail Adams Regains 2nd Place Hillary moves from 5 th to 4 th; Jackie Kennedy from 4th to 3rd Mary Todd Lincoln Remains in 36th |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/FL_2008Release.pdf |publisher=Siena Research Institute |access-date=16 May 2022 |date=December 18, 2008}}</ref> In the 2014 survey, Madison and her husband were ranked the 4th-highest out of 39 first couples in terms of being a "power couple".<ref>{{cite web |title=2014 Power Couple Score |url=https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Appendix_C_Power_Couples.pdf |website=scri.siena.edu/ |publisher=Siena Research Institute/C-SPAN Study of the First Ladies of the United States |access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref>

==References==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}{{Reflist}}b. Dolley Madison was born in [https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/250500?ln=en&v=uv#?xywh=2815%2C1845%2C4386%2C2544&cv=9 Paines Tavern, Person County, North Carolina.]

===Cited books===
* {{cite book |last=Côté |first=Richard N. |title=Strength And Honor: The Life Of Dolley Madison |location=Mt. Pleasant, S.C. |publisher=Corinthian Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-929175-20-8}}
* {{cite book | title=Dolley Madison: First Lady | publisher=[[Capstone Press]] | last1=Witteman|
first1=Barbara | year=2003 | location=[[Mankato, Minnesota|Mankato]] | edition=illustrated | isbn=0-7368-1551-1 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/dolleymadisonfir0000witt }}

==Further reading==
{{See also|Bibliography of United States presidential spouses and first ladies}}
* {{cite book |last=Allgor |first=Catherine |title=Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government |location=Charlottesville |publisher=University Press of Virginia |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8139-2118-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/parlorpoliticsin00allg }}
* {{cite book |last=Allgor |first=Catherine |title=A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation |location=New York |publisher=Henry Holt |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8050-7327-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Arnett |first=Ethel Stephens |title=Mrs. James Madison: The Incomparable Dolley |location=Greensboro, N.C. |publisher=Piedmont Press |year=1972 |asin=B000OSWCC2 |oclc=564094038}}
* {{cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Maud Wilder |title=Dolly Madison |year=1896 }}
* {{cite book |last=Howard |first=Hugh. |title=Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War: America's First Couple and the Second War of Independence |publisher=Bloomsbury Press |year=2012 |isbn=9781608190713 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mrmrsmadisonswar0000howa }} and [https://web.archive.org/web/20130723150449/http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/Home/hugh-howard.aspx Author Webcast Interview]
* {{cite book | title=A Genealogy of the Wives of the American Presidents and Their First Two Generations of Descent | publisher=[[McFarland Publishing]] | edition=illustrated | author=Hart, Craig | year=2004 | location=[[Jefferson, North Carolina|Jefferson]] | isbn=978-0-7864-1956-2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.montpelier.org/ James Madison's Montpelier] – Official site of the Madison family estate in Virginia.
* [https://www.montpelier.org/learn/dolley-madison-becoming-americas-first-lady/ Dolley Madison: Becoming America's First Lady] – Historical overview from Montpelier's education center.
* [http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jennings/jennings.html A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison.] by Paul Jennings
* [http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/madison/ The Dolley Madison Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722130130/http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/madison/ |date=July 22, 2016 }} – The life, legacy, and letters of Dolley Payne Madison
* [http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/dmde/ The Dolley Madison Digital Edition] – The online correspondence of Dolley Payne Madison
* [http://www.familytales.org/results.php?tla=dol Dolley Madison Letters] – Digitized collection of letters from Dolley Madison
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/dolley/ ''Dolley Madison''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215193547/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/dolley/ |date=February 15, 2010 }} – PBS [[American Experience]] documentary
* {{YouTube|QdMtziloE7k|American Artifacts: Congressional Cemetery}}, American History TV, CSPAN3, accessed April 16, 2012.
* [http://firstladies.c-span.org/FirstLady/5/Dolley-Madison.aspx Dolley Madison] at [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[First Ladies: Influence & Image]]''
* [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.MADISONJD Guide to the James Madison and Dolley Madison Collection 1780-1848] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center]

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{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Martha Jefferson Randolph|Martha Randolph]]<br /><small>Acting</small>}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[First Lady of the United States]]|years=1809–1817}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Elizabeth Monroe]]}}
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{{US First Ladies}}
{{James Madison}}
{{Virginia Women in History|2000–2009}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|United States}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madison, Dolley}}
[[Category:1768 births]]
[[Category:1849 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Quakers]]
[[Category:18th-century American women]]
[[Category:19th-century American women]]
[[Category:19th-century Quakers]]
[[Category:American people of the War of 1812]]
[[Category:American Quakers]]
[[Category:Women slave owners]]
[[Category:First ladies of the United States]]
[[Category:Madison family|Dolley]]
[[Category:Quaker slave owners]]
[[Category:People from Guilford County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:People from Orange County, Virginia]]
[[Category:People from colonial North Carolina]]
[[Category:Spouses of Virginia politicians]]
[[Category:Slave owners from North Carolina]]
[[Category:Slave owners from Virginia]]