tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2803421797224318872024-03-19T03:57:01.847-07:00Americana DCAMERICANA DC offers tidbits of history and culture from the nation's capital to show how Washington, DC has played a starring role in the American experience from 1791 to today. Interested in seeing the capital with Americana Lady Elizabeth Sherman and hearing more stories like these? Contact her at executivetoursdc@verizon.net and check out executivetoursdc.com Americana Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12122791406369825985noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280342179722431887.post-16445420882556098662012-11-16T11:04:00.000-08:002012-11-16T11:07:08.015-08:00<b>LOVE IN THE WHITE HOUSE - JOHN & ABIGAIL ADAMS</b><br />
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ADAMS (1744-1818)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unlike most other early Presidential couples, John and Abigail were evenly matched. True, John was a highly educated Harvard graduate, as statesman and successful lawyer, while Abigail was largely self-taught. But as the daughter of a minister, Abigail had grown up in a cultured household and enjoyed many advantages not generally available to girls of her time. Abigail was also blessed with a curious mind and sharp wit that made her a delightful, as well as an indispensable, help meet to John throughout their married life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Americans owe a particularly great debt to this devoted New England couple, separated throughout their lives by service to their country. Constantly yearning for one another, they wrote often; and recognizing the importance of their times, they saved their letters. More than 1,100 Adams letters survive, and since both husband and wife were keen observers, a great deal of what we know about the Founders and the Revolutionary era is what they saw fit to record. </span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">But lets get back to that innocent time--some 15 years before anyone even thought about breaking with Great Britain--when </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abigail was still a girl in her teens,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John was a young lawyer, and nothing mattered more than courtship and love.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Courtship</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“Miss
Adorable, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By the
same token that the bearer hereof, John Adams, sat up with you last night. I
hereby order you to give him as many kisses and as many hours of your company
after 9:00 o’clock as he pleases to demand, and charge them to my account.”</span></i></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0in;">--</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John
Adams to Abigail Smith, 1761</span></span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Waymouth, MA</span></o:p></span></span></div>
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</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>“Humanity obliges us to be affected with the
distresses and Miserys of our fellow creatures. Friendship is a bond yet
stronger, which causes us to feel with greater tenderness the afflictions of
our Friends. And there is a tye more binding than Humanity, and stronger than
Friendship, which makes us anxious for the happiness and welfare of those to
whom it binds us. It makes their Misfortunes, Sorrows and afflictions, our own. </i><i>Unite these,
and there is a threefold cord - by this cord I am not ashamed to own myself
bound, nor do I believe that you are wholly free from it.”</i></span></div>
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Smith to John Adams, 1763</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<i> </i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Waymouth, MA</span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">The day before they were married, 19-year-old
Abigail wrote John, then 28, to discuss arrangements for transporting her things
to their future home in Braintree, then added: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“</span><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and then
Sir, if you please, you may, take me.”</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Smith to John Adams, 1764<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">In the 10 years that followed, Abigail and John Adams had six children, three of whom survived. Unlike so many rich Founders, who lived on large
landed estates worked by slaves, John and Abigail Adams began their married life on a small
inherited farm, where any work that had to be done was either paid for or
Abigail did it herself. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">In 1776, </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Adams used his </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">considerable eloquence </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to convince </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">his </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">fellow delegates </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Continental Congress </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to break with Great Britain. Then war
came, and the Congress sent him abroad to seek support for the American cause. </span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Back in New England, Abigail found
herself running the farm</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, surrounded by the flood of incoming British troops,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and raising the children on her own. In France, John
had his own troubles. Rather than finding him principled and
eloquent, t</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">he French</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> courtiers </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">saw Adams as brusque, prudish, bumpkinish, and rude (he didn’t speak French).
When it came to securing support for the American cause, he failed miserably. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">[The French court far preferred the famous and worldly Dr. Franklin, who </span></i><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">told funny stories, </span></i><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">charmed their women, fed their frontier fantasies by wearing a coonskin cap, </span></i><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">and ended up securing the French
war fleet and millions of francs for the American cause—but therein lies
another tale.]</span></i></span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">As noted above, John and Abigail's long years of enforced separation, so fruitless
and hard, were yet a great legacy to the nation. And in their correspondence for the ages, </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abigail more than holds her own. Her letters gleam with snippets
from literature, poetry, and current events, and fairly sparkle—as do John’s—with keen
observations, gimlet humor, and ready wit.</span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">From John’s letters we know that this man, who had a sharpish
word for everyone, adored his wife. He prized her loyalty and her character and was titillated by her deliciously “saucy” turn of mind. Abigail, who heartily
returned this devotion, admired her husband’s independent spirit and eloquence, and hated his
enemies with a vengeance. (It was the desire to protect her husband from libelous attacks that made her urge him to support passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, so reminiscent of our Patriot Act today.) </span></span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">During all their long years apart, Abigail craved the company of her absent husband, whom she called: </span></span><span class="huge"><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">“My dearest friend. . . .”</span></i></span><span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"> </span></span><span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">As for John, he simply could
not do without her.</span></span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">In 1776, when Abigail wrote the following famous request, she </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">was 31 and had been married for 12 years</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Often quoted,
it is yet rarely cited in its entirety—or shown together with John’s response. The exchange is a wonderful example of the couple’s habitual and </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">affectionate</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">sparring over </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> ideas and words</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Yet here, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">unusually, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abigail rejects her
husband’s playful tone, sticks to her guns, and stands up for what she knows to be
right.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> (Underlining is mine.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">“I long to hear that you have
declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I
suppose it will be necessary for you to make, <u>I desire you would remember
the ladies</u> and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.</span></i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">"Do not put such unlimited power
into the hands of the husbands.</span></i> <i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Remember, <u>all men would be tyrants if they could</u>. If
particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to
foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we
have no voice or representation.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"That your sex are
naturally tyrannical is a truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no
dispute; but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up -- the harsh
tide of master for the more tender and endearing one of friend. Why, then, not
put it out of the power of the vicious and the lawless to use us with cruelty
and indignity with impunity? <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Men of sense in all ages
abhor those customs which treat us only as the (servants) of your sex; regard
us then as being placed by Providence under your protection, and in imitation
of the Supreme Being make use of that power only for our happiness."</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i> </i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">—</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Abigail
Adams to John Adams</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Boston,
MA, March 31, 1776</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">".
. . . As to your extraordinary code of laws, <u>I cannot but laugh</u>. We have been
told that our struggle [for independence from Britain] has loosened the bonds
of government everywhere; that children and apprentices were disobedient; that
schools and colleges were grown turbulent; that Indians slighted their
guardians, and negroes grew insolent to their masters. But your letter was the
first intimation that another tribe, more numerous and powerful than all the
rest, were grown discontented. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"This
is rather too coarse a compliment, but you are so saucy, I won’t blot it out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Depend
upon it, we know better than to repeal our masculine systems. Although they are
in full force, you know they are little more than theory. We dare not exert our
power in its full latitude. We are obliged to go fair and softly, and in
practice, you know we are the subjects.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"We
have only the name of masters, and rather than give up this, which would
completely subject us to the despotism of the petticoat, I hope General
Washington and all our brave heroes would fight.</span></span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">"<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0in;">—</span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John
Adams to Abigail Adams<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Philadelphia,
PA, April 14, 1776<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: 'Wingdings 2'; font-size: 18pt; padding: 0in;">c</span></i><i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"I
cannot say that I think you are very generous to the ladies; for, <u>whilst you
are proclaiming peace and good-will to men, emancipating all nations, you
insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives</u>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"But
you must remember that <u>arbitrary power is like most other things that are
very hard — very liable to be broken</u>; and, notwithstanding all your wise
laws and maxims, we have it in our power, not only to free ourselves, but to
subdue our masters, and without violence, throw both your natural and legal
authority at our feet."<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0in;">—</span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Abigail
Adams to John Adams<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Boston,
MA, May 7, 1776</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Calligraphy'; font-size: 14pt;">Lessons from John and Abigail Adams<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #4f6228; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In a marriage of equals, the dialogue grows and continues throughout life.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #4f6228; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Few today appreciate the what it cost the Founders, male and female, to create our country.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
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Americana Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12122791406369825985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280342179722431887.post-33933508533000670792012-07-14T10:06:00.002-07:002012-11-16T11:06:19.334-08:00<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial Black', sans-serif; font-size: 21px;">LOVE IN THE WHITE HOUSE - THOMAS & MARTHA JEFFERSON</span><br />
<br />
<br />
Over the next several weeks, I am going to post a series of small articles on Presidential couples, as they were when they got married. Since the husbands in these couples are well known, I will concentrate on the wives. These are in no way comprehensive--just a brief intro to our First Ladies. It is also fitting that I "remember the ladies" because these sketches were originally designed for a Bride's Luncheon Tour, for ExecutiveToursDC.com. I hope you enjoy them.<br />
<br />
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial Black', sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Thomas & Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbG1qMAKMYcU4J9tN1OVNxM82jwMyGA3W3H7ByUP6GADm0LlqKciorUdSTB8QV0yyetxHlctPJZS2eibeYZ07hdT5_lnQvKccgmDfoDu3r7SIputuQUQ6iBshxFIIHgM_gtfkSlOGZqg/s1600/JEFFERSON-MarthaWaylesSkelton-Silhouette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbG1qMAKMYcU4J9tN1OVNxM82jwMyGA3W3H7ByUP6GADm0LlqKciorUdSTB8QV0yyetxHlctPJZS2eibeYZ07hdT5_lnQvKccgmDfoDu3r7SIputuQUQ6iBshxFIIHgM_gtfkSlOGZqg/s200/JEFFERSON-MarthaWaylesSkelton-Silhouette.jpg" width="125" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Martha Wayles Jefferson (?)</td></tr>
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</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape><span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Martha Wayles Jefferson (1748-1782) grew up in rural Virginia in
the lap of luxury. Her mother was beautiful, cultured, and as an Eppes from the
huge Bermuda Hundred plantation, well born. Her father was John Wayles, a dashing Englishman grown rich on the slave trade. When Martha’s mother died shortly after her birth, </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">her father immediately married again. And when his second wife died, married once again. Finally,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> after </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">losing three wives in short order, John vowed never to marry again. Rather he turned openly to </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">his beautiful mulatto slave Betty Hemings f</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">or conjugal comfort</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">eventually siring six
more children. Though accomplished and rich, the young </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Martha was left to the care of stepmothers and slaves who were not always kind. </span><br />
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Like so many women of her time (including Martha Washington and
Dolley Madison), </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Martha Wayles</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">was married and widowed young. In fact she was only 22 </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">in 1768, </span><span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">when
she met Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). At 27, he had already </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">graduated from William and Mary College,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">become an accomplished violinist, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">inherited a fair-sized fortune,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Martha, at 22, had borne two children and lost a
husband and a son.</span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"><span style="background-color: white;">No images of Martha Wayles Jefferson survive--with the possible exception of the silhouette shown here. But by all accounts,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> she </span>was </span></span><span class="huge" style="background-color: white;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">beautiful</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. She was described as of middle height, slender, with auburn hair and hazel eyes, highly
educated, a voracious reader, and accomplished pianist--as one visitor to Monticello noted in 1780, “in all respects a very agreeable, sensible, and accomplished
lady." She was also </span><span class="huge" style="background-color: white;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">said to have great good nature, spiced with a “vivacious</span></span><span class="huge" style="background-color: white;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;"> temper that sometimes bordered
on tartness.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Young, gorgeous, and rich (she would inherit from her father 40,000 acres, 135 slaves--and a heavy undisclosed burden of debt), the widow Skelton was soon deluged by suitors. According to a favorite
family story, </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">one evening,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">two young men coming to court her arrived at her
father’s house at the same time. While taking </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">off their overcoats warily in the foyer, both gradually became aware of </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">sweet strains from a piano (Martha) and
violin (Thomas), coming from the drawing room. When this was followed by
two voices blended harmoniously in song, the rivals exchanged a look, took up
their coats, and left </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">without a word</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cBPaZyoZ95uEIJiy_RXrRutb_zsgom6RMSz5qPgY_SaZ2bHR-xenHH6k_KGg0HlG3HYj_EFE1vClU7Oy52l_qeJy1xR8td2vokoYA5Zm9s6gGYaiG9GE6dU9y8UVYG8oInH0lBnWX0w/s1600/JEFFERSON-drawingBird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cBPaZyoZ95uEIJiy_RXrRutb_zsgom6RMSz5qPgY_SaZ2bHR-xenHH6k_KGg0HlG3HYj_EFE1vClU7Oy52l_qeJy1xR8td2vokoYA5Zm9s6gGYaiG9GE6dU9y8UVYG8oInH0lBnWX0w/s1600/JEFFERSON-drawingBird.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sketch by Charles Bird<br />
Jefferson's favorite image of himself</td></tr>
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<span class="huge"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">D</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">uring their courtship,</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thomas Jefferson's passion for Martha was so great that it caused him to ignore his revolutionary principles. In a blatant violation of the
colonial boycott of British goods, Thomas ordered a “forte-piano” from England—along with
special instructions about its construction to make sure it would be "worthy the acceptance of
a lady for whom I intend it." Thomas was also busy building</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">his dream
house </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Monticello </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">atop a mountain, taking care of his mother whose house had burnt
down, and carrying out his legislative duties as a Virginia Burgess. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The wedding was
planned for summer. Then, in June 1771, Martha’s only remaining child suddenly
sickened and died. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the end the couple did not marry until January 1,
1772, and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">on the trip north from Williamsburg to Monticello, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">they </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">were overtaken by a huge </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">snowstorm</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. When the drifts became too deep for their carriage, they abandoned it at a neighbors’ and continued on by horseback. Finally arriving at the one-room structure </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(ever after known as the Honeymoon Cottage) </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">that was then the only building </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">completed</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">at Monticello, the couple found—nothing. No word had been sent that they were coming, no servants were there to meet them, and there were no fires and no food. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Too in love to feel hunger or cold, the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> newlyweds discovered </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a leftover half-bottle of wine </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">behind some books and began </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">their new life together with "song and merriment and
laughter." The story of that night passed into family lore. Alone on their mountain top </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">with each other</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, there was no adversity Thomas and Martha
Jefferson could not overcome.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The next September, the
arrival of a daughter increased their happiness, and over the next ten years the Jeffersons
added five more children to the family, but only two—Martha (called Patsy) and Mary (called
Maria or Polly)—lived to adulthood. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How did Mrs. Jefferson spend her days? Her
household accounts book shows a constant round of pig slaughtering, soap
making, linen counting, and other household duties, which—if she did not do the
work with her own hands—she certainly oversaw. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But a decade of plantation
life and pregnancies left Martha so weak that Thomas, then Governor of
Virginia, was afraid to leave her. In 1880 he resigned from the Continental Congress
and refused the post of consul to France. Weak as she was, Martha was not left
in peace. In January 1871, the British invaded Richmond and she was forced to
flee with her 3-month-old daughter, who died not long after. In June, when the family
were once again forced to flee, Jefferson resigned as Governor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The following May, when Martha gave birth to </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">their last child, Jefferson wrote that her condition was “dangerous.” Fearing
for her children after her own death, Martha made her grief-stricken husband promise never to marry
again—thereby laying the seeds for the shameful liaison with his
beautiful slave (who happened to be Martha’s 7/8’s white half-sister), Sally
Hemings. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thomas cared for his wife tenderly throughout the months that followed,
but she did not rally. On September 6, 1782, he recorded in his account book,
"My dear wife died this day at 11:45 A.M." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In his later years,
Jefferson recalled that marriage to Martha was a time of "unchequered
happiness." For
three weeks following her death he did not emerge from his room, and it was reported that he fainted whenever he saw his children. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His daughter Patsy wrote that that, after her mother’s death: "the violence of his emotion...to this day I cannot describe to myself." </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In November, Jefferson</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">fled Monticello's haunted halls for Paris, where he would open a new chapter in his life as America's envoy abroad.</span><br />
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" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" strokecolor="#9bbb59" strokeweight="3pt" style="height: 311.15pt; margin-left: 389.15pt; margin-top: 257.15pt; mso-height-percent: 0; mso-height-percent: 0; mso-height-relative: margin; mso-position-horizontal-relative: margin; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: margin; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-width-percent: 0; mso-width-percent: 0; mso-width-relative: margin; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; v-text-anchor: top; visibility: visible; width: 331.7pt; z-index: 251713536;" type="#_x0000_t185"><v:shadow color="#5d7035" offset="1pt,1pt"><v:textbox inset="3.6pt,,3.6pt"><br /></v:textbox></v:shadow></v:shape><br />
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Calligraphy'; font-size: 14pt;">What do we learn from the marriage of </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Calligraphy'; font-size: 14pt;">Thomas and Martha?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perhaps
that great love carries with it the shadow of great loss.
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<em><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></em></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<em><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Time wastes too fast: every letter</span></em><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
<em>I trace tells me with what
rapidity</em><br />
<em>life follows my pen. The days
and hours</em><br />
<em>of it are flying over our heads
like</em><br />
<em>clouds of windy day never to
return--</em><br />
<em>more. Everything presses on—<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">From Laurence
Sterne’s Tristam Shandy, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Copied by Martha
Jefferson just before her death </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<em><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">and every time I kiss thy hand to bid adieu,<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<em><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">every absence which follows it, <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<em><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">are preludes to that eternal separation <o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<em><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;">which we are shortly to make!</span></em><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Completion of
Sterne quote<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">copied by Thomas
Jefferson</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Americana Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12122791406369825985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280342179722431887.post-36604912132694232132012-01-10T15:48:00.000-08:002012-11-16T11:05:48.485-08:00<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">LINCOLN’S
ROCK -- GEN. MONTGOMERY C. MEIGS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The first question for anyone planning
to visit Washington, DC is: “What should we see?” To answer this question, you
will need an exceptional guide, and that guide will need a treasure trove of stories
about Washington to convey the capital’s unique significance to America and the
world. (Excellent guides, private car, and customized tours can be found at: <u>executivetoursdc.com</u>.)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Everybody
knows that Washington (legally, the District of Columbia—hence the “DC”) is the
capital of the United States of America. Since 1800, when Congress moved to the
partially completed capital on the Potomac, across the river from George
Washington’s Virginia plantation, Washington, DC has served as the nerve center
of the federal government. Virtually every building, monument, and area within the
capital (and in its environs) has, at some time in the past 224 years, played a
significant role in American history. There is in fact so much to see in
Washington that even well-informed DC residents need a guide to understand and
appreciate their native city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In honor of the Civil War’s sesquicentennial
(not, as it sounds, its 600</span><sup style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> but rather its 150</span><sup style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">)
anniversary, I would like to highlight Washington’s importance in that conflict
by outlining some highlights from the miraculous career of the Union’s Quartermaster
General, </span><b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">MONTGOMERY CUNNINGHAM MEIGS.</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmx6cAfFlkYXr_uvuMPujL_Q8XaQ5pgrinr4lRoPDY3ripUkY48iCzYnH0Edx0hZ6CUWh2YT0_M8x01IDynOGmDh3uYj_frCrRj5XDSri48tJs2G-Qq7GRyIGdrxQtY8B59v1d95Wny4/s1600/Montgomery_C._Meigs_-_Brady-Handy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmx6cAfFlkYXr_uvuMPujL_Q8XaQ5pgrinr4lRoPDY3ripUkY48iCzYnH0Edx0hZ6CUWh2YT0_M8x01IDynOGmDh3uYj_frCrRj5XDSri48tJs2G-Qq7GRyIGdrxQtY8B59v1d95Wny4/s320/Montgomery_C._Meigs_-_Brady-Handy.jpg" width="185" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Eighty
years earlier, Gen. George Washington reported seeing blood in the snow where
his shoeless troops had passed. Many of his men, the General lamented to the
Continental Congress, had to go shirtless and coatless in the cold. Not so
during the Civil War. With Meigs at the helm, the Union lads had stuff aplenty.
No soldier lacked for powder, or clothes, or food, or tents, or transport. The
Army was sadly lacking in qualified Generals—but it had plenty of stuff. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Marvelous
Meigs, who spent the earlier part of his career in the Army Corps of Engineers,
was also responsible for fixing navigation on the Mississippi (a project he
worked on under fellow West Pointer Robert E. Lee) and building the DC Aqueduct
to bring water to the City. This last entailed building a single-span bridge (the
Union Arch Bridge, designed by Alfred Rives), which for 50 years held the
record as the longest single-span masonry arch in the world. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Clever
Meigs installed the iron dome (the one you see behind anchor people on TV) that
completed the U.S. Capitol and gives it its iconic shape. When the air inside
the Capitol turned out to be fetid (and smelly from the necessaries being too
close at hand), he designed and built aeration towers still in use today. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Patriot
Meigs bore a personal grudge against Robert Lee, whom he considered had
betrayed his West Point oath to protect the Union. After the Battle of Bull Run
(First Manassas), it was Meigs who personally saw to it that the Union dead
were dug up and replanted in Mrs. Lee's rose garden—thereby establishing our
national military burial ground on the ground of the Lee’s Arlington plantation.
Fittingly, the gates to Arlington Cemetery today bear an inscription chosen by,
who else?—Montgomery Meigs. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Surprising
Meigs, who spent most of the war moving around troops and materiel, even had
his brief moment of glory in the field. Late in the war, Lee realized that the
bulk of Grant’s army was in Virginia, leaving the capital virtually undefended.
He sent a Confederate force led by Jubal Early across the Potomac to circle
around and march on Washington from the north. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">On
an insufferably hot July 9<sup>th</sup>, at Monacacy Junction, MD not far from
Washington, Early’s forces met with unexpectedly strong resistance from a
small, brave Union garrison. These citizen soldiers fought all day under the
blazing sun. By evening, the Rebs had won but were so exhausted that Early
decided to rest for a day before advancing on Washington. That decision—plus
the fine wine cellar the troops discovered in the Blair mansion in Silver
Spring just outside the City—bought Grant just enough time to shift seasoned troops
back to the capital. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Early’s
troops could be seen advancing on Ft. Stephens on the District’s NW boundary at
noon on July 12, 1864, precisely when, five miles to the south, Grant’s troops were
disembarking at the city’s harbor. Until Grant's troops arrived to save the day
(which they did), responsibility for holding Fort Stephens fell to the
unseasoned home forces. And who was the General in charge of Ft. Stephens? Just
take a guess. (President & Mrs. Lincoln actually came out to see the
fighting, but that is a story for another time.)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">By
War’s end, Meigs had lost his beloved President (he was one of the few
officials admitted to Peterson’s Rooming House during Lincoln’s last hours) and
his only son, but iron Meigs was far from defeated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He continued on as Quartermaster General for another two decades. He built (but did not design) the charming brick Arts & Industries Building, next to the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall. Most remarkably, he designed and built the huge <b>Pension Building</b>, now the National Building Museum—a handsome brick phenomenon (he was economy-minded) encircled by an intriguing and remarkably detailed terracotta frieze by the Czech-American sculptor Caspar Buberl. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio-6dNGRq5FwMWj7NpGGgkZ3sAWL8y6HlJ9M2H9AMejol9EqZQnBmuU-GTzkwy8dAilnSYR5I8uLkzbNJ5p_uLXncCyJIWgn2zXo9ohBgVRCD9AeROGejZxG4Zk95RNtek-IMSbIC-8HU/s1600/PENSION_BLDG-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio-6dNGRq5FwMWj7NpGGgkZ3sAWL8y6HlJ9M2H9AMejol9EqZQnBmuU-GTzkwy8dAilnSYR5I8uLkzbNJ5p_uLXncCyJIWgn2zXo9ohBgVRCD9AeROGejZxG4Zk95RNtek-IMSbIC-8HU/s320/PENSION_BLDG-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Designed to honor all four branches of military service, the frieze consists of four identical sets of panels (cavalry, infantry, navy, quartermaster corps), which were reshuffled and recombined for economy’s sake to create new combinations all around the building. In line with his abolitionist sentiments, Meigs insisted that the soldier driving the supply wagon be a freed man o</span><span style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none black; font-size: 0pt; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">f color, and in line with his engineering prowess, the boasts the largest indoor Corinthian columns in the world.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgjmuyEBEIWWsXznKx7JXx-QSKWDZSaEJMOQysf2gWlNCQdoQ9H-lp94f8fwCJwhlJwl4-cDHrieALr80f-k9i27ElUrQdfG0rlg4iwnOBbYe8QuBBDvAZKm8OfjSq4F8uT_qyGK8PrM/s1600/PENSION_BLDG-COLUMNS-dc-thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgjmuyEBEIWWsXznKx7JXx-QSKWDZSaEJMOQysf2gWlNCQdoQ9H-lp94f8fwCJwhlJwl4-cDHrieALr80f-k9i27ElUrQdfG0rlg4iwnOBbYe8QuBBDvAZKm8OfjSq4F8uT_qyGK8PrM/s200/PENSION_BLDG-COLUMNS-dc-thumb.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Critics called it "Meigs's
brick yard,” and on seeing it, William Tecumseh Sherman remarked: "Too bad
it's fireproof." Yet for the quarter century f</span><span style="background-color: black; border: 1pt none black; font-size: 0pt; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">ollowing
its completion (1885-1909), the Pension Building’s airy main hall
(ventilated at the top—another Meigs invention) hosted every Presidential inaugural
ball.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">At
his death, General Meigs was buried in Arlington Cemetery. In the shadow of his
large white sarcophagus lies a surprisingly small bronze slab marking the
grave of his heroic son, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">lying dead in the mud </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">amid hoof-prints from the Confederate
ambush that had killed him. So ends our tribute to the great but </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">largely unsung </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">U.S. patriot, engineer, inventor, architect, and indispensable hero of the Civil War</span> <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">—</span> <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Genl. Montgomery C. Meigs.</span></div>
<br />Americana Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12122791406369825985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280342179722431887.post-37572044462601094032011-09-20T14:35:00.000-07:002012-07-14T10:10:35.363-07:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f4ee; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><b>HOW THE U.S. CAPITAL CAME TO BE. </b>Somehow, when I was in school, the penny never dropped (duh!)that GEORGE WASHINGTON actually FOUNDED Washington, DC. Tired of moving from pillar to post--we had 8 seats of government in the quarter century between the Declaration of Independence and the move to the District of Columbia--the legislators charged GW with selecting the site and design for a permanent capital. You can see for yourself, its in the very first article of the Constitution. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZB1KnLD472NcKdIjeNG7mgIawGbNqvo4WeKiuB4nciwu7SjrEIVLRksO_BnDZ5LVsYOaGlOy03VIcwaL65Iqncpf1znnjcZHcH1MekNtYT8bbBvP5bHJEnNzEBG7pNdCuGzsOnovDRc/s1600/GW-Oval-Portrait-Color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZB1KnLD472NcKdIjeNG7mgIawGbNqvo4WeKiuB4nciwu7SjrEIVLRksO_BnDZ5LVsYOaGlOy03VIcwaL65Iqncpf1znnjcZHcH1MekNtYT8bbBvP5bHJEnNzEBG7pNdCuGzsOnovDRc/s320/GW-Oval-Portrait-Color.jpg" width="262" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f4ee; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f4ee; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">When something had to be done, Washington was the man to do it. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f4ee; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">Behind the scenes, ALEXANDER HAMILTON wheedled and twisted arms to get the Southern states to agree to assume a larger share of the Revolutionary War debt by making it a federal, rather than a state, responsibility. In return, the new capital did not go to civilized New York or Philadelphia. No. It was to be built completely new, south of the Mason-Dixon line, on the Potomac River, at a site of Washington's choosing. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f4ee; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f4ee; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">It was no accident, of course, that the Father of our country lived just a half day's ride on horseback from the site he eventually selected. He also had a high opinion of the river's beauty and (ever practical) its suitability for trade. #</span>Americana Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12122791406369825985noreply@blogger.com0