Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House: an Ordeal of the Power

The article focuses on the White House activities of Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of the 16th American president. Her personality is still controversial in American historiography. She was a bright and remarkable person, well educated, fascinated by politics, which was not typical for a woman in the 19th century. Mary exerted considerable influence on her husband, urging him to become president and supporting his policies to preserve the Union. Her family was tragically divided by the Civil War, with six of her relatives supporting the Union and eight fighting on the Confederate side. She approved of Lincoln's decision to abolish slavery, even though she was a Southerner by birth and came from a slave-owning family. The harsh conditions of the Civil War required the First Lady to perform public duties, particularly visiting the wounded. She did so willingly, but she paid little attention to self-promotion, which was a significant political miscalculation since the Lincoln family's activities were constantly under attack by the Democratic press and secret Southern sympathisers. The press seldom published information presenting her in a more positive light. Her poor health, the death of close family members in the war, the passing away of her son, and her mental instability prevented her from fully exercising her duties as First Lady. She failed the test of power. Still, her activities were an attempt at a woman's intervention in the sphere of male politics, challenging the accepted social norms of her time.

Keywords

American Civil War, Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, White House, abolition of slavery, gender history

Received

11.02.2022

Publication date

13.05.2022

Number of characters

28656

Cite

GOST	Alent'yeva T. Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House: an Ordeal of the Power // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2022. – Issue 2 C. 170-179 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640018578-3-1 (circulation date: 05.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018578-3
MLA	Alent'yeva, Tatiana "Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House: an Ordeal of the Power." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 2 (2022):170-179. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018578-3
APA	Alent'yeva T. (2022). Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House: an Ordeal of the Power. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (2), pp.170-179 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640018578-3

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