Career
Samuel Smith was already a well-known editor and publisher who befriended Thomas Jefferson when they both acted as officers of the American Philosophical Society, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when it served as the temporary capital.
After moving to Washington in 1800, Margaret Smith and her husband became quickly part of the political and social elite, a political power couple. Samuel Smith established the first newspaper in Washington City, the Daily Intelligencer. When Jefferson took office as president, his administration awarded Smith a government contract to print the House of Representatives' Journal. Margaret Smith's ability to write about her observations made her an ideal partner for her husband. She often wrote for the Intelligencer and other publications, most often anonymously, but sometimes under her own name.
As a woman, her role in the new republic was expected to be exclusively domestic. Margaret Smith used this expectation to her advantage by quickly immersing herself in Washington life: befriending local families and politicians, and strengthening her relationships with previous acquaintances. Doris Kearns Goodwin's history of Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet showed how important women were to political life in Washington. Most notably, the Smith couple became frequent guests at the Jefferson White House. Margaret Smith used her nearly unlimited access to political figures and inside knowledge of Washington to become an authority on Washington politics and the shaping of the new republic.
She wrote numerous letters to her sisters, and sisters-in-law, which are considered insightful about the political landscape of Washington. Her letters were the first step in establishing herself as a legitimate political thinker. The information in her letters was later published in the Richmond Enquirer and finally collected in a 1906 memoir under her name, which was edited and published posthumously. It was more a political and social exploration of Washington than a description of her own life.
I am a woman. And society says, 'Thus far and no further [shall] thou come'—Why then has nature given me a mind so active and enquiring?
Her skill and enduring legacy is expressed in her writings on presidents Thomas Jefferson and on James Madison in the summer of 1809, during the first year of his presidency. She was aware of the state of the nation and understood that the citizenry was in need of reassurance regarding the president's leadership. Her commentary during her summer trip firmly established Jefferson's legacy as president, as well as shaping his image as "the Sage of Monticello." While visiting Montpelier, the Virginia home of James and Dolley Madison, Smith keenly observed Dolley's hospitality and her political performance as the wife of the President. The ease of Dolley's entertaining became her trademark, and Smith wrote about it in great detail.
Margaret Bayard Smith reassured the public through her writings that the government was in good hands. She accomplished this at a time when most women were confined to more domestic roles.
