To Dolley Payne Madison from Maria K. Crittenden, 12 December, 1837.  Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.

Soon after she moved back to Washington, D.C., Mrs. Madison re-entered the social life of the capitol city's political elite. In this letter her friend, Maria Crittenden, turns down an invitation to a dinner party and asks after Mrs. Madison's health.

From Dolley Payne Madison to James Newman, 25 May, 1838.  Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.

Faced with financial difficulties in the wake of JM's death, DPM begins to consider selling off parcels of Montpelier.

From William Cabell Rives to Mrs. Dolley Payne Madison, 1843.  Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.

Letter from JM's biographer, editor, and friend, William Cabel Rives. Rives was collecting materials for his work.

From The Congress of the United States of America to Dolley Payne Madison, 8 January, 1844.  Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.

The House of Representatives extended unusual honors to Mrs. Madison as a widow: the franking privilege (free mail service) and a seat within the Hall of Congress whenever she wished to visit.

From Dolley Payne Madison to John Payne Todd, 16 June, 1844.  Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.

In 1844 Mrs. Madison found herself forced by her increasing poverty to sell the Madison family plantation, Montpelier. She deeded a number of the family slaves to her son, Payne Todd, giving them to him as "presents". The deed was signed before two witnesses, her niece, Anna Payne, daughter of her brother John Payne, and Elizabeth Lee, a lifelong friend dating to their youth in Philadelphia. Dolley Madison did retain a few slaves for herself, and brought them with her to Washington. It was an extraordinarily difficult transition both for Mrs. Madison and for her slaves. As she wrote the man who purchased the estate, Henry W. Moncure, "No one, I think, can appreciate my feeling of grief and dismay at the necessity of transferring to another a beloved home." But the fears of the slaves were worse. As one of them, a woman named Sarah, wrote on July 5 to Mrs. Madison, "We are afraid we shall be bought by what are called negro buyers and sent away from our husbands and wives."

From Dolley Payne Madison to Richard Smith, 2 June, 1845.  Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library.

By 1845 Mrs. Madison found herself in increasingly straightened circumstances. Thus in June, 1845, she turned to her friend and trustee, Richard Smith of the Bank of the Metropolis, for a loan.