Founding Friendship: George Washington, James Madison, and the Creation of the American Republic

Chapter 9: Domestic Order and Disorder

9 DOMESTIC ORDER AND DISORDER D their differences, Washington and Madison remained on excellent personal terms until late , now rarely discussing state affairs but still communicating about nonpartisan interests such as agriculture. The president’s role in the congressman’s successful courtship of Dolley Payne Todd illustrates the continued warmth of their personal relations. But politically they continued to drift apart. During the Whiskey Rebellion, Madison backed Washington’s use of the military even though he believed that better executive leadership might have made force unnecessary. In a subsequent dispute over the Democratic Societies ’ culpability, however, the president lost faith in the congressman’s personal loyalty and motives. The uprising further exposed the collaborators’ ideological differences, yet even this disagreement did not terminate their friendship. A no longer as close as they had been a few years before, the collaborators by  still enjoyed a warm relationship. Madison no longer had access to administration secrets or saw the president regularly, outside of public functions. Early in the year Washington reverted to opening his letters with “Dear Sir,” instead of the “My Dear Sir” he had used since . Nevertheless, the Virginians’ friendship still flourished, as evidenced by the fact that Washington consulted Madison about nonpartisan matters and persisted in closing his letters with the word affectionately.1 The two shared a common interest in agriculture. Washington avidly experimented with crops and crop rotations in hopes of improving American farming techniques. Madison had always found meteorology and natural history fasci-  nating, but in the s he accepted his destiny as a Virginia planter and began managing part of the Montpelier estate. That Thomas Jefferson, an accomplished naturalist, looked to both men for guidance in devising a field system attests to their wide knowledge. As the collaborators talked less about politics, they conversed more about husbandry. In  Washington received a letter and pamphlets from Scottish agricultural reformer Sir John Sinclair urging the formation of a board of agriculture similar to one lately organized in London. The president asked Madison whether the plan would “meet legislative or other encouragement . . . in this Country.” The younger Virginian favored a government-funded institution to disseminate information but warned that Congress did not share their advanced views.2 How much Washington and Madison influenced one another’s thinking about slavery is unclear, but they shared similar attitudes regarding that “species of property .” Both recognized the institution’s incompatibility with Revolutionary ideology and saw it as a threat to the Republic’s survival. They favored emancipation in theory, but fear of disunion froze them into silence and inactivity. Practical problems, including widespread racism, slaves’ lack of education and skills, and the compensation of owners, also seemed overwhelming. Unlike Jefferson, Washington and Madison rejected innate black inferiority, and both must be judged humane in comparison to other owners. They often accepted economic losses for their slaves’ benefit, for instance, by refusing to sell families apart and by manumitting individual servants in special cases. One can only guess whether the president divulged to Madison his developing plan to free his slaves after he and his wife died, or if he asked for advice in implementing this dream. Washington’s example certainly influenced the younger Virginian, who, decades later, also took steps to emancipate his slaves after he and his spouse passed away.3 Like their common interest in agriculture, Washington’s support of Madison’s courtship of Dolley Todd illustrates the collaborators’ continued friendship. In  Dolley Payne Todd was a sprightly, attractive, twenty-six-year-old widow who resided with her toddler son, John Payne Todd, and her sister Anna Payne. Born in the Quaker community of Guilford, North Carolina, and raised in Virginia , Dolley Todd had lived in Philadelphia over a decade. During the  yellow fever epidemic, she lost her husband of four years, John Todd, as well as an infant son. Although financially embarrassed, she nevertheless received marriage proposals within months. Having encountered Dolley Todd during his years in the city, the forty-three-year-old bachelor entered the competition in May , asking Aaron Burr to introduce him formally. The day of their meeting, Dolley excitedly told a girlfriend: “Thou must come to me. Aaron Burr says that the      great little Madison has asked to be brought to see me this evening.” The courtship proceeded smoothly. In June a cousin wrote to Dolley that Madison “thinks so much of you in the day that he...