Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                

UNLIMITED

American History

Washington’s Other Woman

Elizabeth Willing Powel was an 18th-century Philadelphia socialite, a fixture in her hometown’s most influential circles, and a proto-feminist who delighted in her intellect, broad range of interests, and social rank. Powel came from a Quaker background that traced to great-grandfather Edward Shippen’s first marriage, to a woman who belonged to the Society of Friends. A portrait shows a buxom woman round of face, high of forehead, and receding of chin, solemn to the point of sadness but also resolute. Eliza Powel had a first-class mind, and, unusual among women of her class and era, a serious interest in and engagement with the details and nuances of politics and statecraft.

Eliza Powel and George Washington met in Philadelphia amid historic events in 1774. She was 31. He was 42 and, like her father, Charles Willing, a delegate to the First Continental Congress convening that autumn, bringing delegates from the restive colonies. Washington, who had left the British army to grow tobacco and wheat, was participating as one of

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from American History

American History2 min read
Strike a Pose
A bold new photographic project asks modern-day Americans to re-create portraits of their 19th-century ancestors in painstakingly accurate fashion. Award-winning British photographer Drew Gardner has spent nearly 20 years tracking down descendants of
American History2 min read
25 Films Selected for Preservation in National Film Registry
Twenty-five influential films have been selected for the 2023 Library of Congress National Film Registry, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced in December. The films are selected each year for their cultural, historic, or aesthetic importance
American History1 min read
Truth, Justice, and the American Way $408,000
Action Comics #1, published by DC Comics is, “The most important comic book ever published,” according to leading comic book pricing authority, Overstreet. Why? It’s the first appearance of Superman, and many say, the book that started the Golden Age

Related Books & Audiobooks