It is March 11th. Welcome to Episode 70 of History in a Year. Today, the “Father of the Constitution” inherits a fractured nation. Thomas Jefferson has fled back to Monticello, leaving the presidency to his closest friend and Secretary of State, James Madison. We explore the brilliant mind and tiny stature of the fourth President, and how his disastrous foreign policy inherited from Jefferson pushes the country closer to war. But Madison has a secret weapon: his wife, Dolley. We witness the invention of the modern First Lady, and how Dolley Madison’s bipartisan, squeezed-room social gatherings single-handedly held the toxic political factions of Washington D.C. together.
STEPHEN:
Welcome to History in a Year: America’s First 250 Years.
LEAH:
Join us every single day as we journey from the Revolution of 1776 to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
STEPHEN:
You can find every episode and join the discussion at PointedWords.com. I’m Stephen.
LEAH:
And I’m Leah.
STEPHEN:
It is March 11th. Welcome to Episode 70. Yesterday, we watched Thomas Jefferson’s presidency end in total economic disaster. The Embargo Act failed, the country was enraged, and Jefferson practically ran back to his farm in Virginia.
LEAH:
He handed the keys to the White House to his best friend and Secretary of State, James Madison.
STEPHEN:
In the Election of 1808, Madison easily defeated the Federalist candidate to become the fourth President of the United States. But he was stepping into an absolute nightmare.
LEAH:
Before we talk about the political mess he inherited, we need to talk about James Madison the man. Because he is arguably the most unique physical presence to ever hold the office.
STEPHEN:
James Madison was a giant of American history, but physically, he was the smallest President we have ever had. He stood exactly 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and he rarely weighed more than 100 pounds.
LEAH:
Washington Irving, the famous American writer, actually described him as “but a withered little apple-John.”
STEPHEN:
He was incredibly shy, he had a very soft voice that was hard to hear in large rooms, and he was a massive hypochondriac. He was constantly worried about his health and suffering from various ailments.
LEAH:
But inside that tiny, fragile frame was arguably the greatest political mind of his generation.
STEPHEN:
He was the “Father of the Constitution.” He was the primary author of the Bill of Rights. He had co-authored the Federalist Papers. No one understood the mechanics of the American government better than James Madison, because he literally built the machine.
LEAH:
But being a brilliant political architect is very different from being a wartime executive. And a war was exactly what was brewing.
STEPHEN:
Madison inherited the exact same problem Jefferson had: The British and the French were still locked in the Napoleonic Wars, and they were both still harassing American ships.
LEAH:
Jefferson’s total embargo had been replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act, which basically said Americans could trade with anyone in the world except Britain and France.
STEPHEN:
But that didn’t work either. So, in 1810, Congress tried a bizarre, incredibly convoluted diplomatic trick called Macon’s Bill Number Two.
LEAH:
This bill essentially turned American foreign policy into a giant game of chicken. It opened trade back up with both Britain and France. But, it included a catch.
STEPHEN:
The catch was: Whichever country—Britain or France—agreed to stop attacking American ships first, the United States would reward them by immediately slapping an embargo on their enemy.
LEAH:
Napoleon Bonaparte looked at this offer and smiled. He was a master manipulator. He sent a vague, completely insincere letter to Madison, heavily implying that France would stop attacking American ships.
STEPHEN:
Madison fell for it. He officially announced that France had complied, and he re-imposed the embargo entirely on Great Britain.
LEAH:
Napoleon, of course, lied. He kept seizing American ships anyway.
STEPHEN:
The British were absolutely furious. They saw the United States officially taking France’s side in the war. So, the British Royal Navy doubled down. They ramped up their blockades and started impressing—or kidnapping—even more American sailors.
LEAH:
James Madison was getting boxed into a corner. The diplomatic tricks had failed. The country was careening toward a second war with Great Britain, and the political factions in Washington D.C. were tearing each other apart.
STEPHEN:
But Madison had one massive advantage that Thomas Jefferson didn’t have. He had a secret weapon that kept his presidency from completely collapsing under the pressure.
LEAH:
He had his wife.
STEPHEN:
Dolley Madison is one of the most important political figures of the era.
LEAH:
Thomas Jefferson had been a widower, so for eight years, the White House had been very rigid, male-dominated, and frankly, a bit boring. Jefferson hated large formal parties.
STEPHEN:
Dolley Madison completely flipped the script. While James was introverted and dressed entirely in black, Dolley was vibrant, extroverted, and wore magnificent dresses with massive feathered turbans imported from Paris.
LEAH:
She essentially invented the modern role of the First Lady.
STEPHEN:
She started hosting weekly social events called the “Wednesday Night Squeezes.” And they were called “squeezes” because she invited literally everyone, and they packed the White House drawing rooms to the bursting point.
LEAH:
And the key to these parties was that they were strictly bipartisan. Dolley invited the angry Federalists, and she invited the militant Democratic-Republicans. She invited foreign diplomats who were actively threatening the United States.
STEPHEN:
She would force bitter political enemies to stand right next to each other, eat ice cream—which was a massive luxury back then—and make polite conversation.
LEAH:
If a political argument started to get too heated, Dolley would seamlessly glide across the room, offer someone a pinch of snuff from her silver snuffbox, and change the subject with a joke.
STEPHEN:
She was the ultimate political glue. Politicians who were screaming at each other on the floor of Congress during the day would come to Dolley’s parties at night, and they couldn’t help but be charmed by her.
LEAH:
She built back-channel relationships. She gathered intelligence for her husband. She made it impossible for the opposing party to completely hate the Madison administration, because everyone loved Dolley.
STEPHEN:
But even Dolley’s incredible social diplomacy couldn’t stop the storm that was gathering outside of Washington.
LEAH:
The older generation of Founding Fathers—the men who had fought the Revolution and knew how horrific war actually was—were retiring or dying off.
STEPHEN:
A new, young, aggressive generation of politicians was sweeping into Congress. They had grown up on the stories of 1776, and they were tired of watching Great Britain humiliate the United States.
LEAH:
They didn’t want embargoes. They didn’t want diplomatic tricks. They wanted blood.
STEPHEN:
Join us tomorrow for Episode 71. The War Hawks. We meet the fiery new leaders of Congress, including Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. We explore how their massive egos, their demands for national honor, and their secret desire to conquer Canada finally pushed a reluctant James Madison over the edge and into the War of 1812.
LEAH:
I’m Leah.
STEPHEN:
And I’m Stephen.
STEPHEN:
You can find every episode at PointedWords.com. And this… is our story.