First Ladies (75 page)

37
. Pryor,
Reminiscences,
p. 53.

38
. Virginia Clay-Clopton,
A Belle of the Fifties
(New York, 1904), p. 114.

39
. Pryor,
Reminiscences,
p. 39.

40
. Pryor,
Reminiscences,
p. 53.

41
. Taylor, “Harriet Lane,” p. 219.

42
. Taylor, “Harriet Lane,” p. 218.

43
. Edward T. James et al., eds.,
Notable American Women,
3 vols. (Cambridge, 1971), vol. 2, p. 281.

44
. Taylor, “Harriet Lane,” p. 215.

45
. Taylor, “Harriet Lane,” p. 219.

46
. Taylor, “Harriet Lane,” p. 213.

47
. James Thomas Flexner,
George Washington and the New Nation
(Boston, 1969), p. 100.

48
. Peter Shaw,
The Character of John Adams
(Chapel Hill, 1976), p. 258.

49
. Maude Wilder Goodwin,
Dolly Madison
(New York, 1896), p. 109.

50
. Freeman Cleaves,
Old Tippecanoe
(New York, 1939), p. 324.

51
. Bess Furman,
White House Profile
(New York, 1951), p. 123.

52
. Lyon Gardiner Tyler,
Letters and Times of the Tylers,
2 vols. (Richmond, 1884–1885), vol. 2, p. 361.

53
. Helen Stone Peterson, “First Lady at 22,”
Virginia Cavalcade
(1961–1962), p. 14.

54
. Elizabeth Tyler Coleman,
Priscilla Cooper Tyler and the American Scene
(University of Alabama, 1955), p. 102.

55
. Peterson, “First Lady at 22,” p. 15.

56
. Coleman,
Priscilla Cooper Tyler,
p. 89.

57
. Peterson, “First Lady at 22,” p. 18.

58
. Coleman,
Priscilla Cooper Tyler,
p. 104.

59
. Jessie Benton Frémont,
Souvenirs of My Time
(Boston, 1887), pp. 99–100.

60
. Frémont,
Souvenirs of My Time,
p. 99.

61
. Holman Hamilton,
Zachary Taylor,
2 vols. (Indianapolis, 1941–1961), vol. 2, p. 24.

62
. Hamilton,
Zachary Taylor,
vol. 2, pp. 171–172.

63
. Benjamin Perley Poore,
Perley's Reminiscences,
2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1886), vol. 1, p. 357.

64
. “A ‘Pipe-Dream' Pipe Story,”
Literary Digest,
vol. 86 (August 1, 1925), p. 40.

65
. “A ‘Pipe-Dream' Pipe Story,” p. 40.

66
. “A ‘Pipe-Dream' Pipe Story,” p. 42.

67
. Laura Langford Holloway,
The Ladies of the White House
(Philadelphia, 1881), p. 208.

68
. Mary Ormsbee Whitton,
First First Ladies
(1948, New York; repr. Freeport, 1969), p. 242.

69
. Poore,
Perley's Reminiscences,
vol. 2, p. 385.

70
. Whitton,
First First Ladies,
p. 242, reports that in 1840 when Millard was a U.S. Congressman from New York, his constituents invited Abigail to address them. The author has been unable to verify this and Whitton gives no source.

71
. Whitton,
First First Ladies,
p. 243.

72
. F. H. Severance, ed.,
Millard Fillmore Papers,
2 vols. (Buffalo, 1907), vol. 2, p. 493.

73
. Letter to author from Elizabeth F. Abel, Stillwater Town Historian, Stillwater, New York, quotes letter from Millard Fillmore to Abigail Fillmore, April 1, 1850. Letter is in Library at State University of New York at Oswego.

74
. Elizabeth Fries Ellett,
Court Circles of the Republic
(Hartford, 1869), p. 437.

75
. Ellett,
Court Circles,
p. 242.

76
. Severance, ed.,
Fillmore Papers,
vol. 2, p. 491.

77
. Severance, ed.,
Fillmore Papers,
vol. 2, p. 492.

78
. The recent interest in women's history has resulted in new debate over the impact of industrialization on women's lives. For one introduction to the issues, see
chapter 1
of Thomas Dublin,
Women at Work: The Transformation of Work and Community in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1816–1860
(New York, 1979). See also
chapter 3
, “Industrial Wage Earners and the Domestic Ideology,” in Alice Kessler-Harris,
Out to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States
(New York, 1982). Articles which remain important in understanding the impact of industrialization on women's lives include: Barbara Welter, “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820–1860,”
American Quarterly
(Summer 1966), pp. 151–174; Mary Beth Norton, “The Paradox of Women's Sphere,' “ in Carol Ruth Berkin and Mary Beth Norton, eds.,
Women of America: A History
(Boston, 1979), pp. 139–149; and Gerda Lerner, “The Lady and the Mill Girl: Changes in the Status of Women in the Age of Jackson, 1800–1840,”
Midcontinent American Studies Journal,
vol. 10 (Spring 1969), pp. 5–14.

79
. Kathryn Kish Sklar,
Catharine Beecher: A Study in American Domesticity
(New York, 1973), pp. 204–205.

80
. Barbara Berg,
The Remembered Gate: Origins of American Feminism
(New York, 1978), p. 112.

81
. Carl Degler,
At Odds: Women and the Family in America From the Revolution to the Present
(New York, 1980), pp. 180ff.

82
. Sklar,
Catharine Beecher,
p. 204, concludes that Beecher's “basic assumption was that female debility was a sign of some fundamental opposition between the needs of women and many of the conditions of American society.” See also Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, “The Hysterical Woman: Sex Roles and Role Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America,” in
Disorderly Conduct,
edited bwy Carroll Smith-Rosenberg (New York, 1985), pp. 197–216.

83
. Sklar,
Catharine Beecher,
p. 205.

84
. Sklar,
Catharine Beecher,
p. 205.

85
. Susan Sontag,
Illness as Metaphor
(New York, 1972), pp. 28ff.

86
. Isabella Lucy Bird,
The Englishwoman in America
(1856; repr. Madison, 1966), p. 362.

87
. Sontag,
Illness as Metaphor
p. 28.

88
. Roy F. Nichols,
Franklin Pierce
(Philadelphia, 1931), p. 78.

89
. Nichols,
Franklin Pierce,
p. 81.

90
. Nichols,
Franklin Pierce,
p. 93.

91
. Nichols,
Franklin Pierce,
p. 94.

92
. Lloyd C. Taylor, Jr., “A Wife for Mr. Pierce,”
New England Quarterly,
vol. 28 (September 1955), p. 342.

93
. Taylor, “A Wife for Mr. Pierce,” p. 343.

94
. Anne M. Means,
Amherst and Our Family Tree
(Boston, 1921), p. 258.

95
. Taylor, “A Wife for Mr. Pierce,” p. 259.

96
. Pryor,
Reminiscences,
pp. 16f.

97
. Journal of Elihu Burritt, March 1854. New Britain Public Library, New Britain, Connecticut.

98
. Means,
Amherst and Our Family,
p. 255.

99
. Elihu Burritt's Journal, March 1854.

100
. Margaret Gray Blanton, Unpublished Manuscript, “Tennessee Johnson's Eliza,” University of Tennessee Library, Knoxville, Tennessee, p. 8.

101
. Thomas A. Bailey,
The American Pageant
(Lexington, 1966), p. 493.

102
. James et al., eds.,
Notable American Women,
vol. 2, p. 277.

103
. Blanton, “Tennessee Johnson's Eliza,” p. 11.

104
. Blanton, “Tennessee Johnson's Eliza,” pp. 14–15.

105
. Robert L. Winston,
Andrew Johnson: Plebeian and Patriot
(New York, 1928), p. 293.

106
. Margaret Gray Blanton found a double meaning in what others have concluded was a humble apology.

107
. Singleton,
Story of the White House,
vol. 2, p. 108.

108
. Blanton, “Tennessee Johnson's Eliza,” pp. 12–14.

109
. Blanton, “Tennessee Johnson's Eliza,” p. 18.

110
. Margaret Gray Blanton, Letter to Milton Lomask, June 14, 1961, University of Tennessee Library.

111
. Margaret Gray Blanton, Letter to Milton Lomask, June 14, 1961, University of Tennessee Library.

1
. Allan Nevins, ed.,
The Diary of John Quincy Adams
(New York, 1951), p. 574.

2
. Charles Sellers,
James K. Polk,
2 vols. (Princeton, 1957), vol. 1, p. 93.

3
. Adelaide L. Fries,
Historical Sketch of Salem Female Academy
(Salem, 1902), pp. 3–11.

4
. Anson and Fanny Nelson,
Memorials of Sarah Childress Polk
(New York, 1892), p. 68.

5
. Barbara Welter, Hunter College Conference, City University of New York, December 4, 1982.

6
. Letter from Sarah Polk to James Polk, March 29, 1843, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

7
. Letter from Sarah Polk to James Polk, April 17, 1843, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

8
. Letter from Sarah Polk to James Polk, May 3, 1843, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

9
. Letter from Sarah Polk to James Polk, April 17, 1843, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

10
. Letter from Sarah Polk to James Polk, April 17, 1843, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

11
. Letter from Sarah Polk to James Polk, March 29, 1843, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

12
. Letter from Sarah Polk to James Polk, March 29, 1843, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

13
. Sarah Agnes Wallace, ed., “Letters of Mrs. James K. Polk,”
Tennessee Historical Quarterly,
vol. 11 (June 1952), p. 181.

14
. Sellers,
James K. Polk,
vol. 1, p. 340.

15
. A. V. Brown to Sarah Polk, January 14, 1844, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

16
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 79.

17
. This particular comment by Ferraro aroused considerable comment. See, for example, the review of her book in the
New York Times,
October 30, 1985.

18
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 78.

19
. Henry Dilwood Gilpin to Martin Van Buren, February 24, 1845, Van Buren Papers, Library of Congress.

20
. Sellers,
James K. Polk,
vol. 2, p. 193.

21
. Sellers,
James K. Polk
, vol. 1, p. 143.

22
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 68.

23
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 39.

24
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 79.

25
. Sellers,
James K. Polk,
vol. 1, p. 250.

26
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 110.

27
. Sellers,
James K. Polk,
vol. 2, p. 192.

28
. Sellers,
James K. Polk,
vol. 2, p. 307.

29
. Allan Nevins, ed.,
Diary of a President
(New York, 1952), p. 358.

30
. Jessie Benton Frémont,
Souvenirs of My Time
(New York, 1887), p. 103.

31
. Sellers,
James K. Polk,
vol. 2, p. 308.

32
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 113.

33
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 112.

34
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 118.

35
. For representative treatments, see Thomas A. Bailey,
The American Pageant,
4th ed. (Lexington, 1971), pp. 306–308; John A. Garraty,
The American Nation,
2d ed. (New York, 1971), p. 373.

36
. Edward T. James et al., eds.,
Notable American Women,
3 vols. (Cambridge, 1971), vol. 3, p. 82.

37
. Katharine Shelburne Trickey, “Young Hickory and Sarah,”
Daughters of American Revolution Magazine,
vol. 108 (1974), p. 433.

38
.
New York Herald,
cited in Aileen S. Kraditor,
Up From the Pedestal
(Chicago, 1968), p. 189.

39
. Alfred Balch to Martin Van Buren, November 22, 1842, Polk Papers, Library of Congress.

40
. Nevins, ed.,
Diary of a President,
p. 352.

41
. John Spencer Bassett,
The Southern Plantation Overseer
(New York, 1925), p. 268.

42
.
Peterson's Magazine,
March 1849, p. 91.

43
.
New York Times,
August 15, 1891, p. 5.

44
. Clipping from
Mt. Vernon Banner,
undated, Polk Papers, Library of Congress, reel 63.

45
. Nelson and Nelson,
Memorials,
p. 282.

46
. The main catalogue at the New York Public Library lists thirty-two works on the subject of “Mary Todd Lincoln.” In addition to biographical treatments, the entries include fiction, such as “The Trial of Mary Todd Lincoln” by James A. Rhodes and Dean Jauchius (1952), and dramas, such as “The Woman in Lincoln's Life” by Louis A. Warren (1946). Most of the works were published after her death.

47
. Alfred Joseph Dumais, in “An Analysis of the Dramaturgical Use of History in the Writing of Two Full Length Plays about Mary Todd Lincoln” (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University, 1978), explores this problem.