Women have an essential role to play in dissident movements

On warm hearths, quiet alliances, and the covenant of security

‘Tis the season for cozy-posting, and here is my offering to you.

This is an entreatment to break bread together, to build the fires and deep bonds that will be necessary to survive our civilizational winter.

Alphonse Mucha, Winter Night (1920)

A great source of strength for the American founders was the extent to which they dined together. The age of the secret dinner party is coming again.

George Washington’s diary reveals that in 1774 - on the eve of war - he and his wife Martha entertained guests on more than half the nights that he was home (136 of 207 evenings).

His guests varied, and were not merely calculated political engagements:

…the individuals who had dinner were neighbors, friends, fox-hunting companions, relatives, and business associates of George Washington. The majority were Virginians, either by birth or by choice. Other visitors were from the nearby colony of Maryland, while some were foreigners in America temporarily for business or a military assignment.

— Hospitality at Mount Vernon

Entertaining in this fashion was common to many of the powerful families of early America. The dynamics of this source of strength were particularly evident in the Madison administration.

James Madison’s wife Dolley was expert at complementing her husband’s official activities with her own unofficial ones, including her famous ‘Wednesday night drawing rooms’.