Martha Washington did not want to be the first lady of the United States. In fact, Martha Washington was very opposed to her husband, George Washington, accepting the presidency.
When he was sworn in on April 30, 1789 in New York City, Martha Washington was not at his side. She was at the Washingtons’ home in Virginia. They lived on a large estate called Mount Vernon. Mrs. Washington was not in a hurry to go to New York City, the nation’s first capital. She said she was too busy packing to come to the inauguration.
After he was sworn in, George Washington called the presidency “an experiment.” The same can be said for the position of first lady. One question was what to call Martha Washington. Many people called her “Lady Washington.” Others used the name “Presidentess.”
Courtesy of George Washington's Mount Vernon
Courtesy of George Washington's Mount Vernon
When Mrs. Washington finally arrived in New York City, she discovered that the president’s aides had made all kinds of rules about what she would do – rules she did not like, that took away her private life.
Patricia Brady is a historian who wrote the book “Martha Washington: An American Life.”
“For the first year, she pretty much did what they, Washington and Adams and Madison, had kind of worked out what the first – though they didn’t call it the first lady then – of what the president’s lady’s role should be. And she pretty much did what she was asked to do, although she made things much less formal, much less like the, like royalty.”
One day a week, Mrs. Washington and Abigail Adams, wife of Vice President John Adams, sat next to each other and received guests. Compared to the fancy European courts, these events were more plain