Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[RJNorton]

Mrs Grant and MTL did not get along at all-but we knew that.
Plus the General was the ultimate 'family man', and loved to spend as much time with them as he could. His love for Julia was beyond good, it was great.
So those are really the only reasons the Grants didn't go to the theater that night.
Plus I'm sure Julia wanted to get away from MTL ASAP!

Just curious if anyone has an opinion on a question I have. The Grants and Stantons were by no means alone in not accepting the invitation to see Our American Cousin with the Lincolns.

Did a presidential invitation mean less in those days than now?

Assuming Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography by Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, and Peter W. Kunhardt is accurate, 14 people turned down the Lincolns' theater invitation. I am looking at p. 347 in that book as I write this. Some of the "excuses" seem "thin" to me. For example, Noah Brooks refused the invitation because he had a cold. Mr. and Mrs. William H. Wallace "pleaded weariness." Two friends of Lincoln's, Illinois Governor Richard Oglesby and ex-Governor Richard Yates, turned down the invitation in order to meet other friends.

So I am curious: Did a presidential invitation mean less in those days than now?

My personal view is that if the President of the United States somehow asked me to go to the theater, a ballgame, etc. I simply cannot comprehend saying "no" because I had a cold.