Elizabeth Powel was the wife of the wealthy Philadelphia merchant Samuel Powel, and during the summer of 1787 the Powels' frequently entertained the Convention's most respected delegate, General George Washington. Martha Washington spent that entire summer of 1787 back at Mount Vernon, and though hardly an evening went by when the General was not invited to share the company of any number of Philadelphia's leading citizens, it is clear that the vivacious and ferociously intelligent Elizabeth was both his most frequent, and most valued, companion.   

When Elizabeth and Samuel Powel were married in 1765-she was twenty-two and he was twenty-seven nearly everyone who commented on the union was struck by the contrast between the stolid manner of the husband and the spiritedness of the wife. The Marquis de Chastellux, when he first met Elizabeth, noted that "contrary to American custom, she plays the leading role in the family." In spite of never having traveled to Europe herself, she would go on to become one of the most impressive salonistes of Philadelphia, convening frequent gatherings of men and women at her home for evenings of convivial, but also, intensely intellectual exchange. As one of Elizabeth's sisters commented,   "when in society she will animate and give a brilliancy to the whole Conversation; you know the uncommon command she has of Language and her ideas flow with rapidity."

Over the course of the summer, Washington spent fifteen evenings in the company of the Powels-often simply with Elizabeth-at either their house in the city or their country estate. He no doubt shared her company on many other occasions at the homes of other prominent neighbors such as the Morris's, Merediths, and the Binghams, all of whom were part of the social circle in which the Powels were regularly entertained.

In the early parts of the Summer, Washington would frequently have dinner with both Samuel and Elizabeth, but as the summer wore on, he and Elizabeth spent more and more time together, sometimes simply taking walks around the city or a carriage ride into the country. There is nothing to suggest any impropriety in their friendship, but there was certainly no one in Philadelphia, either among the delegates or among the city's leading citizens, whose company Washington enjoyed more.

Looking back on the summer of 1787 and on her role as hostess for the Convention delegates, Elizabeth spoke of her pride in having been "associated with the most respectable, influential members of the convention that framed the Constitution, and that the all important Subject was frequently discussed at our House." Nor did she hold back on giving her own views on that "important subject." Indeed, she made it clear to those in her circle that she was both proud and unafraid of engaging Washington and other convention delegates about the seminal topic of that summer.

 Elizabeth would continue her close association with Washington for many years, visiting Mount Vernon on several occasions with her husband, And when Washington found himself back in Philadelphia after the new government had moved there from New York, in 1790, she continued to see him regularly. Sometime in the fall of 1792 Washington confessed to her that he was considering stepping down from the presidency after his first term. After hearing the news, Elizabeth took the extraordinary step-for a woman in her position-of writing to Washington in boldly political language.   "Your resignation," she wrote, "would use it as an argument for dissolving the Union, and would urge that you, from Experience, had found the present System a bad one, and had, artfully, withdrawn from it that you might not be crushed under its Ruins." Nor did she stop there. In an extraordinarily long and passionate letter, she listed the reasons why Washington-and Washington alone-had all of the "Abilities and Integrity" necessary for the job. You are, she insisted, "the only Man in America that dares to do right on all public Occasions," the only American who consistently refused "to be intoxicated by Power or misled by Flattery". And most important, Elizabeth wrote him, he possessed remarkable self-control. "You have," she wrote, "demonstrated that you possess an Empire over yourself." Truly, if one were to compile a list of the traits that were most important in causing Washington to be seen as America's first citizen, one could do no better than to begin with Elizabeth Powel's remarkable letter to him.

Washington continued to cherish Elizabeth's friendship for many years thereafter. On the occasion of Elizabeth's fiftieth birthday, he sent a lengthy and flowery poem to her extolling her virtues. The poem was apparently written by the poet Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson and copied for Washington by his personal secretary, Tobias Lear. But the sentiments expressed in it obviously captured some of the general's admiration for Elizabeth:

Like Mira, Virtue's Self possess
Let her adorn your Mind
For Virtue in a pleasing dress
Has Charms for all Mankind
Her spotless Mantle shall be shown
When its blest Owner flies
The Flaming Chariot make it known
When Soaring to the Skies.