The widow of President Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, went nuts after three of her four sons died before their maturities, and her husband was assassinated. Her last living son locked her up in a loony bin.
She is dismissed by history as a shrew, a nag, a spendthrift, a woman with a permanent case of PMS.
This Blog would like the Reader to recast Mary Todd in a new light, as one of the most momentous women in history, and THE most momentous woman in American history.
Mary Todd came from a very influential Kentucky family, closely allied with that titan of American politics, Henry Clay, the original War Hawk. Clay had been Senator from Kentucky, Secretary State of the United States and Speaker of the US House of Representatives, everything but President. And oh how Mr. Clay wanted to be President, but he never pulled it off.
As a flirtatious young girl, up to the age of 14, Mary would sit on the lap of her family friend, Senator Henry Clay and in her best SCARLETT O' HARA mode, coo, " Mr. Senator, I would marry you if you were President."
Mary Todd had a mean streak in her.
She was five foot four, brown hair, "....Todd's broad forehead was exposed above wide-set blue eyes. Her frequent excitement would show itself in quickly blushing cheeks of her pixie-like face. Todd was an animated young woman, her hands moving in quick gestures, as she spoke. Her friends considered her willful and emotional.She was spirited, with a temper."
She spoke fluent French.
She was described as "gifted with rare talents", "high-bred",proud, brilliant,witty", "aristocratic", "accomplished."
Her sister's husband thought that she was one of the most dangerous women alive. Before she had met Lincoln, he proclaimed her a Salome, a Jezebel, a Delilah, "Mary could make a bishop forget his prayers."
When Mary Todd moved from Kentucky to Springfield, Illinois to live with relatives, many young men came courting.
One on them was Lyman Trumbull; he later defeated Lincoln, the first time Lincoln ran for US Senator.
Stephen A. Douglas also came a courting. He also was 5'4''. Brilliant, he was already nicknamed "The Little Giant."
And then there was Abe Lincoln, who, as a young man, before the beard, was one damn ugly dude. Alas, no family, no wealth, gawky....he had split rails.
Sometime in her youth, Mary Todd was told by either a Prophet, a vision, a fortune teller, a nightmare, a hallucination, a paranormal experience,that she was to become Mrs.President of the United States.
Miss Todd believed that.
Mr. Douglas and Miss Todd attended many balls, they were both graceful dancers. Mr. Lincoln was a horrible dancer. Many a cool evening Mr. Douglas and Miss Todd could be seen walking the streets of Springfield, Illinois, arm-in-arm.
They were made for each other. Douglas was a winner, Todd was a beauty.
He proposed marriage.
Now it gets interesting.
She refused him, with these words, "I cannot consent to be your wife, I shall become Mrs. President, or I am the victim of false prophets, but it will not be as Mrs. Douglas."
This Blogger always thought that incident, the Douglas-Todd marriage proposal,a fluke incident of history, like Grant and Lee meeting as young men during the Mexican War(a meeting Lee did not remember), or the incident in which Mexican Generalissimo Santa Ana, at a restaurant, racially insulted his uppity Indian waiter, who was Benito Juarez.
However, suppose the issue was not Mary Todd having the good instincts to marry a future President, like Rosalynn Carter or Jacqueline Bouvier?
Suppose it was the other way around, that she was the Bride Royal of American history, that whomever she married would be the President, automatically?
Perhaps her vision was that her marriage would anoint the man whom she choose, as future President. It was marriage to her which made the man President. Remember the vision was not that a future President would marry her, like Eleanor Roosevelt or Pat Nixon; but that YOU WOULD BE MRS. PRESIDENT.
Suppose the Prophet who told David The Shepard,he would be King of Israel was the same prophet who told Mary The Flirt, her marriage would choose Mr. President?
No matter how great they were, and Douglas was a great man, no one would be President without marrying Mary Todd. Her body was the anointment.
As for Lincoln, well he was proposing to women other than Miss Todd left and right. He proposed to Sarah Rickard, a really young girl. During his proposal,Honest Abe quoted the Bible to the uncomfortable young lady. He told the unimpressed young lady that though he was twice her age, the Biblical Abraham married the younger Biblical Sarah. The Springfield Sarah rejected the Springfield Abraham.
He then proposed to Ms. Matilda Edwards(think blond cheerleader). Ms. Matilda rejected Abe,he was not only ugly, but poor ugly.
Mary Todd pursued Lincoln. He dodged her.
Can you imagine Lincoln's astonishment when this agIng debutante told him, that if he married her, he would be President.
He told friends, he was not interested because she was getting fat.
Todd maneuvered him into an engagement. He jilted her.
She pursued him again.
Finally at 33, he gave into to her and to his destiny, and the nation's destiny and married her. If the Prophet who came to Mary Todd is to be believed, the exact beginning of the Civil War began when Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln exchanged vows.
For there would have been no Civil War if Lincoln had not been elected President.
Stephan A. Douglas went on to engage Lincoln in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, and defeated Lincoln for a US Senate seat.
In 1860, Douglas ran for President, but he was not married to Mary Todd and he lost, to Abraham Lincoln.
A case can be made that Douglas loved Mary until the day he died; he accompanied Mary Todd to her husband's Inaugural Ball. He died a broken man,at 48, not the President.
Douglas was a great man, and if he had married Mary Todd would have become President of the United States. But if he had become President in 1860, this nation would still have slavery.
The modern United States would be a larger version of the Sudan.
Mary Todd CHOSE Abraham Lincoln, sacrificing her future happiness, her family(her relatives fought for the Confederacy) and her sanity for the good of the nation,an ungrateful nation. No wonder she went crazy.
Senator Stephan A. Douglas
She is dismissed by history as a shrew, a nag, a spendthrift, a woman with a permanent case of PMS.
This Blog would like the Reader to recast Mary Todd in a new light, as one of the most momentous women in history, and THE most momentous woman in American history.
Mary Todd came from a very influential Kentucky family, closely allied with that titan of American politics, Henry Clay, the original War Hawk. Clay had been Senator from Kentucky, Secretary State of the United States and Speaker of the US House of Representatives, everything but President. And oh how Mr. Clay wanted to be President, but he never pulled it off.
As a flirtatious young girl, up to the age of 14, Mary would sit on the lap of her family friend, Senator Henry Clay and in her best SCARLETT O' HARA mode, coo, " Mr. Senator, I would marry you if you were President."
Mary Todd had a mean streak in her.
She was five foot four, brown hair, "....Todd's broad forehead was exposed above wide-set blue eyes. Her frequent excitement would show itself in quickly blushing cheeks of her pixie-like face. Todd was an animated young woman, her hands moving in quick gestures, as she spoke. Her friends considered her willful and emotional.She was spirited, with a temper."
She spoke fluent French.
She was described as "gifted with rare talents", "high-bred",proud, brilliant,witty", "aristocratic", "accomplished."
Her sister's husband thought that she was one of the most dangerous women alive. Before she had met Lincoln, he proclaimed her a Salome, a Jezebel, a Delilah, "Mary could make a bishop forget his prayers."
When Mary Todd moved from Kentucky to Springfield, Illinois to live with relatives, many young men came courting.
One on them was Lyman Trumbull; he later defeated Lincoln, the first time Lincoln ran for US Senator.
Stephen A. Douglas also came a courting. He also was 5'4''. Brilliant, he was already nicknamed "The Little Giant."
And then there was Abe Lincoln, who, as a young man, before the beard, was one damn ugly dude. Alas, no family, no wealth, gawky....he had split rails.
Sometime in her youth, Mary Todd was told by either a Prophet, a vision, a fortune teller, a nightmare, a hallucination, a paranormal experience,that she was to become Mrs.President of the United States.
Miss Todd believed that.
Mr. Douglas and Miss Todd attended many balls, they were both graceful dancers. Mr. Lincoln was a horrible dancer. Many a cool evening Mr. Douglas and Miss Todd could be seen walking the streets of Springfield, Illinois, arm-in-arm.
They were made for each other. Douglas was a winner, Todd was a beauty.
He proposed marriage.
Now it gets interesting.
She refused him, with these words, "I cannot consent to be your wife, I shall become Mrs. President, or I am the victim of false prophets, but it will not be as Mrs. Douglas."
This Blogger always thought that incident, the Douglas-Todd marriage proposal,a fluke incident of history, like Grant and Lee meeting as young men during the Mexican War(a meeting Lee did not remember), or the incident in which Mexican Generalissimo Santa Ana, at a restaurant, racially insulted his uppity Indian waiter, who was Benito Juarez.
However, suppose the issue was not Mary Todd having the good instincts to marry a future President, like Rosalynn Carter or Jacqueline Bouvier?
Suppose it was the other way around, that she was the Bride Royal of American history, that whomever she married would be the President, automatically?
Perhaps her vision was that her marriage would anoint the man whom she choose, as future President. It was marriage to her which made the man President. Remember the vision was not that a future President would marry her, like Eleanor Roosevelt or Pat Nixon; but that YOU WOULD BE MRS. PRESIDENT.
Suppose the Prophet who told David The Shepard,he would be King of Israel was the same prophet who told Mary The Flirt, her marriage would choose Mr. President?
No matter how great they were, and Douglas was a great man, no one would be President without marrying Mary Todd. Her body was the anointment.
As for Lincoln, well he was proposing to women other than Miss Todd left and right. He proposed to Sarah Rickard, a really young girl. During his proposal,Honest Abe quoted the Bible to the uncomfortable young lady. He told the unimpressed young lady that though he was twice her age, the Biblical Abraham married the younger Biblical Sarah. The Springfield Sarah rejected the Springfield Abraham.
He then proposed to Ms. Matilda Edwards(think blond cheerleader). Ms. Matilda rejected Abe,he was not only ugly, but poor ugly.
Mary Todd pursued Lincoln. He dodged her.
Can you imagine Lincoln's astonishment when this agIng debutante told him, that if he married her, he would be President.
He told friends, he was not interested because she was getting fat.
Todd maneuvered him into an engagement. He jilted her.
She pursued him again.
Finally at 33, he gave into to her and to his destiny, and the nation's destiny and married her. If the Prophet who came to Mary Todd is to be believed, the exact beginning of the Civil War began when Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln exchanged vows.
For there would have been no Civil War if Lincoln had not been elected President.
Stephan A. Douglas went on to engage Lincoln in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, and defeated Lincoln for a US Senate seat.
In 1860, Douglas ran for President, but he was not married to Mary Todd and he lost, to Abraham Lincoln.
A case can be made that Douglas loved Mary until the day he died; he accompanied Mary Todd to her husband's Inaugural Ball. He died a broken man,at 48, not the President.
Douglas was a great man, and if he had married Mary Todd would have become President of the United States. But if he had become President in 1860, this nation would still have slavery.
The modern United States would be a larger version of the Sudan.
Mary Todd CHOSE Abraham Lincoln, sacrificing her future happiness, her family(her relatives fought for the Confederacy) and her sanity for the good of the nation,an ungrateful nation. No wonder she went crazy.
Senator Stephan A. Douglas
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