Most important person in Lincoln's life

[Eva Elisabeth]

One very trivial example of Mary's influence - when her husband once noriced that "those posies on your dress are the color of your eyes,’ Mary said to her half-sister Emilie Todd Helm: "You see, Emilie, I am training my husband to see color. I do not think he knew pink from blue when I married him."

Still the limit of her "external" influence began with the shirt sleeves and carpet slippers, and if it came to influence his thinking and mind once he had made it up, Mary herself claimed no one could rule him.

As for politics and his career, one example of Mary's influence, however to rate, comes to my mind. Lincoln was tempted first to accept the offer of the governorship of the Oregon territory (the salary was $ 3,000 a year), but then decided to accept if Mary consented to go. She refused and “put her foot down about moving”. (Nevertheless, Lincoln also knew a Whig would hardy have been chosen for Congress if Oregon had been admitted to the Union.) According to Noah Brooks, Mary reminded him during his presidency that she had kept him from “throwing himself away” by accepting the governorship of Oregon.