The First First Lady - American History, 1493-1945

Letter from Martha Washington to Frances 'Fanny' Washington

30 April 1789

View the letter from Martha Washington to Frances B. Washington in the resource

On 30 April 1789, George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States. Washington learnt of his appointment two weeks earlier, on 14 April, when the then Secretary of Congress, Charles Thomson, arrived at Mount Vernon to inform him of the election results. Two days later, he left for the temporary national capital, New York City, and arrived on 23 April. During his week-long journey Washington traveled through six states, attending celebrations in cities and towns along the route and was cheered by thousands of citizens who lined the roads. His wife, Martha, was not by his side. She left Mount Vernon with her two grandchildren and seven house servants in mid-May and arrived in New York City in early June.

Shortly after her arrival in New York, Martha wrote this letter to her niece Frances (Fanny), which describes her journey and focuses on the things that matter to her most – her family. In one sentence she notes that "the children [were] very well and chearfull [sic] all the way" with her grandchild "Nelly [complaining] very little of being sick", while another reveals that one of her priorities in New York "was to get the children to a good school". As her niece’s guardian, Frances’ well-being also appears to be important to Martha. Towards the beginning of the letter, for instance, Martha writes of her recent visit to a corset maker and how she ordered a corset and "two pairs of shoes of a new fashioned kind" to be sent to her niece.

Some have argued that Martha missed her husband’s inauguration ceremony as a form of protest, because she did not want him to become president and was unwilling to take on the demanding and public role of the president’s wife. Others have claimed that two days was simply too short a notice to get the family organized to leave Mount Vernon and/or that Martha envisaged the frenzy of her husband’s journey and thought it was an unsuitable environment for their grandchildren.

Whatever the truth, Martha Washington took on the responsibilities assigned to the president’s spouse and set important precedents for the role of the ‘First Lady’. Although publicly silent on political matters, she recognized the importance of her role as hostess and used formal entertaining as a way of lending both approachability and status to the presidential office. She held weekly Friday evening receptions at Mount Vernon, for instance, which gave ‘The First Family of the United States’ an opportunity to interact with guests and visitors in a private setting.

Martha Washington has long been referred to as the first ‘First Lady’ of the United States, but never used this title during her husband’s eight years in office. Rather, she was simply referred to by her contemporaries as 'Lady Washington' and 'our Lady Presidentess'. Indeed, it would be another half a century until the title ‘First Lady’ entered the daily parlance of the American people, when President James Buchanan’s niece, Harriet Lane (1830-1903), was addressed as the 'first lady of the White House'. From then onwards the term was more widely used when referring to the president’s spouse.