Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation

506 Pages·2009·2.54 MB·English

by  Cokie Roberts

Ladies of
Liberty
THE WOMEN WHO SHAPED OUR NATION
±Þ

Cokie Roberts
To my sister, Barbara Boggs Sigmund, my toughest teacher,
who always wanted to write history.
And to my sisterhood, my wonderful women friends—
including r elatives—who share my prayers, works, joys and
sufferings.
Contents

Acknow ledg ments and Author’s Note v
Introduction ix
chapter one
1797–1801: The Presidency of John and Abigail Adams
1
chapter two
1801–1805: The First Term of Thomas Jefferson
and the Ladies of the Place
64
chapter three
1805–1809: The Second Term of Thomas Jefferson
and Women Talking Politics
121
chapter four
1809–1813: The First Term of James Madison
and the Presidentess
183
Co nt ent s
chapter five
1813–1817: The Second Term of James Madison
and “The Bravest American Soldier”
247
chapter six
1817–1825: The Presidency of James Monroe
and Some Characters to Contemplate
323
Recipes 395
Cast of Characters 399
Notes 403
Photograph Credits 469
Index 471
About the Author
Other Books by Cokie Roberts
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
iv
Ac know ledg ments and

Author’s Note

First a word about what this book is and what it isn’t. It is the
story, told as much as possible in their own words, of the infl uential
women in the period between the inauguration of John Adams in
1797 and his son, John Quincy Adams in 1825. It is not the story of
everyday women in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centu-
ries, many of whom had much harder lives than the elite women who
had the ears of the Founding Fathers. Because I wanted to focus on
the story, not the writings, I have modernized and corrected the spell-
ing and punctuation to make the letters and journals easier to read.
This book turned out to be a much bigger undertaking than I
expected for happy reasons. After I wrote Founding Mothers, the li-
brarians and custodians of collections, historical societies, and his-
toric homes saw that their troves of papers would be of use, and they
have been steadfast about finding unpublished treasures for this
project. For a couple of years now, I’ve waited with anticipation for
some packet of letters to arrive in the mail, providing fresh insights.
Once the packets showed up, they were often tough-going—Xeroxed
eighteenth century handwriting can be very rough to read—but they
were thrilling. Seeing Abigail Adams’s handwriting is a treat all unto
itself. And then there w ere the unexpected pleasures. Sitting in the
beautiful reading room of the Huntington Library, coming across
the invitations from members of the Napoleonic court to Ruth and
Joel Barlow was truly exciting. It was all I could do not to let out a
whoop that would not have pleased my fellow researchers. There
were some disappointments along the way as well. I had hoped to
find information about my own family. An ancestor, William Charles
Ac know ledg ments and Author’s Note
Cole Claiborne, the first governor of Louisiana, is a character in this
book and I thought someone might have letters from at least one of
his three wives, but I couldn’t find any female Claiborne papers.
That was too bad, but there was so much I did find, and that others
found for me, that I was able to get to these wonderful women and
enable them to speak to us over the centuries. So there are many
people to thank.
Ann Charnley, intrepid researcher and friend, has been working
with me on books for more than ten years now (she won’t let me say
how long we’ve been friends) and this one was by far the most chal-
lenging. Knowing what we know now about the need to locate, pre-
serve and publish women’s letters, she is launching a fundraising
drive to build the Founding Mothers Digital Archive, a website for
women’s papers, so that posterity will have access to the other half
of history. Annie Downing not only did all of the many, many foot-
notes in this book, she also keeps the rest of my working life on
track, with humor and good sense. Heather Gilbert rode in to save
me at the last minute by transcribing the letters of Louisa Catherine
and John Quincy Adams. My friend and lawyer Bob Barnett shep-
herded this project as he does all of my work, with my interest at
heart. Without Claire Wachtel, my editor and coconspirator, this
book wouldn’t exist, nor would any of the earlier ones—a huge thanks
to her for her guidance in many ways, not to mention the laughs. At
William Morrow, Barbara Levine found the women’s portraits for
the cover and chapter heads; Kim Lewis somehow managed to get
this book printed with grace under pressure; Joyce Wong, the pro-
duction editor, had to work s uper-fast; the phenomenal DeeDee
DeBartlo is the best publicist in the business; and thanks to pub-
lisher, Lisa Gallagher. And at the “parent,” HarperCollins: Claire’s
able-assistant Julia Novitch; the talented and kind Michael Morri-
son, and the woman much like those in this book, the woman who
shaped the publishing world, Jane Friedman.
The Massachusetts Historical Society, which has the most
amazing website where John Quincy Adams’s Diary is available on-
vi
Ac know ledg ments and Author’s Note
line, was particularly helpful as I kept asking for more and more in-
formation about the fascinating Louisa Catherine Adams. I’m happy
to say that MHS will be publishing her papers soon. Dennis Fiori,
the president of the society has been especially supportive, along
with Peter Drummey, Judith Graham, Jeremy Dibbell, Laura Low-
ell, and Kim Nusco. Also, everyone connected with Louise Livings-
ton was a big help. I started with Bonnie Livingston who sent me to
Mary Ann Fish who sent me to Wint Aldrich and Joey Delafi eld,
who reproduced the book about Louise for me. At Historic Hudson
Valley Kathleen Eagan Johnson and Catalina Hannan were terrifi c.
Thanks to Olga Tsapina and Kate Henningsen for the Ruth Barlow
letters at the Huntington Library. Holly Cowan Shulman has cre-
ated the Dolley Madison Digital Edition, a remarkable resource.
Thanks to her and to Jason Coleman for access to it. Dan Preston at
the University of Mary Washington, Jim Wootten at Virginia’s Cap-
itol Square Preservation Council, and Doris Delk at the Virginia
Historical Society, aided with the elusive Elizabeth Kortright Mon-
roe. And Fredricka Teute, on a fellowship this year at Washington
College, filled in the blanks on Margaret Bayard Smith. Jane Aldrich
at the South Carolina Historical Society did the same for Mary Stead
Pinckney, along with Henry Fulmer at the University of South Caro-
lina. And to all the following a big thank-you: Dan Jordan, Susan
Stein, Sue Purdue, and Jeff Looney at Monticello and Anna Berkes
at the Jefferson Library; Jennifer Kittlaus at Mount Vernon; Barbara
Bair and Janice Ruth at the Library of Congress; Ellen Dunlap at the
American Antiquarian Society; the Historical Society of Washing-
ton, D.C.; the New York Historical Society, which is enjoying a
grand revival; the New York Public Library; and the Boston Public
Library. The Legacy Reprint Series has made access to old books much
more available and affordable by reproducing them in inexpensive
formats. And Google, the internet search engine, has made research
about ten thousand times easier than it was even four years ago. To
sit at home and type in the names of the people inviting Ruth Barlow
to tea in early nineteenth century Paris and find out who they are in
vii
Ac know ledg ments and Author’s Note
seconds is a blessing. The American Association for State and Local
History is the organization representing the custodians of much of
this information. Its New Century Endowment Campaign is well
worth supporting.
It would be impossible to even contemplate an enterprise of this
magnitude without the care of my friends and family. My great “girl
bosses” at NPR and ABC, Ellen McDonnell and Robin Sproul, w ere
understanding as always. Kim Roellig, who has become a good friend
over many years, makes it possible for me to continue to be a human
being while off on a project like this–she does what I should be do-
ing but better. My wonderful d aughter-i n-l aw, Liza Roberts, offered
support above and beyond the ordinary, taking time out from her
own busy writing schedule and the raising of my three adorable
grandchildren to edit carefully every word. My delightful daughter
Rebecca Roberts also added to her already heavy load as radio host
and mother of the other three adorable grandchildren to give the
book a read and cheer me on. And there’s no way to say enough about
my husband, Steven. He has picked up the load of much of my over-
booked life—not just by writing our weekly newspaper column and
doing a good many h ousehold chores, but by sharing the caretaking
and concern for our mothers, usually a task left to the women of the
family. He is my biggest fan and best friend. He is my love. And
finally, my smelly old bassett hound, Rupert, who kept me constant
company through the writing process. He is very happy that the
alarm is no longer going off at fi ve a.m.
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