Changes to Official Etiquette in Capital

 … a new law of etiquette lately decreed by Mrs. Gov. Stanford, with the concurrence of the wives of various officials of that city. It is that Mrs. Stanford will expect the first call from ladies visiting Sacramento. This law has become a matter of necessity. – Public domain image of Mrs. Leland (Jane) Stanford, wife of Governor Leland Stanford, 8th governor of California. The Stanfords founded Stanford University in California.

A new Point of Official Etiquette

Made necessary during the American Civil War

Ladies will be interested to understand a new law of etiquette lately decreed by Mrs. Gov. Stanford, with the concurrence of the wives of various officials of that city. It is that Mrs. Stanford will expect the first call from ladies visiting Sacramento. This law has become a matter of necessity. 

Many wives of the members of the Legislature come to the Capital to spend a few days, and the Governor’s wife would like to call upon them, but she does not know when they are in the city, or where they stop; and thus she is subject to the suspicion of intending a slight, when really she is anxious to treat all respectable people with respect and to contribute as much as possible to the pleasure of ladies visiting her town.

By giving notice that she expects the first call, she protects herself from the suspicion of offense, and enables ladies, whom she would never see under any other method, to call and make her acquaintance. This rule is new in Sacramento, but it is well established in other places of authority.

At Washington, the President’s wife, the wives of Cabinet officers, of Senators and Congressmen expect the first call in order of their rank, which is carried so far that a Senator’s daughter must make the first call on a Senator’s wife, and a Senator’s unmarried daughter must make the first call on a Senator’s married daughter and so forth, without regard to priority of arrival in the city. – The Times Gazette, March 1863

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia