Hello, friends. Welcome to another episode in our series about the hidden lives of First Ladies.

And today I want to talk to you about a woman who is often overshadowed by the stories of her predecessors.

She was reserved and introverted. She managed to experience many moments of excitement throughout

her life, including the time she took dramatic action to save the life of a well-known

French aristocrat. I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting.

If you've been following along with our First Lady series, you may very well know who's

next in the lineup, but maybe you don't. Elizabeth Monroe doesn't usually make many top

10 lists, and while she and her husband James Monroe occupied the White House during a time

of national prosperity, historians call the era of good feelings. They were not a flashy

couple and really didn't participate in flashy, divisive politics. In fact, this was during a

time period when the federalist Party leaders, like John

Adams, Alexander Hamilton, had retired or died off, and there was really only one political

party left in the country, the Democratic Republicans. And during this time, James Monroe went

on a national tour to sort of welcome all of the federalists into

the Democratic Republican Party to create a wider umbrella under which more Americans could

rest. So historians called this the era of good feelings. Did it mean that everybody had good

feelings? No. But Elizabeth

was born Elizabeth Courtright in 1768, the youngest daughter of an old money New York family.

Her father Lawrence was a merchant and a founding member of the New York Chamber of Commerce.

Lawrence made some of his large profits during the French and Indian War as a privateer.

He co-owned several private ships that operated on behalf of the colonies during wartime.

Elizabeth had four older siblings, a brother and three sisters.

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