Dolley Madison And The War Of 1812

Dolley Madison is the target when America declares war on Great Britain and enemy soldiers march into Washington City. How can she save the United States and herself?

A book to challenge the status quo, spark a debate, and get people talking about the issues and questions we face as a country!

Dolley was a farm girl who became a fine first lady when she married James Madison. She wore beautiful dresses, decorated her home, and threw lavish parties. Everyone talked about Dolley, and everyone loved her, too. Then war arrived at her doorstep, and Dolley had to meet challenges greater than she’d ever known. So Dolley did one thing she thought might make a difference: she saved George Washington. Not the man himself, but a portrait of him, which would surely have been destroyed by English soldiers. Don Brown once again deftly tells a little known story about a woman who made a significant contribution to American history.

August 28, 1814. Dressed in black, James Madison mourns the nation's loss. Smoke rises from the ruin of the Capitol before him; a mile away stands the blackened shell of the White House. The British have laid waste to Washington City, and as Mr. Madison gazes at the terrible vista, he ponders the future-his country's defeat or victory-in a war he began over the unanimous objections of his political adversaries. As we approach its bicentennial, the War of 1812 remains the least understood of America's wars. To some it was a conflict that resolved nothing, but to others, it was our second war of independence, settling once and for all that America would never again submit to Britain. At its center was James Madison-our most meditative of presidents, yet the first one to declare war. And at his side was the extraordinary Dolley, who defined the role of first lady for all to follow, and who would prove perhaps her husband's most indispensable ally. In this powerful new work, drawing on countless primary sources, acclaimed historian Hugh Howard presents a gripping account of the conflict as James and Dolley Madison experienced it. Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War rediscovers a conflict fought on land and sea-from the shores of the Potomac to the Great Lakes-that proved to be a critical turning point in American history. Advance praise for Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War : "Hugh Howard has turned the least known and understood war in American history into a Technicolor, wide-screen epic of thrilling naval battles, brutal backwoods skirmishes, villainous intrigue, and stirring heroism. Thanks to Howard's prodigious research, fine eye for the telling detail, and vivid prose, the War of 1812 seems as contemporary and compelling as yesterday's battlefield dispatches from the Middle East."-Thurston Clarke, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Campaign

Known as the Father of the Constitution, James Madison served two terms as the fourth president, from 1809 until 1817. Determined that all Americans be treated fairly, he devised our three branches of government and drafted the Bill of Rights. When the British set fire to Washington D.C. in 1814, his wife Dolley saved one of our country's greatest treasures, a portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart which now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution, before fleeing for her life.

When President James Madison declared war on Great Britain for a second time, the War of 1812 began. Problems started when America sent ships out to sea to trade with other countries. The war eventually ended, and the Treaty of Ghent was signed. America earned the respect of the British as a free, independent nation.

Recounts the story of how Dolley Madison became First Lady of the United States and how she saved historical items from the White House during the War of 1812.