More on Mrs. Lincoln's [non] faux pas

[LincolnToddFan]

David,

Most of MTL's existing letters (600+) have been published in an excellent anthology. She discusses poetry and literature in quite a few of those published letters. Shortly before the assassination she had ordered a life of Julius Caesar for herself. And during the period of her widowhood she made it a point to journey to England and Scotland because she wanted to visit in person the historical places and castles from Shakespeare's MACBETH.(Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life in Letters/1972/ Linda Leavitt-Turner and Justin Turner)

She certainly discussed both poetry and literature in depth with her good friend, the well read multilingual Charles Sumner of Massachusetts during her famous White House Blue Room Salon. Sumner was no dilettante, and would not have been a member of her inner circle if she had been one.

I doubt if she was as brilliant or as deep as her husband-few men or women of his time were-but the woman was no slouch. Furthermore she could discuss her ideas in a flawless Parisian French, which Lincoln certainly could not. The fact that AL was proud of his clever wife pretty much says it all. Intellectually she was perfect for him.

Your point about the Rutledges' lack of slave labor in comparison to the Todds is well taken. But I think you assumed that Eva's question about Ann's education was meant to be unkind. I don't think it was, and I can assure you that nothing I said about her was meant to denigrate Ann Rutledge in any way. We know from the testimony of New Salem sources that she was a bright young woman and that she had the intellectual curiosity that might have made her a very educated person if she had not died young.