Margaret Bayard Smith, "A Mind So Active"

Monticello guide Danna Kelley introduces us to Margaret Bayard Smith — writer, biographer, Washington socialite, political influencer, and friend of Thomas Jefferson. Smith's life closely aligned with the idea of Republican Motherhood, with its expanded opportunities for women's education, while also still placing limitations on how women could behave. She nevertheless fought against these limitations in her own way, and found Washington, D.C. to be a place where women were more equal to their male counterparts.