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  • Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government
  • Nancy Isenberg
Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government. By Catherine Allgor (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2000. 299 pp.).

Catherine Allgor has written a book about the “ladies” (and one “tart”) of Washington in the early days of the republic. Her focus is the power wielded by a ruling elite, the wives of powerful men in government. Four women stand out in her study: the Queen-like and turban-topped Dolley Payne Todd Madison; Margaret Bayard Smith, a political insider for forty-four years; the always elegant, harp-playing Louisa Catherine Adams; and the infamous Margaret Eaton, the unlikely wife of Andrew Jackson’s secretary of war, whose very presence in the Washington social scene caused such a scandal that the President was compelled to seek the resignations of his entire cabinet. Allgor is interested in the commonality among these four women (or in Peggy Eaton’s case what she failed to have in common with the others). From this, Allgor draws a portrait of elite women’s political work in the federal city.

She begins, however, with the perfect foil: Thomas Jefferson. Interested in eradicating all signs of the Federalist “Court,” Jefferson arrived in Washington with a different game plan: no more levees, no more gaudy displays or dress, and a relaxation of the diplomatic protocol treating foreign ambassadors as dignitaries. He inaugurated a new republican style, and as the master puppeteer, Jefferson controlled all social events at his home with what Allgor describes as a “feminine style.” He was, in her words, a “perfect lady.” Jefferson, Allgor argues, imitated the manners of a manipulative housewife; he spoke softly, gossiped with his female friends, and only had intimate dinner parties, which he alone orchestrated, pulling the emotional strings of his unsuspecting guests.

Well, almost. Unfortunately, Allgor’s Jefferson is a caricature. For some reason, she seems not to understand that Jefferson’s rules of gentility (his softness, gentleness, refined manners) were an accepted part of the culture of sensibility. It is as easy to envision Jefferson as an English lord of the manor, combining [End Page 473] informal and formal kinds of social interaction. His desire to ride alone, like a lord visiting his tenants, carry on casual chats with the locals, dress down, and yet entertain his guests with fine wine and intelligent conversation, are not necessarily feminine as much as a genteel style. But, Jefferson’s faux feminine style is a ruse; Allgor is really trying to demonstrate how his republican model of society failed. While Jefferson tried to be all things to all people (i.e., “We are all men, we are all women”), he simply paled in comparison to his female successors.

Allgor’s Dolley Madison can do no wrong. And it is easy to see why Allgor admires Dolley and Louisa Catherine (Mrs. John Quincy) Adams: these are women who consistently capture the center of attention. They are consummate performers, political actresses who dress the part, wearing elaborate costumes, but without displaying too obvious signs of aristocratic excess. Both First Ladies had socially inept husbands: James Madison was of small stature, silent in crowds, a shriveled apple of man, according to satirist Washington Irving; John Quincy was austere, bookish, and easily made enemies. Saddled with such egghead mates, what were these women to do? Like the wives of academics in the 1950s, they took charge and created a social personality for their ambitious spouses. Dolley redecorated the presidential home, organized large and small social events, and made herself the heart of Washington society. Louisa Catherine made her mark during the divisive presidential campaign season of 1824. Through visiting, holding elaborate balls and weekly socials—often featuring musical performances—Louisa Catherine stole the spotlight, dazzling members of Congress and their wives, and socially out maneuvering her husband’s competitors. Playing the female role to the “hilt,” as Allgor explains, these women garnered social influence and political power.

What Allgor tries to recreate is the social geography of Washington, that is, how women’s visiting patterns, social performances, and “patronage...

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