She was noted for holding Washington social functions in which she invited members of both political parties, essentially spearheading the concept of bipartisan cooperation.

Previously, founders such as Thomas Jefferson would only meet with members of one party at a time, and politics could often be a violent affair resulting in physical altercations and even duels.

Madison helped to create the idea that members of each party could amicably socialize, network, and negotiate with each other without violence.

[3] In widowhood, she often lived in poverty aggravated by her son John Payne Todd's alcoholism and mismanagement of their Montpelier plantation.

Madison was born as Dolley Payne on May 20, 1768,[a] at Paines Tavern in Person County, North Carolina to Mary Coles and John Payne Jr.[5][6] and lived with her family in a log cabin in New Garden, Guilford County (present-day Greensboro), North Carolina.

[9] Mary Coles was from a Quaker family and two years after their marriage the couple applied for membership in the Cedar Creek meeting.

[16][13] Her father did not participate in the American Revolutionary War, as his faith practiced pacifism, and Allgor writes that Madison was seemingly little affected by it.

[22] Upon the family's move to Philadelphia, John had attempted to build a career as a starch manufacturer, but the business failed in 1789.

[28] Aaron Burr, who had once stayed at the boarding house of Madison's mother, assisted her in these efforts, offering legal advice.

[31] In May 1794, Burr made the formal introduction between the young widow and Madison, who at 43 was a longstanding bachelor 17 years her senior.

[33] Madison worked with the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe to furnish the White House, the first official residence built for the president of the United States.

[38] In the approach to the 1808 presidential election, with Thomas Jefferson ready to retire, the Democratic-Republican caucus nominated James Madison to succeed him.

He was elected the fourth President of the United States, serving two terms from 1809 to 1817, and Dolley Madison became the official White House hostess.

[39] Madison helped define the official functions, decorated the Executive Mansion, and welcomed visitors in her drawing room.

As it approached and the White House staff prepared to flee, Dolley ordered Paul Jennings, her personal servant, to save the Stuart painting, a copy of the Lansdowne portrait,[3] of George Washington.

She wrote in a letter to her sister at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of August 23: Our kind friend Mr. Carroll has come to hasten my departure, and in a very bad humor with me, because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall.

On handing the canvas to the gentlemen in question, Messrs. Barker and Depeyster, Mr. Sioussat cautioned them against rolling it up, saying that it would destroy the portrait.

[42][43]Popular accounts during and after the war years portrayed Dolley Madison as the one who removed the painting, and she became a national heroine.

An 1865 memoir by Jennings stated that she had ordered him to save the painting, and that Jean Pierre Sioussat and a gardener, McGraw, were the ones who removed it from the wall.

[44][45] Early twentieth-century historians noted that Sioussat had directed the servants, many of whom were enslaved people, in the crisis, and that they were the ones who actually preserved the painting.

[48] Dolley and James Madison returned to the Montpelier plantation in Orange County, Virginia, on April 6, 1817, a month after his retirement from the presidency.

Congress authorized $55,000 as payment for editing and publishing seven volumes of these papers, including James's notes on the 1787 convention.

[51] While Dolley Madison was living in Washington, Payne Todd was unable to manage the plantation, due to alcoholism and related illness.

[52][53] Madison sold Montpelier, its remaining enslaved people, and the furnishings to pay off outstanding debts.

Three photographs were taken on July 4, 1848, including one featuring her niece, Anna Payne; the final one was taken in 1849, featuring President James Polk, his wife Sarah Polk, future President James Buchanan and future First Lady Harriet Lane.

[34] She was buried in an air-tight Fisk metallic burial case with a glass window plate for viewing the face of the deceased.

[60] During World War II the Liberty ship SS Dolly Madison was built in Panama City, Florida, and named in her honor.

[68] Since 1982 Siena College Research Institute has periodically conducted surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president.