The Republic Conservator

Amanda Read Sheik

Cultivating a self-governing citizenry to keep the republic. republicconservator.substack.com

  1. Oct 26

    The Keepers: Sojourner Truth

    Among many ladies who kept the republic, we find well-educated, intellectual women taking the lead in shaping American ideals, and leaving behind substantial writing in their own voices. But there was an activist who notably asserted her rights and liberty despite never learning to read or write. We know her by her chosen moniker “Sojourner Truth.” She was born circa 1797 to enslaved parents John and Elizabeth Bomfree in Esopus, NY. They named her Isabella, and she grew up speaking Dutch as her first language, because Esopus was a predominately Dutch-settled region. Isabella was one of perhaps a dozen children, many of whom she witnessed being sold away from their family. When she was nine years old, her slave owner Charles Hardenbergh died, and thus began Isabella’s tragic journey of being sold to masters who were cruel and even sexually abusive. John Neely and his family beat and mocked her for not speaking English; John Dumont raped her and made her serve as a wet nurse to his babies at the expense of her own. Isabella married a fellow slave named Thomas, and had five children, one of whom was conceived due to rape by their slaveholder. In her autobiography the Narrative Life of Sojourner Truth, which she dictated to her friend Olive Gilbert, Isabella explains that she initially perceived slaveholders as divine authorities to whom she should submit, and focused on doing her best in her domestic work and taking her mother’s teachings to heart to develop a strong “sense of honesty.” When New York’s 1817 emancipation law (allowing for gradual emancipation of slaves born before 1799) was scheduled to go into effect in 1827, Dumont promised Isabella that because of her faithful service he would grant her freedom a year early. But Dumont reneged on that promise, so Isabella promptly took her youngest daughter, Sophia, and fled on foot to the home of her childhood friends the Van Wagenens (or Wageners). The Van Wagenens were abolitionists who secured Isabella’s freedom by paying Dumont the equivalent of her remaining year of work. As a free woman, Isabella took her friends’ surname and became Isabella Van Wagenen. Her next battle was to secure the freedom of her 5 year old son Peter. Dumont sold him to Solomon Gedney shortly after Isabella left, and legally Peter was required to remain within New York until his indentured period was completed under New York’s previous Gradual Emancipation act applying to slaves born after July 4, 1799. The new owner, however, gave him to a relative in Alabama, clearly violating the law. When Isabella learned of this she personally went and confronted Mrs. Dumont for allowing all this to happen, and Mrs. Dumont replied that she was making an awfully big fuss for such a “paltry” little boy, and scoffed at the idea that Isabella could afford to get him back - an example of the cognitive dissonance that too many Americans had towards Blacks, to the extent of being unable to comprehend an enslaved mother having a mother’s love for her enslaved child. “I have no money,” said Isabella, “but God has enough, or what’s better! And I’ll have my child again.” Isabella couldn’t even read signs, but she found her way to the courthouse, and pressed charges against Solomon Gedney, the offending party. A clerical error got his brother arrested instead, but once Gedney realized what was up, he followed legal counsel’s advice to return the abducted child to New York. Meanwhile Isabella tired of waiting on the case to be resolved. While wandering the streets and praying for a speedy resolution, a stranger approached and recommended she pay a visit to “lawyer Demesne” for help. Here is an excerpt from the memoir she dictated to her friend Olive Gilbert: She felt confident she was to receive a full and literal answer to her prayer, the burden of which had been-'O Lord, give my son into my hands, and that speedily! Let not the spoilers have him any longer.' Notwithstanding, she very distinctly saw that those who had thus far helped her on so kindly were wearied of her, and she feared God was wearied also. She had a short time previous learned that Jesus was a Saviour, and an intercessor; and she thought that if Jesus could but be induced to plead for her in the present trial, God would listen to him, though he were wearied of her importunities. To him, of course, she applied. As she was walking about, scarcely knowing whither she went, asking within herself, 'Who will show me any good, and lend a helping hand in this matter,' she was accosted by a perfect stranger, and one whose name she has never learned, in the following terms: 'Halloo, there; how do you get along with your boy? do they give him up to you?' She told him all, adding that now every body was tired, and she had none to help her. He said, 'Look here! I'll tell you what you'd better do. Do you see that stone house yonder?' pointing in a particular direction. 'Well, lawyer Demain lives there, and do you go to him, and lay your case before him; I think he'll help you. Stick to him. Don't give him peace till he does. I feel sure if you press him, he'll do it for you.' She needed no further urging, but trotted off at her peculiar gait in the direction of his house, as fast as possible,-and she was not encumbered with stockings, shoes, or any other heavy article of dress. When she had told him her story, in her impassioned manner, he looked at her a few moments, as if to ascertain if he were contemplating a new variety of the genus homo, and then told her, if she would give him five dollars, he would get her son for her, in twenty-four hours. 'Why,' she replied, 'I have no money, and never had a dollar in my life!' Said he, 'If you will go to those Quakers in Poppletown, who carried you to court, they will help you to five dollars in cash, I have no doubt; and you shall have your son in twenty-four hours, from the time you bring me that sum.' She performed the journey to Poppletown, a distance of some ten miles, very expeditiously; collected considerable more than the sum specified by the barrister; then, shutting the money tightly in her hand, she trotted back, and paid the lawyer a larger fee than he had demanded. When inquired of by people what she had done with the overplus, she answered, 'Oh, I got it for lawyer Demain, and I gave it to him. ' They assured her she was a fool to do so; that she should have kept all over five dollars, and purchased herself shoes with it. 'Oh, I do not want money or clothes now, I only want my son; and if five dollars will get him, more will surely get him. ' The resulting lawsuit restored custody of her son, with the judge ordering that “[the] boy be delivered into the hands of his mother— having no other master, no other controller, no other conductor, but his mother.” In The People v. Solomon Gedney, Isabella made U.S. history as the first Black woman to successfully sue a white man. Years later she felt called to “travel up and down the land, showing people their sins and being a sign to them,” hence taking the name Sojourner Truth and becoming a voice for the abolitionist movement and women’s rights. SOURCES & FURTHER READING “Sojourner Truth | Abolition, Women’s Rights, Name, Ain’t I a Woman Speech, & Biography |,” Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sojourner-Truth [Last accessed 10/26/26]. “Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883),” Women & the American Story, https://wams.nyhistory.org/life-story/sojourner-truth/ [Last accessed 10/26/26]. Sojourner Truth and Olive Gilbert, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1674/pg1674-images.html, [Last accessed 10/26/26]. “Summary of Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave, Emancipated from Bodily Servitude by the State of New York, in 1828,” Documenting the American South, https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/truth50/summary.html [Last accessed 10/26/26]. “Sojourner Truth’s Groundbreaking 1828 Court Case” - New York Almanack, https://www.newyorkalmanack.com… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit republicconservator.substack.com

  2. Aug 6

    Civics and Children's Media: Paw Patrol

    Paw Patrol is the wildly popular animated series about a team of highly trained pups led on heroic missions by a very technologically precocious and entrepreneurial 10-year-old boy named Ryder. (My husband has offered the fan theory that Ryder’s father must be Elon Musk.) Many children (including mine) love the stories about these canines who band together with their unique skillsets, personalities, strengths, and weaknesses to overcome any obstacle for the good of society. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh has pooh-poohed Paw Patrol as “annoying” and “obnoxious” with “no heart,” “no soul,” “no art,” “no creativity,” “nothing at all.” Well, eventually we probably find all kids’ TV shows trite and annoying at some point in time. But I think Walsh’s critique is a stretch. Paw Patrol certainly has some content that makes a good starting point for civic education. What is a mayor? What respect is owed to elected officials?One thing I like about Paw Patrol is that Ryder and the puppies serve cheerfully and treat people equally. Mayor Goodway is well-intentioned but often flighty and bumbling, getting Adventure Bay into predicaments the Paw Patrol has to solve. The pups don’t blame or complain, but instead focus on getting their jobs done. Mayor Humdinger is a jerk, and often the antagonist in the storyline, so many times the Paw Patrol is summoned to thwart his disastrous plans. But when Mayor Humdinger is in danger himself, the Paw Patrol assists without discrimination. He is mayor of the neighboring city of Foggy Bottom and they respect him as such. That’s the reality of living in a wider state, country, and world - we often have to work with citizens and elected officials even when don’t like them or agree with them. What is “consent of the governed,” and why is it necessary to make government authority valid? What is lawful resistance? Or simpler put, when is government acceptable, and when is government not acceptable, and what can be done about it? For further grown-up reading, see Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos.A couple of plots in the Paw Patrol series broach the topic of election fraud: in one episode, Humdinger runs an illegitimate campaign against Goodway to become Mayor of Adventure Bay (a jurisdiction in which he doesn’t live, among other violations. The endeavor results in him receiving zero votes). In the feature film, Paw Patrol: The Movie, Humdinger schemes his way into mayorship of Adventure City by ensuring he is the only candidate on the ballot. Then he abuses his power by accessing experimental resources to control the weather. This results in terrible problems for the city, and a little dachshund aptly named “Liberty” leads the way for dogs of the city to unite with the Paw Patrol and ultimately arrest Humdinger for his crimes. Human society establishes governments to help solve problems that are too big to be handled on an individual and family level (i.e. crime, fire, foreign invasion). Sometimes government services partner with independent organizations (like the Paw Patrol!) to achieve goals. We aren’t all cut out for every role, we have strengths and weaknesses that help determine how and where we best serve. Paw Patrol features a cast of characters that have very clear sets of skills, strengths, weaknesses, hopes, and fears. They are a united front but fulfill different roles, and one can’t really replace the other. These are the kinds of constitutionally related educational topics I find Paw Patrol naturally brings up in conversation with my little ones, and it might give you some ideas as well to seize the opportunity for civic education even at play. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit republicconservator.substack.com

    Civics and Children's Media: Paw Patrol

  3. Jun 15

    Florida’s Geopolitical Role In American Independence

    This is a little talk I’ve been sharing at local events in honor of America’s semiquincentennial, though most of the Florida story takes place after 1776. Now that we are celebrating 250 years of American independence, we will hear a lot of the classic, inspiring stories of patriotism as they unfolded in regions across the budding United States: New England saw “the problem child” colony of Massachusetts defying Parliament; the Mid Atlantic saw Pennsylvania hosting Continental Congress; the South had Virginia’s devoted George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. But what about the Gulf Coast? What was significant about Florida? The territory of Florida was no stranger to the clash of European empires, and rather was a gateway to revolutionary ventures on the continent thanks to Juan Ponce de Leon’s landing in 1513. But Florida’s unique role in the founding of the United States as a free republic was mostly one of geographic strategy. When the 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War, Spain ceded Florida to Britain. The British proceeded to divide their new colonial acquisition into East Florida, with St. Augustine – the oldest active European-established city in North America – as its capital, and West Florida, with Pensacola, of the old Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola – perhaps an Apalachee name meaning “long-haired people” – as its capital. West Florida extended as far north as the middle of what is now the State of Alabama, and as far west as the Mississippi River. The proximity to both the Caribbean and the western frontier made Florida an exciting prospect for British colonialism. Yet what made the British Empire so successful in colonizing was its tendency to produce self-governing colonies that were lower maintenance because they were relatively self-sufficient, generating revenue without needing to be micro-managed (the flip side is that feature also made their colonies difficult to hold onto). Florida, meanwhile, didn’t develop to that level. As royal colonies, East & West Florida each had an appointed governor, lieutenant governor, chief justice, and upper house, but couldn’t have an elected lower legislative house until they reached a certain population threshold. Even with multiple incentive packages, it was hard to convince enough people to permanently settle in Florida. Daniel Boone was initially interested and bought some land in Pensacola. But as the story goes, his wife didn’t like the idea of moving so far away from family, so they remained in North Carolina. There was also a learning curve to settling in Florida climate and terrain. English folks started remodeling Spanish houses into the British styles that felt more like home, only to realize the Spanish architecture served a very practical purpose in the hot, humid, mosquito-laden climate that could still experience some chilling winds in winter. Overall, those who resided in British Florida remained dependent upon the Mother Country (English trade was their sustenance), so they understandably took a loyalist position when separation from Britain was on the table. There was a paradox here: Florida being less independent than the more established American colonies made it easier for the British to utilize, but that same lack of independence also made it a vulnerable spot on the geopolitical landscape. Vulnerable in particular to its former empire, Spain. This would work in favor of the American cause. On June 29th, 1779, Spain, after covertly supporting the American rebellion for three years, declared war on Britain. A prominent leader on this front was Colonel Bernardo de Gálvez, governor of Spanish New Orleans (France gave Louisiana to Spain in 1762). Historian Barbara A. Mitchell captures the essence of this uniquely Spanish American mission: “The long-term Spanish strategy was to seize the well-fortified British enclaves of Mobile and Pensacola, which lay east of New Orleans on the Gulf Coast. Gálvez began preparing for a long campaign. Arranging for provisions in July 1779, he dispatched an emissary to the provincial governor of Texas, where Spanish vaqueros—cowboys—managed great herds around Béxar, present-day San Antonio. The next month, they herded 2,000 Texas longhorns to Louisiana to supply Gálvez’s troops—the inaugural long-range Texas cattle drive. By August, Gálvez had assembled a force of remarkable diversity for the 18th century. The initial troop of more than 600 men comprised 170 veteran soldiers, 330 recruits from Mexico and the Canary Islands, 60 militiamen and local citizens, 80 free blacks, and 7 American volunteers, including Oliver Pollock [Irish businessman and fiancier of the American Revolution, interestingly credited with creating the American dollar sign – as an accident of poor handwriting]. Gálvez recruited another 600 men among Louisiana’s German and Acadian immigrants, and 160 Indians. The babel of languages can only be imagined: West African, German, Acadian French, probably Choctaw or Chickasaw, and the Castilian of the Mexicans, Cubans, and peninsular Spaniards, with the Irish lilt of the bilingual Pollock. The troops marched more than 100 miles through the dense forests and swamps northwest of New Orleans to a recently constructed six-cannon British fort on the eastern shore of Mississippi, a few miles south of Baton Rouge. Gálvez preceded them and continued to muster volunteers. Though almost a third of the men became ill from the swarming mosquitoes and fever-inducing swampland, by all accounts their leader managed to instill esprit de corps in them.” Thus began Gálvez’s gradual campaign eastward to reclaim Florida for the Spanish crown. Marching upon Baton Rouge, Gálvez, who himself had a French-American wife and a baby at home, was aware many of his troops were inexperience volunteers with young families. He avoided a direct assault on the city and, as Mitchell explains, “[u]sing a diversionary detachment to draw British fire as twilight fell, Gálvez’s men surreptitiously installed cannons he had hauled upriver on flatbeds in a garden on the opposite side of the fort. In the morning, the dismayed British realized their mistake, but it was too late. Gálvez’s troops launched an artillery barrage from their secure vantage point and wrecked the fort. The British could not bring their own guns to bear on the garden. By midday, the British officers proposed a truce, the terms of which included the surrender of both Baton Rouge and Fort Panmure, at Natchez, Mississippi, though the Spanish could not immediately claim the second prize.” The commanding British officer at Pensacola attempted to thwart the surrender by urging inhabitants of Fort Panmure to rally against the Spanish, but Pollock came in handy here. He believed the Natchez would be supportive of the Americans and the Spanish, so he wrote them a persuasive letter. They immediately surrendered the fort. “It had so fortunate a result,” Gálvez reflected, “that with the loss of only one man and of two wounded, we have taken all the English settlements which they had on this river.” George Washington was also relieved to hear of the Spanish closing in on the British in the Gulf Coast theater. Mobile was more challenging, with storms and shipwrecks hindering the effort. Mitchell writes further, “[t]he story later circulated that Gálvez had thoughts of abandoning his mission. But he persevered, salvaging artillery from one of the ships to establish a battery at the entrance of Mobile Bay. Catching his spirit, the men constructed ladders from the wreckage of their ships to scale the walls of the fort.” In March of 1780, following some attempts at negotiation and intense barrage of artillery, the British surrendered Fort Charlotte on March 14th, 1780. Now Gálvez wanted to complete the mission by taking the West Florida capital of Pensacola. But he had to wait on additional troops from Spain and their surrounding territories, which struggled to endure disease a… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit republicconservator.substack.com

  4. May 20

    Educational Spotlight: "The President of the Jungle"

    I’m definitely partial to vintage, classic children’s picture books, but there are some new ones out there worth reading. While browsing our local library I came across The President of the Jungle, a funny story about animals peacefully uprising against the King Lion by agreeing to hold an election for a president instead. It was published in 2020 and features some familiar protest slogans and candidate personalities that adults can appreciate. It was written and illustrated by Andre Rodrigues, Larissa Ribeiro, Paula Desgualdo, and Pedro Markun. My children enjoyed it and requested multiple re-reads. The bright colored illustrations are a little reminiscent of folk art and often rather abstract, so part of the interest among my little ones is trying to decipher what some of the animals are supposed to be. The story gives the overview of creating and maintaining an election process: The animals are weary of the King Lion’s heavy hand and decide they will all unite to choose a president for themselves instead. They make an agreement to adhere to certain rules, including that each animal is allowed one vote (one candidate eventually gets disqualified for violating the rule against bribery). Several animals run for president (interestingly the former King Lion tries his hand at getting duly elected himself). They debate, hold rallies, and on election day patiently wait for the votes to be tallied. The book ends with the realistic, peaceful conclusion that not everyone is satisfied with the outcome of the election, so it’s good that they will have another election the following year. The President of the Jungle is worth checking out at your local library or buying (a hardback copy is available for $10.43 on Amazon) to read aloud while children are learning about the basics of democracy. Note: My oldest, age 7, made one criticism that lions don’t live in jungles. I realized after recording the episode that I had forgotten to list the names of the authors and illustrators. I have included them above in the text. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit republicconservator.substack.com

  5. Apr 21

    The Keepers: Mrs. Mercy Otis Warren

    Mercy Otis Warren was an early advocate, critic, and historian of the United States founding. Born September 14, 1728 in Barnstable, MA to Col. James Otis and Mary Allyne Otis, Mercy was the third of their thirteen children. As was typical for girls at that time, Mercy didn’t receive much formal education, but she was allowed to observe her older brothers’ lessons under a private tutor. Her brother James Otis, Jr. attended Harvard College and supported her intellectual growth. Mercy read widely, and the influence of literary giants such as William Shakespeare, John Milton, and Alexander Pope is evident in her own writings. In 1754, Mercy married James Warren, a longtime friend and Harvard colleague of her brother. He worked as a merchant, farmer, and sheriff, and was eventually elected Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and served as Continental paymaster general in the Continental Army. Mercy and her husband’s correspondence shows us yet another revolutionary era couple equally united in intellect and political concern, and together they raised five sons. Not surprisingly, they became good friends of John and Abigail Adams as well as Samuel Adams, and their home sometimes served as a meeting place for liberty-minded Massachusetts citizens. George and Martha Washington and Thomas Jefferson also counted among their friends and correspondents. Mercy had a talent for writing (her husband affectionately called her a “scribbler”), and her patriotic influence occurred more so in print than in parlor. At a time when book ownership was challenging to come by, the average American’s literacy was fueled by newspapers, which frequently printed not only current events and bulletins, but installments in a variety of genres. In 1772, Mercy wrote The Adulateur, a satirical drama in blank verse about colonial Massachusetts in a classical Roman setting. Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson is the antagonist Rapatio, and the hero Brutus is said to be Mercy’s brother James. It was published anonymously in the Massachusetts Spy, and became popular enough to circulate as a pamphlet. In the 1773 sequel The Defeat published in the Boston Gazette, Rusticus and Hortensius are said to be portrayals of her husband and John Adams. To the modern reader who has the benefit of hindsight and is not regularly immersed in classical myth and metaphor, these works may seem confusing and not particularly striking. But at the time, war for independence was not a certainty, so Mercy’s work was received as prophetic and inspiring, with such sentiments as “Rather let Servia tumble from her basis / And in one general ruin cover all / Than see her citizens oppress’d with chains / And sweetly slumb’ring in the gilded fetters. / The man who boasts his freedom / Feels solid joy—tho’ poor and low his state / He looks with pity on the honor’d slave.” John Adams thought it was brilliant and requested that Mercy write a poem about the Boston Tea Party. When Adams read it he had it published and wrote her husband that it was “one of the most incontestable Evidences of real Genius, which has yet been exhibited—for to take the Clumsy, indigested Conception of another and work it into so elegant, and classicall a Composition, requires Genius equall to that” of Alexander Pope. Mercy’s range of literary pursuits also included a play requested by one of her sons, The Ladies of Castile, which she set in 16th century Spain to tell a story about widows of patriots and their decisions following tragedy. This one particularly fascinated Alexander Hamilton, who wrote to tell her, “that in the career of dramatic composition at least, female genius in the United States has outstripped the Male.” But Mercy and James clashed with their Federalist friends over the Constitution. The Warrens were solidly in the Anti-Federalist camp, siding with major critics of the Constitution whose resistance to central government resulted in the addition of a Bill of Rights. When Mercy wrote her History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, she prefaced that she omitted military history because that was better suited for a masculine voice, while her perspective of the domestic and ideological aspects of the war was valuable coming from her feminine authorship. Adams was displeased with her anti-federalist perspective that ultimately diminished his role in the story, and decided that women weren’t suited to writing history altogether. They did eventually reconcile prior to Mercy’s death in 1814. Even this glimpse of collaboration and conflict reminds us of the complexities of the American founding. The foundation of our republic consists of ideas that were reformed and refined through study, conflict, and conviction, which can be seen in the life of Mercy Otis Warren. SOURCES & FURTHER READING “Biography of Mercy Otis Warren,” https://web.archive.org/web/20080924113620/http://streamer3.lacoe.edu/Americanhistory/enactments/Walters/Walters_biography.htm, [Last accessed 4/21/26] Celebrate Mercy Otis Warren, https://www.celebratemercyotiswarren.org/ “John Adams to James Warren, 9 April 1774,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-02-02-0009. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 2, December 1773 – April 1775, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977, pp. 82–84.] “Alexander Hamilton to Mercy Warren, 1 July 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-08-02-0465. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 8, February 1791 – July 1791, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1965, pp. 522–523.] “From John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, 17 April 1813,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-6000. [This is an Early Access document from The Adams Papers. It is not an authoritative final version.] “Mercy Otis Warren’s ‘Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous’,” American Revolution Institute “Mercy Otis Warren: The Conscience of the American Revolution” “Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, 28 January 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0121. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit republicconservator.substack.com

  6. Apr 13

    The Keepers: Mrs. Dolley Payne Todd Madison

    So iconic was Dolley Madison in her lifetime that she defined the role of presidential spouse as “first lady,” a title that we acknowledge to this day. In 1768, she was born Dorothea Payne in North Carolina to John and Mary Coles Payne. The Paynes had eight children and moved to Virginia shortly after Dolley was born. In accordance with their Quaker values, John freed their plantation slaves as soon as manumission became legal in Virginia. He then relocated his family, including 15-year-old Dolley, to Philadelphia and became a laundry starch manufacturer. When that business was unsuccessful, Mary opened a boarding house as a source of income, which expanded their family’s social influence by housing notable statesmen during key moments of the early republic. Dolley was only 19 when the Constitutional Convention was held at Philadelphia, and she witnessed the various state delegates descend upon the city to make history, James Madison of Virginia among them. Dolley could count plenty of important people among her own family and friends. Patrick Henry was her mother’s cousin, and her sister Lucy married George Washington’s nephew, George Steptoe Washington. Dolley spent time at Benjamin Franklin’s home with his daughter Sarah “Sally” Franklin Bache [Ba-shay], both mentors in Dolley’s youth. Dolley was a confident young lady who enjoyed fashion, and her Quaker community sometimes reprimanded her for her more daring outfits. In 1790 she married a bright young lawyer named John Todd, with whom she had two sons. But three years later a yellow fever epidemic took the lives of John and their infant boy, leaving Dolley widowed with a toddler. As she carried on with grace, Dolley caught the eye of James Madison within a year. Aaron Burr, an old boarding house client and close friend of the Paynes, informed Dolley that “the Great Little Madison” wanted to meet her. James was seventeen years older than Dolley and a few inches shorter, but their opposite personalities fused a connection right away. They married on September 15th, 1794. Through Dolley we see the importance of social smarts in politics. James Madison was a towering intellect but wasn’t exactly known for charisma or skill in navigating social circles, which is fundamental to political campaigning. But this was Dolley’s forte, and their pairing made the Madisons a power couple in early Washington. As wife of the secretary of state, Dolley provided an understanding of style and etiquette crucial to diplomacy that the very informal President Thomas Jefferson sometimes lacked. She was a good listener, welcoming to the most shy and awkward in a crowd, and had a way of earning Americans’ trust. Dolley’s niece summed up the phenomenon saying, “you like yourself more when you are with her.” When James Madison won the presidential election, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney lamented, “I was beaten by Mr. and Mrs. Madison. I might have had a better chance had I faced Mr. Madison alone.” Yet while president, Mr. Madison had the unenviable experience of being the only U.S. Commander in Chief to have to ride into battle and live in a White House and capital besieged by enemy fire during the War of 1812. In anticipation of the attack, Dolley worked quickly to save irreplaceable items of historical significance, including a portrait of George Washington. Dolley wrote of the experience to her sister in vivid detail, but denied any heroism, insisting “[a]nyone would have done what I did.” Dolley’s later years of widowhood were met with more challenges, as she dealt with a wayward son who incurred many debts, all while she was navigating the voluminous legacy of her “best beloved” James Madison’s political writings. When Dolley herself passed away in 1849, her state funeral was the largest the capital had yet seen. “She will never be forgotten,” said President Zachary Taylor in his eulogy, “because she was truly our first lady for half a century.” SOURCES & FURTHER READING “Dolley P. Madison And Her Portrayal Today,” https://dolleypmadison.com/, [Last accessed 1/2/2026]. “Dolley Payne Todd Madison,” Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, https://ourwhitehouse.org/dolley-payne-todd-madison-2/ [Last accessed March 26, 2026] Dolley Madison was who Theodosia Burr Alston turned to for help when her father was exiled abroad: “Theodosia Burr Alston to Dolley Madison, 24 June 1809,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-01-02-0285. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 1, 1 March–30 September 1809, ed. Robert A. Rutland, Thomas A. Mason, Robert J. Brugger, Susannah H. Jones, Jeanne K. Sisson, and Fredrika J. Teute. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984, pp. 264–265.] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit republicconservator.substack.com

    The Keepers: Mrs. Dolley Payne Todd Madison

  7. Apr 9

    The Keepers: Mrs. Abigail Smith Adams

    Any discussion of the American founding would be remiss without mention of Abigail Adams, both a wife and mother of U.S. presidents, and respected advocate for liberty, equality, and self-governance. While she and her husband John Adams spent at least a decade of their marriage apart, their resulting correspondence created a valuable tome of primary source observations and political philosophy of the early American republic. Abigail Smith Adams was born November 11, 1744 in Weymouth, MA to Congregational minister Reverend William Smith and his wife Elizabeth Quincy Smith, the second of four children. Abigail was raised in a print rich environment, living in a theologically-minded household that allowed her to become well-educated. The beginning of her love story with John Adams reads a little like a Jane Austen novel, with neither one impressing the other and Abigail’s mother eventually being concerned about her daughter having a country lawyer for a suitor. As their amusing courtship letters reveal, John and Abigail bonded over their equally matched values, classical knowledge, and wit. They were married October 25, 1764 and settled in Braintree (Quincy), MA, moving back and forth between there and Boston over time. Abigail’s experience as a mother of six children against the backdrop of revolutionary America yields a startling perspective: little one year old Susanna suddenly died in her arms a month before the Boston Massacre, a landmark event in John’s legal career because he controversially defended British soldiers to uphold law and order. Baby Elizabeth was stillborn in 1777 after Abigail suffered an illness while John was away serving in the Second Continental Congress. In letters to her husband, Abigail refers to their children as “the little flock,” and the couple discuss the importance of their education. John saw his wife as very capable of ensuring their development in his absence, and he emphasized building their character as statesmen in their formative years, saying “[i]f we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.” Brilliant though she was, Abigail was concerned about the limits of her own education, and argued that especially if early childhood is so important for character, the education of women needs to be taken more seriously. “If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women,” she explained. In addition to that responsibility, Abigail’s business savvy and diligence is credited with sparing John Adams the financial ruin that befell other founders who also sacrificed time away from their livelihoods and households to make American independence a reality. Abigail memorably desired that John “remember the ladies” when creating the new republic, and she reflected on women’s unique role in supporting their countries despite usually having so little to gain and so much to lose in the process. “Deprived of a voice in Legislation, obliged to submit to those Laws which are imposed upon us, is it not sufficient to make us indifferent to the publick Welfare? Yet all History and every age exhibit Instances of patriotick virtue in the female Sex; which considering our situation equals the most Heroick of yours,” she wrote to her husband in 1782. Abigail was a sharp critic of character, often advising John on the men with whom he worked, and she told him in 1775, “a true patriot must be a religious man,” because “he who neglects his duty to his Maker, may well be expected to be deficient and insincere in his duty towards the public.” As our first second lady and second first lady, Abigail was true to her values, and certainly was not in politics for popularity. In 1797 she permitted James Prince, a young black hired man, to attend school. When a neighbor complained that the white students opposed that, Abigail said this was “attacking the Principle of Liberty and equality upon the only Ground upon which it ought to be supported, an equality of Rights...send the Young Men to me. I think I can convince them that they are wrong. I have not thought it any disgrace to My self to take him into my parlour and teach him both to read & write— tell them mr Faxon that I hope we shall all go to Heaven together.” Abigail opened the newly built White House to the public on New Year’s Day 1801, which was an annual tradition until Eleanor Roosevelt was first lady. Breaking from Martha Washington’s style, Abigail was not afraid to insert herself into political debate – even partisan politics – as first lady, garnering the disparaging moniker “Mrs. President,” but modeling an effective keeper of the republic. SOURCES & FURTHER READING Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 9 July 1777 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/ Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 16 July 1777 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/ “John Thaxter to John Adams, 13 July 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0224. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, June 1776 – March 1778, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, p. 282.] Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 29 October 1775, “Human nature...” [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/ Katie Woods, “Abigail Adams (1744-1818): First Lady, Advisor, Writer,” Massachusetts Women’s History Center, www.mawomenshistory.org [Last accessed February 3, 2026] Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 14 August 1776 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/ Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 17 June 1782, with a List of Articles wanted from Holland [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 5 November 1775 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/ Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 13 February 1797 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/ B.B. Caroli, “Abigail Adams,” Encyclopedia Britannica, November 18, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abigail-Adams [Last accessed February 3, 2026] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit republicconservator.substack.com

  8. Apr 5

    Easter Special Edition: Where Are You On The Road To Emmaus?

    Cleopas and his friend departed Jerusalem with devastated and perplexed hearts. The crowds had chosen a criminal to be released during Passover season instead of the innocent man who had healed and loved them. The Pharisees condemned a man who had come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets that they studied and preserved. The Romans had executed a leader not of insurgency, but of peace. In vain they tried to make sense of this chaos as they traveled on foot to Emmaus (a village with a name which means “warm spring”). Suddenly, a stranger appeared and began traveling with them. “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” He asked. Cleopas and his friend stopped for a moment and looked sad. How could someone not know about the tragedy that had just taken place? Everyone nearby surely knew the story of Jesus Christ by now. “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” asked Cleopas. “What things?” the man responded, whether ignorant or Socratic, they couldn’t quite tell. Cleopas proceeded to tell the stranger about a mighty prophet called Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had hoped was the promised Messiah. But suddenly He was crucified and buried, leaving them without hope. Then Cleopas mentioned the bewildering plot twist: It was the third day since Jesus’ death, but just that morning some women found His tomb empty and received an angelic message that He was alive. Men confirmed that the tomb was empty, but Jesus was nowhere to be found. The stranger finally interrupted with peculiar authority. “Oh, foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” He then recounted to them an epic. A spiritual enemy worked to sever humanity from God, yet as far back as Eden, God made a plan to be inseparably atoned and united with humankind. Through temptation, Nephilim, famine, and Pharaoh, the enemy sought to stop this plan of redemption from taking place while a few righteous believers sought to keep it alive. Then came the Torah through Moses, which shielded the family of the promised Messiah from as many corrupt influences as possible. The likes of heathen tribes, captivity, Babylonian bureaucrats, and Haman continued to target the nation of Israel throughout its tumultuous history with the aim of ending humanity’s reconciliation with God. Kings and prophets, laws and songs predicted that the Messiah would be born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem, and would be called the Lamb of God – and He would be betrayed and slain, and then conquer death. As evening drew near, the two travelers invited the stranger to lodge with them. Only when He reclined at the table and broke bread for them were their eyes opened and they realized He was Jesus Christ Himself. Suddenly, He vanished. “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” said the two men. Immediately they returned to Jerusalem to tell Jesus’ disciples that He had indeed risen from the dead. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a central, polarizing fact of world history. While not all historians believe that Jesus literally rose from the dead, most agree it is virtually indisputable that a couple of millennia ago, Jesus’ crucified body disappeared from a tomb in Jerusalem, and hundreds of different doubtful people certainly saw something afterward that convinced them He had risen. Indeed, His initially skeptical disciples came to believe it strongly enough to endure torturous martyrdom for spreading the good news. Does this historical saga stir your soul? Where are you on the Road to Emmaus? This article was published previously at The Washington Times Communities and can also be found at AmandaReadSheik.com and The Newscasters’ Studio. The story can be found in the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The header image is the landscape Christ on the Road to Emmaus, painted by Roelant Roghman in Holland sometime between 1650 and 1660. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit republicconservator.substack.com

    Easter Special Edition: Where Are You On The Road To Emmaus?
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About

Cultivating a self-governing citizenry to keep the republic. republicconservator.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Amanda Read Sheik
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Amanda Read Sheik
  • Show Website
    The Republic Conservator