Читать книгу First Ladies For Dummies - Marcus A. Stadelmann, Marcus A. Stadelmann PhD - Страница 48

It wasn’t a dream of Martha’s to be First Lady. She enjoyed living quietly with George at their Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. Unlike Abigail Adams or Dolley Madison (see Chapter 4), Martha didn’t enjoy getting involved in politics or constantly hosting parties.

However, Martha had been raised to be a Southern elite woman, and this involved hosting social events. Even though this was not one of her favorite parts of the job she was very good at it and after retirement, she and George continued to host hundreds of people at Mount Vernon.

After the Revolutionary War had been won, Martha wanted to return to the quietness of Mount Vernon, but again her fate was to be different. Instead of enjoying the quiet life on her plantation in Virginia, George Washington became president in 1789, and Martha had to move to the temporary capital of New York City. She was quite unhappy about the move, preferring to stay at Mount Vernon. When asked about her new position as First Lady (see Figure 3-2), she stated:

Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Reproduction number LC-DIG-bellcm-25569 (digital file from original)

FIGURE 3-2: Martha Dandridge Custis Washington.

“I never go to the publick place — indeed I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else, there is certain bounds set for me I must not depart from.”

In a letter, Martha wrote that she had expected that she and George would be left to grow old in solitude and tranquility together at Mount Vernon and called the change of course a disappointment. In fact, it was not until George was 65 and Martha 66 that they were able to go back into retirement.

When Martha Washington first arrived in New York City, the nation’s first capital, people didn’t know how to refer to her. Some called her Lady Washington, while others referred to her as The Presidentress.

The term First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is held by the hostess in the White House, usually the president’s spouse. This was not always the case. After George Washington became president in 1789, people did not know what to call his wife. Should it be Marquise Washington, Mrs. President, or just Presidentress. All of these titles sounded aristocratic and with the country just having won a war of independence against Great Britain nobody wanted to sound aristocratic or British. A title needed to be created that was plain and democratic. So, people just called her Lady Washington. The official title of First Lady was then coined at Dolley Madison’s funeral by President Zachary Taylor in 1849. By the late 1850’s the title became more commonly used and Harriet Lane was called the First Lady in the Land and Julia Grant and Lucy Hayes later received the same title. This helped to make the title more popular, and today the term has been fully accepted and its use is widespread.