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WASHINGTON, Thursday—Like any other housewife, after a busy day, I have been taking stock of yesterday's activities! I wrote yesterday's column just before I went out to the Parade. Luckily this parade was primarily a military parade though the Governors themselves in their cars, the C.C.C. boys and the National Youth Administration with its floats reminded us of
On March 4, 1809, at Washington’s first inaugural ball, one keen local observer recorded that the new first lady, Dolley Payne Todd Madison, who arrived draped in a low-cut, buff velvet gown with a long train, “answered all my ideas of royalty.”1 And in truth she did have a uniquely American interpretation of regality that would keep her center stage for the ei
At the age of twenty-eight, Abraham Lincoln took a stand against slavery in the Illinois state legislature. He called it an "injustice" and condemned the lynch mobs that terrorized blacks and abolitionists.1 Though he possessed the prejudices of a backwoodsman, seeing slaves as "simple, happy creatures," he also saw something in 1841 that made an impression on him. On a riverboat
When studying events that occurred before the widespread use of photography, historians have used artwork to supplement resources such as documents, diaries, and artifacts. While an artist's view of an event is less accurate than first-hand written accounts, many paintings and engravings can tell us what events were found important enough to document in this way. Artists, after all, were
LESSON PLAN:The White House Burns: The War of 1812In August 1814, President James Madison (1809-1817) learned that 4,000 British sailors were entering the Chesapeake Bay and threatening to attack Washington. Madison cancelled plans to visit his Virginia plantation home and gathered his advisors together at the White House. One hundred soldiers camped out in front of the President’s House to pr
