Mary Todd Lincoln's faux pas (plural), worse, and much worse

[J. Beckert]

I recently ran into an old friend who for years never had anything good to say about his wife. Neither did any of his close friends. They slept separately for years and barely spoke. After 40+ years together, she became ill and he became her caregiver. He told me a few years before she fell ill, they started to become close again and when he told me she'd recently died, he got upset. It told me that after so many unhappy years, there was a reason he'd never left her and that there, after several children and a long history, was still something there.

If we're to judge history and those who made it by our own personal feelings and experiences, you can make Lincoln or anyone else anything you want. Mr. Tripp made AL gay. Others demonize any Southerner because of the current atmosphere that makes it popular to point and scream "Racist!". The same goes for marriages. You could do what's being done to the Lincoln's marriage to Bill & Hillary's. Who knows what someone else felt 150 years ago, especially after losing two children together. Strong bonds are made under many different circumstances and I don't think it's possible to judge folks from another time if you interject your personal feelings and prejudices.