AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

DOLLEY MADISON

MONDAY, MARCH 27 @ 7:00PM & 10:PM

Dolley Madison lived through the two wars that established the U.S., was friends with the first 12 Presidents, and watched America evolve from a struggling young republic to the first modern democracy in the world. She was nicknamed Queen Dolley, and when she died in 1849 at the age of 81, one of the last remaining members of the founding generation, Washington City honored her with the largest state funeral the capital had ever seen for a woman.

Born prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Dolley Payne grew up during a time when the country was striving to develop an identity. The daughter of strict Quaker parents, Dolley showed an early interest in contemporary dress and gossip, what her friends considered the evil temptations of the material world. Growing up in the capital city of Philadelphia presented many social opportunities for Dolley, but she acquiesced to her father’s wishes that she marry a young Quaker lawyer, John Todd. After only three years of marriage, though, Dolley’s husband died of Yellow Fever in an epidemic that also claimed her youngest son. Widowed and a single parent, she soon met U.S. Congressional Representative James Madison. Four months later, the couple married.
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