Margaret bayard smith biography

Margaret Bayard Smith (20 February 1778 – 7 June 1844) was an American writer and political commentator in the early Republic of the United States.
Margaret Bayard Smith was born on February 20, 1778, on a farm in Pennsylvania.
Margaret Bayard Smith was an American writer and political commentator in the early Republic of the United States, a time when women generally lived within strict gender roles.

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Margaret Bayard was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of a revolutionary war officer. In addition to her seven siblings, her parents also raised her three orphaned cousins. Margaret and her sisters attended the Moravian School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where they learned German, arithmetic, and literature, in addition to embroidery and the other domestic skills usually taught to young women. In 1791, at the age of 13, Margaret went to live in New York City with one of her sisters and her brother-in-law, through whom she met New York intellectual elites.

In 1800, she married Samuel Harrison Smith, a newspaper writer and publisher who was friends with Thomas Jefferson, then president-elect. Shortly after the wedding the Smiths moved to Washington, DC, where at Jefferson's request Mr. Smith established a newspaper, the Daily Intelligencer. The Smiths were among the earliest long-term, year-round residents of the new national capital, and became part of its core social community. At her home in Washington, Margaret Bayard Smith entertained politicians, artists, authors, and j

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Margaret Bayard Smith

American writer (1778–1844)

Margaret Bayard Smith (20 February 1778 – 7 June 1844) was an American writer and political commentator in the early Republic of the United States, a time when women generally lived within strict gender roles. Her writings and relationships shaped both politics and society in the capital of early Washington, DC. Her literary reputation is based primarily on a collection of her letters and notebooks written from 1800 to 1841, and published posthumously in 1906 as The First Forty Years of Washington Society, edited by Gaillard Hunt.^[1]

Smith began writing books in the 1820s: a two-volume novel in 1824 called A Winter in Washington, or Memoirs of the Seymour Family,^[2] and What is Gentility? (1825).^[3]^[4] She also wrote several biographical profiles, including one of her close friend Dolley Madison for the National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, published in 1836.^[5]

Early life

Margaret Bayard was born on 20 February 1778 in rural Pennsylvan

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On the morning of Mr Madison’s inauguration, he asked Mr Jefferson to ride in his carriage with him to the Capitol, but this he declined, & in answer to one1 who enquired of him why he had not accompanied his friend—he smiled & replied, “I wished not to divide with him the honors of the day—it pleased me better to see them all bestowed on him.” A large procession of citizens, some in carriages, on horse back, & a still larger on foot, followed Mr Madison along Pensylvania avenue to the Capitol—Among those on horse-back was Mr Jefferson, unattended by even a servant, undistinguished in any way2 from his fellow citizens—Arrived at the Capitol he dismounted & “Oh!3 shocking,” as many, even democrats, as well as the british minister M. Foster,4 might have exclaimed, he hitched his own horse to a post, & followed the multitude into the Hall of Representatives. Here a seat had been prepared for him near that of the new President—this he declined—& when urged by the Committee of arrangement, he replied, “this day I