- Self - Writer: This is part of what makes her so interesting. She has in some way what we like to think of, at least, as a very modern, almost sixth sense about the psychological value of national symbols. Stop and think, in 1814, this country didn't have a lot of history. It didn't have a lot of unifying symbols. It had George Washington. And even more it had the mythology of George Washington. Rescuing that portrait was an act of patriotism and defiance, which, if she had done nothing else, would have immortalized Dolley Madison.