Thankfully, many of the love letters exchanged by James and Dolley (and their trusted intermediaries such as Catharine Cole) remain extant and provide unique insight into the sights and sounds of a middle-aged, famous, influential, and committed bachelor and a young, beautiful, widow with whom he seems to have fallen instantly in love. So sacred were these relationships and the correspondence and convictions associated with them that Martha Washington destroyed General Washington’s letters to her upon his death. Second, privacy in personal matters was thought to convey respect for the holy and cherished - something courtship and marriage were widely believed to be. Public displays of affection and casual sharing of the correspondence between a man and a woman approaching marriage or already married were considered impolite and indecorous. First, in the 18th century, the intimate details of courtship and marriage were just that: intimate. There are good reasons for the lack of coverage of the lovesick, fawning follower in most descriptions of the relationship of James and Dolley Payne Todd. “e hopes that your Heart will be calous to every other swain but himself.” Those words written in a letter to Dolley Payne Todd from her friend Catharine Cole on Jreveal a romantic side to James Madison that we rarely read about in other biographies and history textbooks. The story of their courtship and marriage is one rarely told today, but it is worthy of relating and emulating. Article audio sponsored by The John Birch SocietyĪs strong, lasting, and inspirational as James Madison’s partnership with Thomas Jefferson was, it was nothing when compared to the love, friendship, and fidelity he shared with his devoted wife, Dolley.
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