Martha Washington, the first First Lady, was born on this day in New Kent County, Va., in 1731. The wealthy plantation-owning Dandridge family made sure she learned how to read, write, and navigate high society with ease. She became the wealthiest woman in the colony when she married her neighbor in 1750, but she was widowed seven years later. Not long after that, eligible bachelor, fellow plantation owner, war hero, and legislator George Washington entered her life.
During the Revolutionary War, she made an impression by joining her husband on the front, helping gather supplies for the troops. When George became president three decades later, Martha was tasked with inventing a whole new set of social norms for a country without a political precedent. She began holding regular receptions in the presidential residence, including everyday community members. Allowing people without great wealth into the mansion lent a democratic character to the gatherings.
Problem was, Martha hated the job, which kept her ever-busy but ever-lonely. When the Washingtons retired to Mount Vernon, Va. in 1797, she continued hosting guests and managing the property, but with satisfaction that she was finally home. She died in 1802.
Her reputation as a respected innovator of democratic norms has been retained to this day, save for one glaring aspect of her life: As a plantation mistress, she owned hundreds of human beings. Martha saw herself as benevolent in her treatment of slaves, but also actively worked to avoid freeing them, and saw them as ungrateful and an inconvenience, speaking ill of them as late as 1795. While she freed George’s slaves after his death, it’s clear she did so reluctantly, and possibly only out of fear.
