DolleyMadisonPapers

Completed in 2021, the Dolley Madison Digital Edition is a born-digital documentary edition of the papers of First Lady Dolley Payne Todd Madison (1768-1849).

[DolleyMadisonPapers @DolleyPapers]

Dolley Madison's interactions with the enslaved men, women and children she inherited in 1836 were rife with contradiction. See some of our work cited in:
Slavery in the James Madison White House https://t.co/Yxl1h7IKRB

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

Margaret M. Smith was born on a Maryland plantation on 9/21/1788. In 1810 she married Zachary Taylor. She joined him at army posts across the frontier and, in 1849, at the White House. She didn't want him to be president; newspapers claimed he didn't vote for himself as a result.

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

On August 14, 1852, two years after losing her husband and leaving the White House, former first lady Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor died at the age of 63. No photograph of her was known to exist until 2010. https://t.co/eqDSUwshpl

[DolleyMadisonPapers @DolleyPapers]

Frustrated Voters? What?
#Debates2024

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

Zachary Taylor never had to debate a political opponent. If he had, his answers might have frustrated voters. He refused to express his opinions on most policy questions, and, as he wrote to an editor of the Richmond Republican on 4/20/1848, . . . (1/2)

[DolleyMadisonPapers @DolleyPapers]

Great work by Senior Research Historian Hilarie Hicks (@hilariemhicks) @JMMontpelier!! Keep it up!

[NHPRC @NHPRC]

Congratulations to Michael David Cohen!

[Madison's Montpelier @JMMontpelier]

#OTD 1787, 18-year-old #enslaved Anthony made his second attempt to escape slavery. He escaped from Montpelier a year earlier and traveled widely (or did he?), and may have used aliases to conceal his identity. Read his story at #MontpelierNamingProject: https://t.co/7DT4VGkcxh

[DolleyMadisonPapers @DolleyPapers]

@ZTandMF @editorialnotes Fantastic News!!

[DolleyMadisonPapers @DolleyPapers]

Hello, Dolley? Earliest Known Photograph of a First Lady Comes to Auction https://t.co/1Ld9u6HKWE

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

Taylor feared on 1/19/1848 that “our political affairs, [are] in a worse condition than they have been since the adoption of the…constitution growing out of the Mexican War & the slave question, which if not speedily arrested will lead to great confusion, if not to disunion.”

[Madison's Montpelier @JMMontpelier]

What can we say about a young #enslaved girl whose name appears in only one document? Read Cussina’s story at #MontpelierNamingProject. https://t.co/8WQtl8OxI3

[U.S. House History @USHouseHistory]

Score one for history! The House passed a resolution #OTD 1848 to purchase the papers of James Madison from his widow, Dolley Madison. They now reside at the @LibraryCongress. https://t.co/HB7McUQ5pq

[NHPRC @NHPRC]

Not to mention, with funding from the NHPRC, transcribed and digitized and published on Rotunda at https://t.co/SvJS43vMn3

[Humanities Magazine @humanitiesmag]

Learn how Dolley Madison, who was born #otd in 1768, gained influence through kindness in this article by @CatherineAllgor: https://t.co/fJ3y8UnyLs

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

That searchable edition of Dolley Madison's papers was spearheaded by @dolleypaynetodd and our associate editor, @alarrabeecotz!

[Madison's Montpelier @JMMontpelier]

#HappyBirthday, #DolleyMadison! Are you wondering what to give her? Dolley’s nieces chose #birthday presents like a lampshade, a Bible, and a drawing of Cupid. Read more about the #gifts and #goodwishes Dolley received in our blog post: https://t.co/1xzQGr5cjC

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

Happy birthday to Abigail Powers Fillmore! Early on a teacher of her future husband, she became the 1st first lady to work for pay while married. Abigail and Millard, both bibliophiles, created the first White House library.

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

We podcasted again! Check out the latest episode of Myhistoryvibe, in which our editor speaks with Carlton Houston about the Taylor-Fillmore project and Zachary Taylor's relationships with the Black Americans he enslaved. https://t.co/93SXAiAtnb #BlackHistoryMonth

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

Fillmore's 1st #SOTU (1850) was big on foreign affairs: "morality ought to have a national as well as a personal…application.…[J]ustice and conscience should form the rule of conduct between governments, instead of mere power, self interest, or the desire of aggrandizement."

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

Taylor's only #SOTU (1849) stressed separation of powers:"the executive department…can not rightfully control the decision of Congress…Our Government can only be preserved in its purity by the suppression…of every claim or tendency of one…branch to encroachment upon another."

[Correspondence of Zachary Taylor&Millard Fillmore @ZTandMF]

As Christmas approaches, turn to our blog archive to learn about Christmas before the Civil War and what Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore wrote (or didn't write) about it. https://t.co/cYy3KzhsHD