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After a liaison with a French noblewoman, he takes up with one of his slaves, Sally Hemming. He will never remarry, true, but he definitely will have relationships with women. She also must learn to accept her father’s maneuverings around his vow to her mother. Her reactions to French society, to clothes, to men, and even to politics, mature as her experiences expand and deepen. There, the American statesman becomes embroiled in the French Revolution, while Patsy pushes toward adulthood. This becomes the structural pattern of America’s First Daughter -a letter to be saved or burned, followed by a chapter of Patsy’s recollections.Īfter Jefferson recovers, the narrative moves to France. In truth, Jefferson mourned to the point of madness, while Patsy played a far more mature role than one might expect of a child. Thus, Dray and Kamdie’s novel can reconstruct Jefferson’s initial reaction to his wife’s death, reflected in Patsy’s adult memories. As she reads, she remembers her own emotions at the time of each letter’s composition. A grieving Patsy is going through his correspondence, getting rid of letters that might dishonor him in any way. Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie have written a powerful novel that explores what may have transpired between this famous father and his lesser-known daughter as they interacted together on history’s stage.Īmerica’s First Daughter begins with Jefferson’s death. Thus Martha set in motion the symbiotic relationship between Patsy and Thomas Jefferson that would last until the death of the third American president, and even beyond the grave. At the time, Martha Jefferson extracted one promise from her husband-that he would never remarry-and one promise from her little girl-that she would care for her father always. Patsy Jefferson’s mother died when her daughter was only ten years old. America’s First Daughter – From Monticello to Jefferson’s White House, She Shaped the Legacy of a Nation