Dolley Madison can not only be remembered as the wife of James Madison; however she was also one of the most extraordinarily influential and gifted women of her time.  She single-highhandedly laid the groundwork for all future First Ladies to come.  Dolly was the primary First Lady to set a template for the role a first lady should embrace; in helping to establish American political traditions and maintain them through the hardships of the War of 1812.  Dolley Payne Madison was the first of 8 children born on May 20, 1768 in the Quaker settlement of New Garden, North Carolina.  In 1768, Dolley and her family moved to Virginia to be near Dolley’s maternal side of the family.  For a number of years, Dolley and her siblings grew up on their parent’s plantation outside eastern Virginia.  It wasn’t until 1783, following the American Revolution that tensions at the plantation began to rise.  Even though her father, John Payne owned slaves, his Quaker faith preached against the practice.  A short while later John decided to finally emancipate his slaves.   At which point, he immediately abandoned the plantation, moved his family to Philadelphia, and went into business as a starch merchant.  Dolly’s father passed shortly thereafter in 1792 and her mother moved back to Virginia to live with her daughter, Lucy who had married a nephew of George Washington.

Dolley’s next step along her great adventure began in January 1790 when she married John Todd, a Quaker lawyer in Philadelphia. Their courtship was quick with a wedding and two sons, John and William following close behind.  When her mother left Philadelphia in 1793, Dolley's sister, Anna Payne moved in with the Todd’s to help with the children.  In August 1793, a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Philadelphia killing more than 4,000 people over the spring and summer months.  Sadly, by mid-September, thousands had fled the city except for Dolley.  She stayed behind to care for her husband, John and son, William.  Unfortunately, they contracted the virus and sadly died soon after of yellow fever within hours of one another.  She was a widow by the age of 25, with her young son John to support.  At this point, Philadelphia had just become the capital city.  It wasn’t long before Dolley caught the attention of many men, including James Madison, who was 17 years her senior.   Her charm combined with the most striking blue eyes, fair skin, and black curls, not to mention her pure desire to please was an instant attention grabber.  James Madison didn’t waste any time, even though they had a few differences in background, they were married within months of meeting on September 15, 1794.  Dolly was so in love with James she even relinquished her religious identity to marry him since he wasn’t a Quaker. 

For the next three years they remained in Philadelphia.  However, by 1797 Madison decided it was time to retire from politics after eight years of serving in the House of Representatives.  He packed up his family and returned to his plantation in Montpelier, Virginia.  By 1800, his passion was reignited when Thomas Jefferson was elected as the third president of the United States, selecting Madison to serve as his right hand man and secretary of state.  Dolley Madison made her presence known in Washington from the moment of her arrival.  Since Thomas Jefferson was a widower, he regularly called upon the elegant and vivacious Dolley to serve as his first lady at official functions.  Furthermore, she was chief contributor to the development and decoration of the White House.  With Dolley by his side, in 1808, the Democratic-Republican caucus nominated James Madison to succeed Jefferson.  Madison won two terms in office, serving from 1809 through 1817.  In 1817, James Madison retired from politics for good.  He and Dolley returned to their Montpelier plantation in Virginia where they remained until James Madison’s death on June 28, 1836.  Dolley’s financial situation took a turn for the worse due to the exploits of her son, John.  In 1830, John went to debtors’ prison in Philadelphia causing Dolley to sell land and even mortgage half of the Montpelier plantation in order to pay his debts.  The year following James Madison’s death, Dolley organized and copied her husband’s papers.  Congress generously authorized $55,000 as payment for her work in editing and publishing seven volumes of those collected papers.  By mid fall of 1837, close to a year after her husband’s death, Dolley decided to return to Washington, moving into a house on Lafayette Square.  She hesitantly left John in charge of the remaining portion of Montpelier; however it quickly became evident that his alcoholism rendered him incapable of maintaining the plantation properly.  In attempt to support her and John, she tried to sell the second half of James Madison’s papers, but when unable to find a buyer sold the remainder of Montpelier plantation and its slaves.  Dolley Madison died peacefully at her home in Washington on July 12, 1849 at the age of 81.  She was initially buried at the Congressional Cemetery, however she was later was re-interred at Montpelier, where she now rests next to her husband.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had a life-long friendship which they were able to keep private from their very intense public rivalry that almost tore it all apart.  It all began at the Second Continental Congress in 1775, when John Adams came up with a proposal to draft a resolution on the unified effort for American Independence.  Simply inspired and in awe of the powerful essays Thomas Jefferson wrote, John Adams then nominated Jefferson to lead the effort in writing the Declaration of Independence.  Although their duties during the war effort were distant and unrelated, the two Founding Fathers continued to maintain a friendship and write numerous letters back and forth to one another for many years.  Their discussions encompassed everything including events and ideas of future plans for the American government.  Additionally, discussions even included topics such as the passing of Jefferson’s wife.  In fact, their bond was so strong that in 1782 Adam’s and his wife visited Jefferson at his home to console him.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were two exceptionally influential leaders of the factionalism party during the first term of government under the U.S. Constitution.  At this time, Adams had been elected as the first Vice President after placing second to George Washington in the nation's first presidential election.  Meanwhile in 1792, Jefferson joined James Madison in forming an anti-administration party that would later become known as the Democratic-Republicans.

Tensions between the men hit an all time high during the election of 1796.  This was the election that caused a battle between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams that came down to a very narrow victory of only a 3 vote margin.  Due to the original laws for a presidential election, the runner up became Vice President.  This meant for another term, Jefferson was a member of a government that he publicly opposed.  Their rivalry was so intense in 1800, when Jefferson defeated Adams to become the third President, that Adams left the Capital City on Jefferson’s inauguration day.  Adams was so begrudged by his loss on his way out of office he appointed a number of Jefferson's political opponents to high positions.  

The friendship between Adams and Jefferson reached its lowest point during Jefferson’s two terms as President, however was slowly restored after they had both retired from politics.  Ironically, on July 4th, 1826, fifty years after the Declaration of Independence was published, both Jefferson and Adams died.  It has been reported that one of Adams' last statements was, "Thomas Jefferson survives," as news of his old rival’s death that morning was yet to reach him.  Was their rivalry friendship one based on fate, coincidence, or something beyond our comprehension?