Mary's Reputation

[Mike B.]

(03-18-2013 03:48 PM)Gene C Wrote:  I think it may have been a positive for Lincoln. Mary knew and had conversed with some of Lincoln's political heroes. He seemed to value her ideas and viewpoints. That probably gave an additional attraction between them that she would probably not get in a relationship with someone else. For a homely looking guy like him with no money, to atrtract and mary the belle of society who was good looking and came from a prestigious family, was a major coup for him. Being married to her instantly elivated him in that society (for a time) For the most part, I think her political instincts were pretty good. She did seem to be a bit paranoid and protective of him, with the idea that most people were nice to them because they wanted something from him.

Gene,
I am not sure what evidence there is that Lincoln particularily valued Mary's political viewpoints. I can't seem to find a concrete example of this.
Remember Lincoln choice to go with the Republican Party in 1856 ultimately put him in the White House. It was against Mary's views because she was for the Know-Nothing anti-immigrant Party in 1856.

There is also evidence that his marriage hurt him politically in the short-run.
Remember he was talented enough and seen as a rising Whig leader in the state. He was already Whig floor-leader in the IL House.

He didn't get the Whig nomination to Congress for his district shortly after his marriage and he thought that his marriage to a wealthy family might have been why:

"It is truly gratifying to me to learn that while the people of Sangamon have cast me off, my old friends of Menard who have known me longest and best of any, still retain there confidence in me. It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your County who twelve years ago knew me a strange[r], friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flat boat---at ten dollars per month to learn that I have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and arristocratic family distinction."