Martha Washington Quotes
The second worst day of my life was when Thomas Jefferson called on me to pay his condolences.
By the end of George Washington’s Second term, he and Thomas Jefferson, his Secretary of State, were at odds. Jefferson became concerned at the Federalist policies and directions and their pro British and anti French tilt and became a leader of the attack on the Federalists after John Adams assumed the Presidency. Since Washington was the leading Federalist of his time, Mrs. Washington felt that Jefferson’s attacks on the Federalists were insulting to her husband. Washington had died in 1799, and Adams and the Federalist Party was on their last legs. When Jefferson came to give his condolences, he was on the verge of destroying Washington’s party, and Martha Washington believed that Jefferson had written some material that had attacked her husband’s policy. While Jefferson never attacked Washington by name—no one did—Mrs. Washington felt that there was too much innuendo and implied criticism from Jefferson’s strong attack on the Federalists. In the final analysis, when Jefferson won the presidency, the Federalists were so badly trounced, the party died and most of the nation agreed with Jefferson.
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, 1731-1802, First, First Lady, Quoted by Ron Chernow, PBS The Charlie Rose Show, October 27, 2010
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Martha Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first President of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural First Lady of the United States. During her lifetime, she was often referred to as "Lady Washington".
