DOROTHY TODD PAYNE MADISON ("DOLLEY") | An autograph quotation by Dolley Madison of her husband’s "Toast … for the 4th of July 1798"

Property from the Collection of Elsie and Philip Sang

DOROTHY TODD PAYNE MADISON ("DOLLEY")

AUTOGRAPH TRANSCRIPTION SIGNED ("DP MADISON"), QUOTING ONE OF THE "TOASTS FOR AN AMERICAN DINNER" WRITTEN BY JAMES MADISON IN JULY 1798

One page (5 7/8 x 3 5/8 in.; 150 x 95 mm) on a leaf of embossed ladies' writing paper, headed "A Toast prepared by Mr. Madison for the 4th of July 1798," Washington, 6 May 1848; a couple of very faint, small stains.

In July 1798, during one of the few periods when he was not in government service (his congressional term having elapsed in March 1797 and his appointment as Secretary of State not commencing until May 1801), James Madison composed a series of eighteen toasts and some cryptic "Notes on an American Dinner." Decades after the event, Madison's widow occasionally wrote out transcriptions of some of the proposed toasts as souvenirs.

Evidence suggests that the toasts—while mostly sincere testimonials to the founding and spirit of the young republic—were likely written, possibly for publication, to lampoon Independence Day dinners sponsored by Federalists. Among the "respectable Citizens" attending the dinner, Madison names Jonas Harpoon, Warren Shipyard, Jonathan Bullock, Sylvanus Penn, Christopher Kitefoot, Georgia Rice, and Nimrod West, all of whom drank the toasts with the "best American Cyder."

Regardless of the genesis of the toasts, Dolley Madison found this one eloquent enough to transcribe half a century later: "'The examples of the American Revolution and Constitution.—Revolutions without blood and Governments without nobles or kings.'"

Mrs. Madison wrote out this toast on at least one other occasion, 26 February 1849 (Christie's, 18 December 2003, lot 307). She also transcribed at least two other of the proposed toasts as souvenirs as well: "The Union—May it find an everlasting cement in the Revolution and the sacredness of the Constitution" (Marshall B. Coyne Collection; Sotheby's, 5 June 2001, lot 183) and "The Fedl. Judy. May it remember that it is the Expositor of the laws, not the Trumpeter of politics" (given to Eliza Lee, now in the Daniel Webster Papers, New Hampshire Historical Society).

REFERENCE:

Papers of James Madison, ed. Mattern, et al., 17:160–162

PROVENANCE:

Stan. V. Henkels, Jr., 13 October 1933, lot 81 (undesignated consignor)