Mary Ann Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Todd Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865. In early life Mary Ann Todd Lincoln was born in Lexington, Kentucky she was the daughter of Robert smith Todd and Eliza parker. They were slave holders as were their other relatives. At the age of twenty in 1893 Mary Todd escaped from her stepmother and moved to Springfield, Illinois. The flirtations and intelligent Mary Todd was courted by the rising young lawyer and politician Stephen A. Douglas Mary was unexpectedly attracted by Douglas’s lawyer-status rival and fellow lawyer, Abraham Lincoln. Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln were married on November 4, 1842 almost exactly nine month later on august 1, 1843 their first son Robert Todd Lincoln was born. Abraham Lincoln pursued his increasingly successful career as a Springfield lawyer and Mary Todd supervised his growing household. Their home together from 1844 until 1861 survives in Springfield and is now the Lincoln home national historic site. They had three children later on named Edward (Eddie) baker Lincoln born in March 10, 1846, William (Willie) Wallace Lincoln born in December 21, 1850, Tomas (tad) Lincoln born in April 4, 1853. During the 1850s however Mrs. Lincoln staunchly supported her husband as her faced me growing crisis caused by American slavery. This concluded in Lincoln’s election in November 1860 as president of the United States. Mary Lincoln was well-educated and interested in public affairs, and shared her husband's fierce ambition. However, her Southern heritage created obstacles for her that became apparent almost immediately after she took on her new duties as First Lady in March 1861. Some facets of Mrs. Lincoln's character did not help her in facing these challenges. She was temperamentally high-strung and touchy and sometimes acted irrationally. She was almost instantly unpopular upon her arrival in the...