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Mary Todd Lincoln
10.10.2012 22: 30 | Author: Ekaterina Zhukova | |
897
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(9 voted, average score 4.78)
Library - Short essays
Tags: 5.2 | lincoln | first ladies | presidents | student work |
Ekaterina Zhukova
December 13, 1818 - on this day, the wife of the future US president, Mary Todd Lincoln, was born in the small town of Lexington, Kentucky.
At the age of six, left without a mother, a girl from an aristocratic family was doomed, as she later said, to a lonely childhood.
Despite this, Mary excelled in her studies, loved literature and, like any girl, believed in a dream, the dream of a handsome prince Mary Todd wanted to become the president's wife from childhood.
The little girl grew up into a "southern beauty" - that's what contemporaries called this short (approximately 1.58 m) blue eyed girl with long eyelashes and bronze curls.
She danced gracefully, was witty, but she was also no stranger to cute female weaknesses – Mary loved luxurious outfits.
According to her friends, Mary was impulsive and cheerful.
"The very embodiment of delight" - they said about her in the 1840s.
They first met in Springfield, Illinois.
Mary moved there at the age of 21 and lived in her sister's house.
Being one of the brightest girls in the city, Mary was more than once the object of courtship from rich and noble admirers, but her attention was attracted by a little known lawyer.
Lincoln was 30 years old at the time, he had recently moved to Springfield and, together with William Butler, opened the law office of Stewart and Lincoln.
A man without a pedigree and formal education, democratic and simple, thanks to his impeccable reputation and hard work, he quickly gained authority in the city.
But even then Mary saw in him a great man who could achieve more than just speaking in court, and this aroused a genuine passion in her.
Their romance, which ended in marriage in 1942, was stormy and not smooth.
Abraham Lincoln, who survived several failed marriages, confessed to Mary that he did not feel love for her and was not ready to take her as a wife.
Subsequently, because of this act, some biographers will accuse Lincoln of homosexuality.
The reaction of Mary Todd could be predicted – she burst into tears bitterly, and the groom, who does not tolerate women's tears, took the girl in his arms and asked for forgiveness.
The wedding date was set for January 1, 1841.
However, Lincoln did not attend the ceremony.
He was found at home in the deepest depression (it was chronic) with thoughts of suicide.
After the broken engagement, the two did not see each other for about a year, and then, when they met again, they reconciled and Abraham Lincoln gave the bride a ring on which there was an engraving on the inside: "A. L. to Mary, Nov. 4, 1842.
Love is Eternal».
Soon the wedding took place.
Then came the years of hard work for Mary Todd Lincoln to raise children.
There were four of them: Robert, Edward, William and Thomas, but Robert was the only one who lived to adulthood.
The loss of the children brought a lot of grief to the mother and gradually her health began to deteriorate, Mary began to slowly go crazy.
However, her unshakable faith in her husband was fully justified.
In 1860, he received a majority of votes in the US presidential election.
And in February 1861, the whole family moved to Washington, where on March 4, Abraham Lincoln delivered the inaugural speech.
Being the First Lady was not easy for Mary.
Like her husband, she was an opponent of slavery, but this contradicted the views of her home state.
During the Civil War, which just fell during the presidency of Lincoln, Mary found herself in a very unpleasant situation.
The fact is that most of her relatives, being southerners, held slave owning views.
They, like the entire southern population of the country, accused Mary of treason, while the northerners constantly suspected her of treason.
And when their son William dies in 1862 at the age of 12, a heartbroken Mary is condemned by the public for failing to fulfill her duties.
The murder of Abraham Lincoln on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, finally broke Mary.
That day at the Ford's Theater, she was sitting next to her husband and holding his hand when a shot rang out.
The murder, which shocked the whole country, was a great tragedy for Mary.
The next 17 years brought her nothing but grief.
After long wanderings in Europe, Mary returned to the place where she had first met a young lawyer to Springfield, to her sister's house.
On July 16, 1882, at the age of 63, she died.
Mary Todd Lincoln was buried next to her husband.
On her finger was a ring given by Abraham in 1842: very thin from the socks, with the words "Love is Eternal" .
List of materials used:
http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln21.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first ladies/marylincoln
http://millercenter.org/president/lincoln/essays/biography/7
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