the portrait we have here is a gilbert stuart portrait in 1804. by 1811, he has concluded that great britain will not stop its interference in our trade and will not stop impressing our sailors until great as an -- britain defeats napoleon. that under this trash or he will change his view about the desirability of war and ask congress for a declaration of war. this section is a lot different than many others in the exhibit area right away there is the lightness over this area. this is dolly madison, by gilbert stuart, and is really special. dolly was very important during this era because she was the social center of washington. on wednesday nights, every week she would have a reception at the white house. they became popularly known as squeezes, because so many people would show up to these receptions. anyone was invited. anyone was welcome. many of the madisons' political enemies would come to dolly's reception because it was a politically neutral territory. the medicines were great levers in if you knew someone on a personal level and became fr

gilbert stuart made a spelling mistake. [laughter] extraordinary. when the british arrived on capitol hill, they were confronted by the buildings of the senate and house linked by a 100-foot covered wooden walkway. as they entered, they expected to find signs of duplicity. instead they found evidence of monarchal splendor. i go into detail of what the building was like because it was not a normal building. it was like the great cathedrals in medieval europe built with a lot of money by the finest artists. they wanted to glorify something. so it was with the u.s. capitol. it represented the hopes of the u.s. republic. when restored, it would represent the resilience and unity. of course, a beacon of democracy. they saw this. they had created a colossus of formidable beauty. it could compare with any of its counterparts in europe. there were no sculptors of note in america. so you went to the land of michelangelo and da vinci. when he found two worthy tuscans, he hired them. they began to sculpt the columns. he was so exasperated with the slow pace th

gilbert stuart's portrait, life-sized.it had already taken on something of an iconic status in the united states. president washington had been dead for about 15 years at this point. already, visitors would often come to look at this portrait of the first president. dolly madison grasped at once that to allow the portrait to fall into british hands would be adding insult to injury. and so she instructs several servants, including the medicines how slaves -- house slave and gardener to get the portrait down off the wall. this proves to be quite different -- difficult. dolly madison also left at this point, being urged by some citizens and others who were saying she was in great danger and needed to leave immediately. she takes some of the silver and other belongings with her, and gets in the carriage and rides up to georgetown, leaving jennings and some of the other servants to get the portrait down. they finally managed to do it with the help of a hatchet. the portrait would then be saved by several businessmen from new yo