Chapter Ten: Improvements and the Public Gratitude Summary and Analysis

Wednesday, January 8, 1774. There was a prevailing sentiment to forget about the epidemic and to get back to business as usual. Those who had abandoned the city were the biggest proponents of putting the past behind them. In their embarrassment for leaving when things got tough, they pushed the message that most of those who died were foreign-born or strangers. Dolley Payne Todd lost her husband to the fever. She survived with her two-year-old son and later married James Madison, a congressman from Virginia, who went on to become President.

To avoid a future Constitutional crisis in the event of another epidemic or natural disaster, Congress passed a law that would allow the President to a convene the Congress at a location other than the capital. Laws also were passed...