November 4, 1842, Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln were quietly married in the Edwards’s home.
The marriage between Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln has been much commented on by partisans of both sides who have been eager to make a good case for their own favorite by denigrating the other party to the match. The evidence, judged as impartially as one can under the circumstances, would seem to indicate that, although the abstracted and psychologically twisted Lincoln was probably difficult to live with, his wife was hardly an ideal companion for wedded bliss. Lincoln became broken to the harness, resigned to the perpetual differences between himself and his wife. In order to avoid trouble he simply let her have her own way in almost everything. Mary Todd, however, became not more easy to live with, but more difficult. As her husband rose to power she became more aggressive in her demands on life. As mistress of the White House she was one of the most domineering and headstrong women ever to have presided in that famous residence. Nor did she stand up well under the blinding light of national publicity.
Much of our information about the Lincoln-Todd marriage comes from Herndon, who hated Mrs. Lincoln. Accordingto him she was “the female wildcat of the age,” “a tigress,” “a she-wolf” who “woman-whipped and woman-carved” her long-suffering husband. Yet Herndon said of her: “In her domestic troubles I always sympathized with Mrs. Lincoln. The world does not know what she bore or how ill-adapted she was to bear it.”
One thing that must be kept in mind in judging the woman who was Abraham Lincoln’s wife is the fact that she later became insane and some years after her husband’s death was actually confined for a while in an asylum. The seeds of this dark malady may well have been present during her earlier life. She was, perhaps, not responsible for her erratic behavior, her wild bursts of temper and her unreasonably jealous attitude toward her husband.
Immediately after their marriage, the ill-assorted couple went to live at a tavern in Springfield where they paid only four dollars a week for their board and lodging. One week later, Lincoln, in a letter to Samuel Marshall wrote: “Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me is a matter of profound wonder.” This was the only written comment he ever made about his marriage.
Nine months after their marriage a son was born to the Lincolns whom they named Robert Todd Lincoln. The responsibilities that Lincoln had dreaded closed around him quickly. He was thirty-three years old when he married Mary Todd. His prospects were good but he was still terribly poor. His ambition, however, had never slackened. He had served four terms in the Illinois General Assembly. He now determined to run for the United States Congress. He had good reason to believe that he would be successful; he was already powerful in the Whig party in Illinois; he had friends and a following. He began to pull the necessary wires to obtain the nomination. In this he was bitterly disappointed. He twice saw the nomination given to others—one of them his closefriend, Edward D. Baker, after whom he named his second son, born in 1846. 5
Lincoln did not give up his Congressional ambitions. He devoted himself to law while he waited his chance, but meanwhile he kept in touch with every aspect of the political scene throughout the county and the state. While he waited he also indulged himself—as so many other disappointed men have—in the writing of poetry. He corresponded with a friend, one Andrew Johnston, and exchanged poems with him. Some of Lincoln’s poetical attempts have been preserved. They are generally heavy with gloom—even his taste for the poetry of others ran to the more funereal kind.
It was during the period after his marriage that Lincoln formed his partnership with Herndon. He had broken with Stuart in 1841 to form a short-lived association with Stephen T. Logan which
The marriage between Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln has been much commented on by partisans of both sides who have been eager to make a good case for their own favorite by denigrating the other party to the match. The evidence, judged as impartially as one can under the circumstances, would seem to indicate that, although the abstracted and psychologically twisted Lincoln was probably difficult to live with, his wife was hardly an ideal companion for wedded bliss. Lincoln became broken to the harness, resigned to the perpetual differences between himself and his wife. In order to avoid trouble he simply let her have her own way in almost everything. Mary Todd, however, became not more easy to live with, but more difficult. As her husband rose to power she became more aggressive in her demands on life. As mistress of the White House she was one of the most domineering and headstrong women ever to have presided in that famous residence. Nor did she stand up well under the blinding light of national publicity.
Much of our information about the Lincoln-Todd marriage comes from Herndon, who hated Mrs. Lincoln. Accordingto him she was “the female wildcat of the age,” “a tigress,” “a she-wolf” who “woman-whipped and woman-carved” her long-suffering husband. Yet Herndon said of her: “In her domestic troubles I always sympathized with Mrs. Lincoln. The world does not know what she bore or how ill-adapted she was to bear it.”
One thing that must be kept in mind in judging the woman who was Abraham Lincoln’s wife is the fact that she later became insane and some years after her husband’s death was actually confined for a while in an asylum. The seeds of this dark malady may well have been present during her earlier life. She was, perhaps, not responsible for her erratic behavior, her wild bursts of temper and her unreasonably jealous attitude toward her husband.
Immediately after their marriage, the ill-assorted couple went to live at a tavern in Springfield where they paid only four dollars a week for their board and lodging. One week later, Lincoln, in a letter to Samuel Marshall wrote: “Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me is a matter of profound wonder.” This was the only written comment he ever made about his marriage.
Nine months after their marriage a son was born to the Lincolns whom they named Robert Todd Lincoln. The responsibilities that Lincoln had dreaded closed around him quickly. He was thirty-three years old when he married Mary Todd. His prospects were good but he was still terribly poor. His ambition, however, had never slackened. He had served four terms in the Illinois General Assembly. He now determined to run for the United States Congress. He had good reason to believe that he would be successful; he was already powerful in the Whig party in Illinois; he had friends and a following. He began to pull the necessary wires to obtain the nomination. In this he was bitterly disappointed. He twice saw the nomination given to others—one of them his closefriend, Edward D. Baker, after whom he named his second son, born in 1846. 5
Lincoln did not give up his Congressional ambitions. He devoted himself to law while he waited his chance, but meanwhile he kept in touch with every aspect of the political scene throughout the county and the state. While he waited he also indulged himself—as so many other disappointed men have—in the writing of poetry. He corresponded with a friend, one Andrew Johnston, and exchanged poems with him. Some of Lincoln’s poetical attempts have been preserved. They are generally heavy with gloom—even his taste for the poetry of others ran to the more funereal kind.
It was during the period after his marriage that Lincoln formed his partnership with Herndon. He had broken with Stuart in 1841 to form a short-lived association with Stephen T. Logan which
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