president james madison and first lady dolly madison fled the city. next, andrew burstein and nancy isenberg, co-authors of "madison and jefferson." a symposium hosted by the u.s. capital historical society and james madison's montpelier. this is about hour. we'll go over for our reception at the cater house and historic parlors. our last speakers are andrew burstein, who is the charles professor of history at louisiana state university, and he's the author of the books "the inner jefferson," "jefferson's secrets," "lincoln dreamt he died," history of the american dream, and he's also co-author with nancy isenberg, our second speaker, will be co-presenting, of "madison and jefferson." and andrew asked me it tell you about his new book that is coming out on jefferson's birthday next year, april 13th, 2015 called democracy's muse, how thomas jefferson became an fdr liberal. description of the white house historian. but anyway, and with him is nancy isenberg, who is also distinguished professor at louisiana state university. she's the author of two prize

this is an idea that jefferson and madison both got from pang. madison argued that the u.s. congress was granted a institutional power to charter corporations such as a national bank. that's what he argued in 1791 but it wasn't true. madison was not being entirely forthcoming but advancing this argument in the closed debates at the constitutional convention he had favored chartering a national university but he had change bd by 1791. he didn't get what he wanted t hamilton got his bank.st madison's part isson credentials onlycomi enlarged as the tryinge decade of the 1790s war on.parts one of the things we discoveredf is that t the party was first identified more with madison than jefferson because he was the active player in congress and was much more out in the open. the first two st organized political partiesäjÑ3t federalists andie democratic republican and as they took shape, this is also a period po where wed see some of the most e interesting writings by madison as a legislature. he developed strong positions and wrote pieces such as a candidate state of parties who e

now, the negotiations between monroe and madison confirmed madison's suspicions. not only did the british have no intention of changing their policies, they also announced effectively that they would continue with these policies for as long as it took for them to end poland's domination of europe. this is 1811, remember. and in 1811, nobody was predicting that napoleon bonaparte would be gone from the national scene by 1813. in 1811, no one was counting on napoleon going away any time soon. in response to that situation, madison called the congress into a 12:30 session. his reason for doing so was that he had decided that he now had no other option to prepare for a war against great britain. again, he took this decision weeks and weeks before the 12th congress met in washington, before congressmen knew what policies they might have to pass. so how can we say that the faction of warhawks forced madison into a war that he did not want? quite simply, we cannot say that and we should not say it. it's one of these myths that's very hard to kill off, but it's simply not

it was madison who constructed the embargo. that really has madison's hands all over it. americans lost honor, was part of the diplomatic stalemate that madison inherited, as well as the itch to subvert british and canada was another. now, if we look at canada, and one of the things we argue is that the war of 1812 is two wars if not more in terms of the agendas it takes on. the project of taking canada really is a filibuster masquerading as a national war. what we tend to forget about our history is that filibustering was the national past time in the 19th century. there are numerous attempts to, you know, engage in either sparking revolution, in canada, in latin america, this was not a sort of one time event. it defined america because america in the 19th century was about getting their hands on land. as much land as possible. it is the most important principle of the 19th century. think about texas. texas independence, it was not a revolution of independence. it had outside americans as private armies that went into texas to help facilitate what happened there. in the

this is an idea that jefferson and madison both got from pang. madison argued that the u.s. congress was granted a institutional power to charter corporations such as a national bank. that's what he argued in 1791 but it wasn't true. madison was not being entirely forthcoming but advancing this argument in the closed debates at the constitutional convention he had favored chartering a national university but he had change bd by 1791. he didn't get what he wanted t hamilton got his bank.st madison's part isson credentials onlycomi enlarged as the tryinge decade of the 1790s war on.parts one of the things we discoveredf is that t the party was first identified more with madison than jefferson because he was the active player in congress and was much more out in the open. the first two st organized political partiesäjÑ3t federalists andie democratic republican and as they took shape, this is also a period po where wed see some of the most e interesting writings by madison as a legislature. he developed strong positions and wrote pieces such as a candidate state of parties who e

that was james madison. he has edmund randolph introduce the virginia plan, the first debate of the constitutional convention. the basic framework for our government today. and two branches of the legislature, and the judiciary. all the characteristics and powers we associate with the national power today. there are serious fights. both sides nearly walk at different points. the biggest issue is one of her presentation -- one of representation print every state had one vote. could send a bigger delegation. 700,000 people. delaware has less than 50. the virginians didn't understand why someone in delaware had it right to so much more representation. those are the big problems. the smaller states will not yield on this point. it is a question of yielding to them and a spirit of commendation. did agree the house of representatives will be based on population and the senate will be based on equal representation among the states. from philadelphia comes the constitution. history books tend to gloss over this and

so madison had to learn on the job. in delivering the second inaugural address in march 1813, in the midst of the war, which the government was then struggling to fund, he sang a different tune. now if you listen to his language, he was referring to the rapid development of our national faculties in support of unavoidable war. when the public voice called for war, he reminded, all new and still know that the effort had to be paid for which required the patriotism, the good sense, and the manly spirit, can't get anywhere without manly spirit. the manly spirit of our fellow citizens in bearing each his share of the common burden. he said to render the war short and its success sure, animate it and systematic exertions alone are necessary. precisely one year earlier, treasury secretary galatin had informed the president we have hardly enough money to last until the end of the month. future military operations would be threatened. when republicans in congress rejected madison's proposal for direct taxes, galatin sought priv

president james madison and first lady dolly madison fled the city. next, highlights from a symposium looking back and what was known as mr.madison''s war. the white house historical association and james madison's montpelier cohosted this event. >> our next speaker will be talking about dolly madison and the british invasion of washington, d.c., in the war of 1812. we have heard some things about dolly madison's role. now we'll hear more from holly shulman, a former editor of the dolley madison papers. pers.dited a group of p a dr. shulman continued to publish dolly madison papers which she has grants from the historic preservation and records commission of the national archives. please welcome holly shulman. [ applause ] >> those of you who are interested in the full papers of dolly payne todd madison, what i do now is as complete as possible edition of the dolly madison papers in the dolly madison edition. like the book, it's published by the university press. unlike the book is published by their electronic imprint, the name which is rotunda. if y

president james madison and first lady dolly madison fled the city. next on american history tv, catherine our gore, author of a perfect union, dolly madison and the creation of the american nation. she discusses mrs. madison as a symbol of american victory. she spoke at a symposium hosted by the society. this is about 40 minutes. >>> welcome back, everybody. america under fire, mr. madison's war and the burning of washington city. for those of you who may be just joining us, if have you one of these little devices, make sure it is turned off or in the silent mode, that would be fantastic. so i have the pleasure now of introducing dr. katherine algore. she is going to tackle james madison's other half and some of us might say his better half, dolly madison. katherine has written several very important books on dolly, including a perfect union. dolly madison and the creation of the american nation. and most recently she annotated and edited and important memoir written by dolly madison's niece. katherine is the director of education at huntington libra

now, the negotiations between monroe and madison confirmed madison's suspicions. not only did the british have no intention of changing their policies, they also announced effectively that they would continue with these policies for as long as it took for them to end poland's domination of europe. this is 1811, remember. and in 1811, nobody was predicting that napoleon bonaparte would be gone from the national scene by 1813. in 1811, no one was counting on napoleon going away any time soon. in response to that situation, madison called the congress into a 12:30 session. his reason for doing so was that he had decided that he now had no other option to prepare for a war against great britain. again, he took this decision weeks and weeks before the 12th congress met in washington, before congressmen knew what policies they might have to pass. so how can we say that the faction of warhawks forced madison into a war that he did not want? quite simply, we cannot say that and we should not say it. it's one of these myths that's very hard to kill off, but it's simply not

so i have to say -- of course, madison is famous so dolly madison when she meets james madison, she'sn the capital of the united states at that point, in philadelphia. and congress is there. and she has heard of what she called the great little madison. i have to say that -- i just have to acknowledge you as the biographer of madison, but also the savior of many of dolly's papers. so when ralph ketchum was doing his wonderful biography of madison, he would note where he saw a dolly paper here and there. people keep women's papers differently than they keep men's. so it was really wonderful to have. one of the papers that came up that exists now only in microfilm -- thanks to you -- is a version of the memoir written by dolly's niece, mary cutts. use the "memoir" this way because most of the stuff in the memoir happens before she's even born. we kind of think it as the close est auto biographical information we have. it refers to that. >> you're standing there. >> i'm by the mic. >> you are. >> dolly is first lady for eight years during madison's administration. >> yes. >> jefferson is

so i have to say -- of course, madison is famous so dolly madison when she meets james madison, she'sn the capital of the united states at that point, in philadelphia. and congress is there. and she has heard of what she called the great little madison. i have to say that -- i just have to acknowledge you as the biographer of madison, but also the savior of many of dolly's papers. so when ralph ketchum was doing his wonderful biography of madison, he would note where he saw a dolly paper here and there. people keep women he's papers differently than they keep men's. so it was really wonderful to have. one of the papers that came up that exists now only in mic microfilm -- thanks to you -- is a version of the memoir written by dolly's niece, mary cutts. use the "memoir" this way because most of the stuff in the memoir happens before she's even born. we kind of think it as the closestclose est automatic auto biographical information we have. >> dolly is first lady for eight years during madison's administration. >> yes. >> jefferson is a widower in the previous eight years. and james mo

it's president madison itself. now, madison continued to try and shake policy throughout the war of 1812. admittedly, the answer is a rather mixed one. now, rather the senate administration supports in the senate could often be out renewed with antiadministration governments. the result was that the administration did not get what it wanted or it didn't get it in a sufficiently, timely manner. this could be demonstrated in a number of ways. i'll give an example. one is the decision to expand the size of the american army in the first six months of 1812. the other example is all the debates over how you financed the war in the second half of 1814. when the war is going extremely badly with the united states. to put it simply, the expanded army was a bureaucratic nightmare. that the war department never got full control over. nobody in this room should tell congress this. we do not want to encourage bad behavior on the part of the national legislators any time in the near future. but that's what did happen towards th

when jefferson was urging madison to do so.and jefferson took few actions as president without first profiting from madison's advice. and this is what we keep stressing. that madison's theories about the constitution, theories about a government, evolved due to the other experiences that he had, in the legislature, in the cabinet, as president. and in fact what we -- when we look at madison's thinking, he was someone who liked to solve real world problems. and sometimes a very more gradual manner than people would like, but a practical manner. he was much more willing to change gears than someone like jefferson was. and this in a sense is a good thing, he was adaptable. the other thing that we tend to forget about is that madison's style was very different. we, today, think that great president has to show his leadership and pretend he's a big man. well, madison was not. but that was actually very soothing to a lot of people in 1814. they saw him as exercising influence without outward ambition. as a legislator, he saw in follo

, what i do now is as complete as possible edition of the dolly madison papers in the dolly madison edition. like the book, it's published by the university press. unlike the book is published by their electronic imprint, the name which is rotunda. if you go and you take a look at it, i hope you enjoy it. do you want me to do -- oh, okay. having said that, i want to thank, of course, as everyone speaking as thanked, the three organization that is have sponsored this and thank them for putting on a conference which is so beautifully focused so the papers can talk to each other in a way that doesn't happen at conferences. i would like to thank kathryn al gore who is over there for introducing a more general view of dolly madison. what i'm going to do today is talk about dolly, not the burning of the white house, but her saving of the portrait of george washington. that really is the topic of my -- it's narrow, but the question then is, what could we learn from it. there was a famous biologist at harvard who once gave an image of looking, from a distance, at a fence, which had a knot hole in i

madison's role as commander in chief.in other words, we can have carried the process on endlessly, add qualification after qualification to the judgment with the excess qualifications. now, two verdicts might be reached in this point. one is to throw out their hands in despair and say with the problems of waging a successful war after 1812 were so difficult. the real error madeson made was to have gone to war at all. the nation was in no condition to be waging war. now you might say this is true enough. seem to back up with judgment. how it is simply put, that would have left mad son with no solution to the problems the nation was facing as he understood them in the year 1811. that's the year he was making critical decisions. the other point we might make is we lack appropriate yardsticks to measure madison's performance at this point in the nation's history. today, all models for success in a presidency draw heavily on the presidencys of abraham lincoln and franklin roosevelt. but americans near the 19th century lacked r

that was held against madison by ag.you looked at these rankings of presidents, in order of their greatness, exercises which american historians love to carry out, you'd find that madison was alwaysdeyw in the bm half of the class. now admittedly he wasn't right down there with people like ulysses grant or james bucannon, but he was not thought of very highly. slightly infuriated mediocrity. strange things have happened since then, madison's reputation as president has been rising. if you look at current presidential pn see that madison -- weave had 44 presidents to date. not way down there. and recently i saw a poll that said that madison was number six. now i'm not quite sure how to explain this.rçqcaúo cf1 o i'm just going to ask you to take my word for it at the moment, such a poll does exist. but i do want to say something about how we might explain this. and i say this, cat, without soft reference orl;vÑ flattery. i think it does owe something to the appearance of modern founding father's additions in the second ha

madison made a death sentence. howell argued in his defense that he had good reasons for his decision. basically he did not trust his army to do the job. he assumed that they would fail in advance, and if he said that he had tried to invade canada and failed and the british had counterattacked, the result woofb would have been a massacre of all the women and children. madison was not very sympathetic towards howell when he fought back about this. it was in 1927. and howell since -- madison had not been very sympathetic toward howell. he said his experience should have led him to take greater risks for a victory. then he wrote, and i quote, what contrast would be success at the outset of the war? they would have seized canada and hastened to drown the armies at the points below that's going toward the atlantic ocean. the point of command for lake erie to have fallen with us would be neutral or submissive, the general will of the country would have been killed into enthusiasm and enlistments would have been accelerat

president james madison and first lady dolley madison fled the city. historiansouse discuss tonight. discusses the portrait of george washington, saved by dolley madison. house historical historical society hosted the event. >> we have presentations from two good friends of the white -- white house historical association. allman has literally held in his hand the history of the white house since joining the white house curator's office 38 years ago. for the past 12 years, mr. allman has led that very important office as white house curator. this is one of the best jobs there is, to care for one of the most historic and stored elections in the world. the office of the curator is charged with the preservation and study of the collection of art, furniture, and decorative objects used to furnish both the public and private rooms of the white house. as an official residence and an accredited historic house-museum , a house that has been home and office 243 presidents of the united states. friend to is a vital the white house historical association and we we

that was held against madison by ag.ou looked at these rankings of presidents, in order of their greatness, exercises which american historians love to carry out, you'd find that madison was alwaysdeyw in the bm half of the class. now admittedly he wasn't right down there with people like ulysses grant or james bucannon, but he was not thought of very highly. slightly infuriated mediocrity. strange things have happened since then, madison's reputation as president has been rising. if you look at current presidential pn see that madison -- weave had 44 presidents to date. not way down there. and recently i saw a poll that said that madison was number six. now i'm not quite sure how to explain this.rçqcaúo cf1 o i'm just going to ask you to take my word for it at the moment, such a poll does exist. but i do want to say something about how we might explain this. and i say this, cat, without soft reference orl;vÑ flattery. i think it does owe something to the appearance of modern founding father's additions in the second hal

james madison and dolley madison fled the city. discuss thats night. allman describes the saving of the portrait and william seale describes the events leading up to the burning itself. this is a 30-minute event. >> william allman has served our country and joined the white house curator's office 38 years ago. for the past 12 years, mr. allman has led that very important office is white house curator. this is one of the best jobs there is. to care for one of the most historic and storied collections in the world. the curator is charged with the preservation and study of the collection of art, furniture, and decorative objects used to furnish both the public and private rooms of the white house. as an official residence and accredited historic house museum, i house that has been home and office to 43 presidents of the united states. mr. allman is a vital friend to the white house historical association and we welcome him tonight to share the history of a very significant happening with the white house collection. following mr. allman, we will hear from

but i did find some documentary evidence that it is not in madison's papers that madison let it be knowno it. the source of that is not madison himself but it can be m >> where would you say are the most serious kargts of the war of 1812? >> what were the most serious casualties in the war of 1812? well, i suppose we should say casualty in any war is the loss of life. so how many americans were killed in the war of 1812?war this is rather difficult to calculate. nobody sort of kept precise ca figures on this sort of thing. the estimate that's given is that aboutst 2.5 thousand americans who served in the regular army were killed or died of wounds. in other words they died as a direct result of combat in the t war. i did some calculations, and i . found that in fact, about 10% o more of the army died of more o disease, sickness, and other causes that are not directly related to the battle.at are n they were simply a product of as very unhealthy nature of military camps, the inability op army commanders to provide decent sanitation, which disease, if it got into an army camp could go throu

we learned something about dolley madison.she wanted to be known as the savior of george washington's portrait. she wanted to be honored for bravery and courage in war. most important, she felt the single anecdote could save her husband's reputation on the day the british raised the white house. when she sent a letter to margaret smith and confirmed that version in the 1840s, she not only promoted her own image, but did what a wife should do to create the best possible public relations for her husband on a disastrous day in american history. now, let me adhere, what i haven't included here and didn't have time and space to include are the negative things said about the modson's at the time. so, as a backdrop to dolley's determination to put the best face forward, we also must remember she was doing this with this, if you will, this background for her that she had been criticized and her husband had been criticized. it's not that she had ego, she did. but she was a loyal champion of her husband. she would have gone out of her w

so i have to say -- yes, of course madison is famous, so dolly madison, when she meets james madison,she's in the capitol of the yielts at that point, in philadelphia, and congress is there. and she has heard of what she called the great little madison. i have to say that, i just have to acknowledge you as the buyinger in of madison but the savior of many of dolly's perps. when he was doing his buying if i, he would note where he saw it and people keep women's parms differently than mens. so it was wonderful to have. some one of the papers that came up, that exists now only in microfilm, thanks to you, is a version of the memoir written by dolly's niece mary cuts, and i use the memoir this way because most of the stuff in the memoir happens before she's born. so we think it as the closest autoboy graphical voice to dolly that we have. and that's the source of the great little madison. yes. so he's definitely famous, yes. sir, you're standing there, good for you. >> i'm by the mike. >> you are. >> dolly is first lady for eight years during madison's administration. >> yes. >> jefferson

the british are just arriving as madison gets there, and madison actually rides across the bridge into bladensburg before being told by a scout who was up front that, mr. madison, the british are in bladensburg, and madison and his attorney general richard rush turn around and head back to american lines where they're observing the battle. once the fight starts out, madison is initially encouraged by the first resistance that the militia is showing. the british when they start firing rockets actually fire one that goes right over the head of madison and the rest of his cabinet officers. it sailed high harmlessly, but madison at this point becomes the first american president to come under fire on a battlefi d battlefield. madison moved back at that point to a somewhat safer distance. in the meantime, the american lines are starting to collapse as the british start crossing the river in force. some of using the bridge. others are wading across the water, and pretty soon they have enough of a force that the second line of militia defense is collapsing. one of the problems the americans a

the source of that is not madison himself, but it can be madison himself, but it can be documented on the period. captioning performed by vitac >>> what are the most seniors casualties in the war of 1812? well, i suppose we should say off the bat, the most serious casualty in any war is the loss of life. so how many americans were killed in the war of 1812? this is rather difficult to calculate. nobody sort of kept precise figures on this sort of things. the usual list is giving about 2 1/2 thousand americans who served in the regular army were killed or by their wounds. in other words, they died as a direct result of combat in the war. i did some calculations, and i found that in fact about 10% more of the army died of disease, sickness, and other causes that are not directly related to battle. they were simply a product of the very unhealthy nature of military camps, the inability to provide decent sanitation, these sorts of things, which diseases, if they got into an arm camp, they could go through and take a very heavy toll on life substantially more men died as a result of diseas

okay, madison was not outwardly heroic.ainting of him presents vigorous forward sharps eyed talent.en his wife doted on him because he invited it. he thought of himself as a man of infirmitiesi. little madison, as he was widely known and little gemmy as his a detractors often called him wasd a small narrowly formed man, buh careful examination of all he did over decades brings out abundant evidence that er dec contradicts the standard measure of the man.adntradict madison, we have discovered, was a man for all seasons and those who knew him best knew that theh greatly enjoyed his raunchy sense of humor. he never practiced law.he no one ever thinks about that. to his mind, the philadelphia i convention of 1787 from which his modern fame springs, was not what he argued for. it wasn't the miracle that asn't everyone claims because he wasn't satisfied.wa his preference had been for a sd bicameral legislature where virginia was accorded as the ao largest and most popular state was accorded the greatest numbet of representatives

madison, the guy was a great statesman. but he was really more comfortable crafting legal treatises on international law, upholding our position on neutral rights. and you look at those documents he produced between 1801 and 1809 as jefferson's secretary of state. these are wonderful works of legal scholarship. but i don't think he was particularly well suited to be a commander in chief in time of war. he just -- and the republicans, you look at what they were saying, they're saying, oh, this guy, he's too nice of a guy. he's too mild-mannered. that was a fairly commonly said by republicans privately to one another. you can see it in their correspondence. >> [ inaudible ], that they have a special place in their heart for james madison because he founded the united states marines. i hadn't heard that before. he said we've always been in charge of the ceremonies, and we always hope we will be. and he said he was our founder. >> that's news to me. we've got to have a marine here who knows who is responsible for the legislatio

madison and most of the cabinet had come there as well, and madison had ridden by horse there to mostlye sure his secretary of war, john armstrong, would give general winder the support he needed. ma madison almost runs into fighting lines. the1 bv british arrive as madis gets there, and he rides across the bridge before being told by a scout who was up front that mr. madison, the british, and the attorney general, richard rush, turn around and they head back to american lines where they observe the battle. once the fight starts out, madison is initially encouraged by the first resistance of the american militia is showing, and the british, when they start firing rockets, fire one that goes over the head of madison and the rest of his cabinet officers. it was sailed high harmlessly, but madison at this point+ k becomes the first american president to come under fire on a battlefield. madison moved back0fÑ at that t to a somewhat safer distance. in the meantime, the american lines are starting to collapse as the british start crossing the river and force some are using the bridge, other

to get the great little madison? she's in the capital of the united states at that point, in philadelphia you and congress is there. she has heard of what she called the great little madison. i just have to acknowledges you as also the savior of many of dolly's pace. when he was doing his wonderful biography, he would note where he saw a dolly paper here and there. people keep women's papers differently than men's, so it was wonderful to have. one of the papers that came up only in microfilm. i use the memoir this way, because most of the stuff happens before she's even born. so we kind of think of it as the closest autobiographical voice to dolly that we have. yes, so he's definitely famous. yes. sir, you're standing there. good for you. >> and by the mike. >> you are. >> dolly is first lady for eight years during madison's administration. jefferson is a widower in the previous eight years, and james monroe, the next eight years after madison, his wife is somewhat limited in her ability to be in the public eye. so c

madison? >> right. so, i have to say, this is -- yes, of course madison is famous, so dolly madison, when she meets james madison, she's in the capital of the united states at that point in philadelphia and congress is there. and she has heard of what she'd call the great little madison -- i have to say that -- i just have to acknowledge you, but also the savior of many of dolly's papers. so when ralph was doing his wonderful biography of madson, he would note where he saw a dolly paper here and there. and people keep women's papers differently than they keep mens. it was wonderful to have. one of the papers that came out that exists now only in microfilm, thanks to you, is a version of the memoir written by dolly's niece mary cutz. and i use the memoir this way because most of the stuff in the memoir happens before she's even born. we kind of think of it as the closest autobiographical voice to dolly we have. and that's the source of the great little madison. yes. he's definitely famous. yes.

, what i do now is as complete as possible edition of the dolly madison papers in the dolly madison edition like the book, it's published by the university press. unlike the book is published by their electronic imprint, the name which is rotunda. if you go and you take a look at it, i hope you enjoy it. do you want me to do -- oh, okay. having said that, i want to thank, of course, as everyone speaking as thanked, the three organization that is have sponsored this and thank them for putting on a conference which is so beautifully focused so the papers can talk to each other in a way that doesn't happen at conferences. i would like to thank kathryn al gore who is over there for introducing a more general view of dolly madison. what i'm going to do today is talk about dolly, not the burning of the white house, but her saving of the portrait of george washington. that really is the topic of my -- it's narrow, but the question then is, what could we learn from it. there was a famous biologist at harvard who once gave an image of looking, from a distance, at a fence, which had a knot hole in it

so i have to say -- yes, of course madison is famous, so dolly madison, when she meets james madison,he's in the capitol of the yielts at that point, in philadelphia, and congress is there. and she has heard of what she called the great little madison. i have to say that, i just have to acknowledge you as the buyinger in of madison but the savior of many of dolly's perps. when he was doing his buying if i, he would note where he saw it and people keep women's parms differently than mens. so it was wonderful to have. some one of the papers that came up, that exists now only in microfilm, thanks to you, is a version of the memoir written by dolly's niece mary cuts, and i use the memoir this way because most of the stuff in the memoir happens before she's born. so we think it as the closest autoboy graphical voice to dolly that we have. and that's the source of the great little madison. yes. so he's definitely famous, yes. sir, you're standing there, good for you. >> i'm by the mike. >> you are. >> dolly is first lady for eight years during madison's administration. >> yes. >> jefferson

, what i do now is as complete as possible edition of the dolly madison papers in the dolly madison digital edition. like the book, it's published by the university press. unlike the book is published by their electronic imprint, the name which is rotunda. if you go and you take a look at it, i hope you enjoy it. do you want me to do -- oh, okay. having said that, i want to thank, of course, as everyone speaking as thanked, the three organization that is have sponsored this and thank them for putting on a conference which is so beautifully focused so the papers can talk to each other in a way that doesn't happen at conferences. i would like to thank kathryn al gore who is over there for introducing a more general view of dolly madison. what i'm going to do today is talk about dolly, not the burning of the white house, but her saving of the portrait of george washington. that really is the topic of my -- it's narrow, but the question then is, what could we learn from it. there was a famous biologist at harvard who once gave an image of looking, from a distance, at a fence, which had a knot h

but not from madison. he kept his peace. dolly came back on sunday, the day after, and she was disguised in the clothing of another person. she had lost eight of her bodyguards, who decided to get drunk rather than to defend her, and she arrived with one bodyguard. and she even had to acknowledge her identity to a guard at the potomac river, which she didn't want to do, but she had to, to be allowed to cross. and then she was described by people who saw her that day, and the next days, as a person who was totally broken in spirit. this woman who was normally ebullient, and very well liked, she was now distraught and very introverted. but she was fiery and feisty. and she said if only she had weapons to use, she would have used them at that stage against the enemy. and so the british really, they had done what coburn had decided. they wanted to get washington, because he said, if you can strike at the heart of an enemy, which is the capital city, you will destroy their morale. that's exactly what he wanted to do. he knew -- d

the defeat of the madison administration. now, these are the types of boats that the british used in the shore raids. this is a drawing done by a rear admirals who was active in the chesapeake operation, sir malcolm. the actual drawing was done along the coast -- along the shores of louisiana later in the war, but it's the same type of coastal craft used in the chesapeake. now, the british establish a refugee camp on tangier island and it's regarded as ideal because it is sufficiently removed from the shores of virginia, the mainland shores of virginia. it's pretty secure from attack. but it's close enough and it's right in the center of the black population of virginia, which is in the tidewater both on the eastern shore and to the west on the western shore. and coburn's words, the island was, quote surrounded by the districts from which the negroes always come, end quote. this is a modern artist's attempt to imagine the drilling of colonial marines. colonial marines was the special unit formed for american blacks, former sl

president madison. the things that she spots at the last minute is a portrait of george washington. gilbert stewart portrait is a life-sized, that it's already taken on something as iconic stat is in t"us" in the united president washington had been dead for 15 years and already visitors would come to look at this portrait of of the first president and dolly madison grasp at once that to allow the portrait it fall into british hands would be adding insult to injury. so she instructed some of her servants, including the madison house, paul jennings house slave and the gardener, to get the portrait off the wall. this proves to be quite difficult. dolly madison gets credit for saving the portrait of george washington, but it should be noted that she actually leaves at this point. being urged by some citizens and other who is are saying she was in great danger and needed to leave immediately. and so she takes some of the silver and other belongings. with her and gets into a carriage and rides up to georgeto

it was dolley madison as the

her name is dolly madison.she is without a doubt the most beloved first lady ever to live in the white house. jackie kennedy was admired but dolly was beloved and people said that when she wore her jewelry it was outshown by her personality. she was a marvelous woman. look how she risked her life or captivity to save a painting. none of us would do that. ikx-ez certainly wouldn't. but she did. and it's not surprising that people paid courtesy calls on her until her death on lafayette square, new year's day in particular. courtesy calls from the president onwards down. what shelkqwe does was this. gilbert stewart's full length portrait of george washington hung in the west hall of the large dining room. it had been acquired by the federal government in 1800 for the white house at a cost of $800. and at that moment, two new yorkers, friends of herls, came in to the white house and they asked if they could do anything to help. this is jacob barker and according to a historian who interviewed them later, she said f

madison.ng the things that she spots at the last minute is the portrait of george washington, the gilbert stuart portrait that -- life size that 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, and already visitors would often come to look at this portrait of the first president. and dolly madison grasped that once to allow the portrait to fall into british hands would be adding insult to injury. and so she instructs some of her servant, servants, including the madisons' house slave, paul jennings, and the gardner, tom mcgraw, to get the portrait down off the wall. and this proves to be quite difficult. now, dolly madison often gets credit for saving the portrait of george washington, but it should be noted that she actually leaves at this point, being urged by some citizens and others who were saying that she was in great danger, needed to leave immediately. dd.r&ver and other belongings h her and ge