America's First Daughter

In the summer of 1802, Jefferson invites William, his former secretary, to visit the family at Monticello. Patsy is nervous at the thought of encountering her suitor after 13 years.

William smoothly handles the greetings. Though he’s never married, he has risen to prominence in the diplomatic corps. Jefferson denies him the ambassadorship to France because he says that William has been under the influence of Europe for too long. He needs to spend more time in his native land in order to successfully represent American interests abroad.

William tells Patsy that he may settle in Virginia with the intention of renting his land to black and white sharecroppers. Patsy is shocked to learn that William has lent her father $15,000. She knows her father used part of this sum to save Tom’s Varina plantation.

A conversation with Virginia politicians over dinner convinces Patsy that William no longer fits in with their group: “Good southern Republicans were planters. Federalists were stock jobbers and paper men […] Madison was saying that William Short wasn’t one of us anymore” (374).

A scandal breaks in the national papers accusing Jefferson of keeping a slave concubine named Sally. William observes, “Partisanship has made anything fair which honor and propriety might once have kept quiet” (376). Patsy and her father finally have a talk about the subject they’ve avoided all their lives. Despite Patsy’s urgings, Jefferson refuses to publicly address the accusation. He believes the story will run its course and die away.

Knowing how many enemies he has in the capital, Jefferson insists that both his daughters accompany him to Washington to provide moral support. Patsy is uneasy about returning to fashionable society. Dolley Madison takes charge of her and helps her select clothing much as Abigail Adams once did. Before he leaves Monticello, William warns Patsy, “Remember, when you go to Washington City, that there’s no place for an angel in the capital” (385).

Patsy and Polly arrive in Washington during a time of political turmoil. Battle lines have been drawn between Federalists and Republicans, and threats have been made against Jefferson’s life. Patsy assigns herself the role of her father’s protector—his Amazon rather than his angel. The First Daughter becomes an adept diplomat in her own right. She smooths a variety of ruffled political feathers at various government social functions. In contrast, Polly lacks her sister’s confidence and needs to be coaxed out into public.

After being elected to Congress, Tom recovers some of his self-respect. Patsy is happy to support his political aspirations. Later, while on a shopping expedition, Patsy encounters William. He confides his ambition to become minister to France but resists her advice to curry favor with James Madison if he wants the post. Patsy suspects William is delaying his departure because of her. She thinks ruefully, “I would never risk all that I loved for fleeting desire. But it would be better never to be tempted in the first place” (396).

Patsy and Polly, pregnant at the same time, each deliver a healthy baby girl. Polly grows feverish after the delivery. Both her husband and Jefferson are summoned back from Washington but only arrive in time to see her die. Patsy recognizes the striking parallel to her own mother’s deathbed scene: “The nostalgic horror of it all sent my father stumbling back, fleeing into another room while weeping into his handkerchief” (399).

Tom’s sister, Nancy, comes to Edgehill to offer her support. She and Patsy have a long conversation about Nancy’s youthful scandal. The facts aren’t what Patsy had supposed: Richard’s wife, Judy, poisoned Nancy’s baby. Later, Judy poisoned Richard. Nancy has been kept as a virtual prisoner in Judy’s house ever since. Although the rest of the Randolphs have distanced themselves from her, Nancy begs to stay with Patsy and Tom, promising to take the place of the sister that Patsy has just lost.

In the summer of 1805, new accusations are leveled at Jefferson. In a letter to Patsy, he confesses to the attempted seduction of a married woman decades earlier. Now, the woman’s husband wants to fight him in a duel. Patsy fears a repeat of the Hamilton-Burr duel. She tells her father it would be ridiculous for two elderly men to fight a duel over something that happened 40 years ago. Jefferson is relieved that his daughter forgives his youthful indiscretions. Patsy observes, “It had always been my place to pull him back from the abyss” (408). Jefferson declares that he needs Patsy by his side in Washington. She and Tom decide to take the whole family there.

Dolley Madison offers Patsy a lesson in the intricacies of parlor politics, and the influence wielded by congressmen’s wives. Patsy begins to cultivate their acquaintance and becomes adept at managing foreign ministers: “Every dinner and every lady’s tea was a mission to beat back the calumny heaped upon Papa’s head by his enemies” (417).

During the summer of 1806, Patsy is anxious regarding the prospect of yet another duel. Cousin John Randolph tries to provoke a duel with Tom. Tom seems inclined to accept the challenge. During a heated exchange on the topic with Patsy, he slaps her for the second time in their married life. Overcome with shame for having broken a promise never to hit his wife again, Tom backs down from the duel.

By 1807, the British are stopping American ships and stealing crewmen for their own navy. Jefferson declares an embargo. Patsy realizes that the only way to make the embargo succeed is if American women learn to manufacture all the products that had previously been imported from overseas: “We’d have to weave together a whole tapestry of American life with nothing but our own hands, our own crops, and our own ingenuity” (425).

In 1809, Jefferson wearily hands the reins of government to his successor, James Madison. He now returns to Monticello and once more gathers his extended family together under one roof.