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CNN Live At Daybreak

Martha Washington on Life in the 18th Century

Aired July 04, 2001 - 07:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: So let's turn back the clock 225 years. It was a time when voices were raised for freedom, for rebellion, for liberty or death. Those voices may have been the loudest in Colonial Williamsburg.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve is in Williamsburg, Virginia for a look at what life was like at the birth of the United States of America.

Good morning, Jeanne. I understand you have a date with Martha Washington.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do. She'll be with me in just a moment.

This was the capital of 18th century Virginia, which was the largest and richest and most important of the 13 Colonies. It was here that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison, George Mason all met and talked as members of the House of Burgesses and formulated the ideas which were crystallized in the Declaration of Independence.

Today, this is a 173 acre living history museum peopled by characters from the past. We caught up with Mary Wiseman, a.k.a. Martha Washington, as she was being fitted for a new costume.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY WISEMAN, ACTRESS: Modern days. I wish I could say a carriage picks me up every morning, but I have to get around in a modern horseless carriage.

Mrs. Washington is extremely modest, so I have to be. The young girls will show their bosoms, but not Mrs. Washington.

Getting ready, it really -- you really begin. Once I get my hair up and begin to put on -- lacing myself in the stays. I don't have the luxury of a lady's maiden, as they did 200 years ago. But I have to get straight-laced.

MESERVE: Yes. Yes.

WISEMAN: By the time the last vestige is put on, I really do feel the character come on. I don't think that our present-day citizenry really understands what a warm and wonderful woman she was. And I try to bring that hospitality and that interest in children and that warmth to her character.

Oh, show me how it is. Doesn't he do that beautifully? You don't often find young gentlemen who are so well brought up.

She was always there, she said, to ease her husband's anxious hours and soothe him in times of distress. So she created that haven for George Washington. She was a great helpmate for him. And I think they really formed a fine and worthy partnership.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: And Martha Washington joins me now. And for the moment, it is 1776. Your husband is up in Philadelphia. The rumor is that he and his compatriots are about to declare independence. Is this treason?

WISEMAN: My dear, I think not, for we have endured much sorrow, not so much as our brothers in Boston here yet in Virginia. But I have wintered with my husband in Cambridge. And I can tell you that I am firmly committed to our cause.

I would say, as I see life, of course in all ways from that female perspective, that no person, let alone country, has any more the right to call itself "mother" if it does none but abuse and take nourishment from its own child. Those bonds will then be forever severed, my dear.

MESERVE: Now, your husband has been commander of the Continental Army for a year now. You have seen some of this war and what it may mean for Williamsburg, haven't you?

WISEMAN: I have indeed seen the destruction about the city of Boston, Cambridge and Bunker's Hill. When one stands there, one sees what may come our way there in Virginia, the place where I was born and reared, even.

MESERVE: Is this city consumed by the politics of independence?

WISEMAN: There is none but talk of it, I can tell you, my dear. Where once it was a peaceful place, we have seen the ball which began to roll 10 years ago pick up steam. And now it is on fire with liberty.

MESERVE: Martha Washington, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

In 1776, half of the population of the town of Williamsburg was black. Next hour, we're going to take a look at their lives and also the reactions of the reenactors who act out their lives today -- now back to you.

LIN: Jeanne Meserve, you have interviewed some newsmakers in your time, but I think this definitely tops them all. I am wondering if you could ask Mrs. Washington what she thinks, on a very life matter, how women's fashions have changed over time?

MESERVE: Oh, Mrs. Washington, I am being asked about women's fashion.

(LAUGHTER)

WISEMAN: Oh, well, we shall have to learn to wear homespun, I am afraid, where once we in the capital donned the finest of all garments. But it's a small sacrifice to be made, is it not?

MESERVE: Pretend we're talking with a time traveler, someone who lives, let's say in the year 2001. They speculate that women's fashion might have changed a great deal.

WISEMAN: Well, I should hope that always for both men and ladies they would assume that the exterior appearance reflects the interior mind and resolve. After all, are we not one another's landscape, my dear? And who wishes to look upon a slovenly, ill-kept landscape? Pride of person must be reflected thus, my dear.

(LAUGHTER)

MESERVE: Mrs. Washington, thank you for your thoughts.

(CROSSTALK)

LIN: Thanks, Jeanne.

All right, clearly she hasn't met Britney Spears.

(LAUGHTER)

LIN: Things do change.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: She is good, though. She is good.

LIN: Thanks to Mary Wiseman, too.

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