From George Washington’s playful relationship with poet Annis Boudinot Stockton to Thomas Jefferson’s lifelong friendship with European artist Maria Cosway, to lesser-known pairs like James Monroe and Janet Montgomery, friendships between men and women were important relationships for our nation’s founders. Both politicians and their female friends derived affection, companionship, and political benefits from their friendships. The stories of these friendships illuminates the way power operated for both men and women in the founding era as well as offering new perspectives on the personal lives of the founders.
Speaker Cassandra Good, Ph.D., is assistant editor of the Papers of James Monroe.
7 p.m., Great Hall, Woodard Campus Center, University of Mary Washington. Free and open to the public.