American Queen

[Gencor]

I think that Sprague's biggest problem was that he suffered from Bi-Polar disorder and he used alcohol to self medicate. No one had ever heard of anything like Bi-Polar disorder in that era and I believe that as his mental disorder progressed, he became much worse. I have my doubts that Sprague every really stopped his drinking and his erratic, sometimes euphoric behavior. I think that Sprague was making alot of money very quickly and growing his company just as quickly. That was what eventually led to his downfall, however, if not for those horrible scenes in the Senate, he might have been able to save his fortune. Sadly for Sprague, by this time, his enemies were devastated and his wife had finally realized that he was hopeless, even though, she did take at least one last try, to which he turned a complete deaf ear. Sprague brought about his own downfall, the downfall of his family business and the ruin of most of his family's fortune. Even the people and the state of Rhode Island felt the financial ruin brought about by this erratic, self absorbed, alcoholic idiot. What just incensed me about this man was that he never felt any remorse for any of it. Not for the abuse that he put his wife through or the terrible, horrible things that he said in those Senate speeches, or his son's suicide and not even ever contributing to the financial support of his little girls. Sprague was a pathetic man and it is confusing to hear that he was a happy man in his second marriage with a woman who, along with her sister, managed to get control of his finances in ways that Kate Chase would have been too much of a lady to even think of and that, like a self fulfilling prophecy, he actually did end up marrying a real, true to life, golddigger! A woman who got control of just about every penny he had left. It wasn't as much as she thought, but she had no problem getting control of what little he did have. Kate didn't marry Sprague for his money, but his second wife surely did.

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(10-31-2014 04:10 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(10-31-2014 07:39 AM)Gene C Wrote:  So if you compared Mary and Kate - who was more skilled in politics, and who was more influential on a political career? Mary on her husbands, or Kate on her father's?

That's a good question. I'll say Mary. In spite of her personality quirks, Abraham made it to become President. But then in my opinion, she also had the better man to support and encourage.

Kate certainly had her charms and abilities, but I'm not so sure she was the better judge of people, but maybe a bit more discreet than Mary. Anyone recommend a good book about Salmon Chase? (other than Team of Rivals - which is very good)

I had always thought that Kate married Sprague to help get financing for her fathers run for the presidency. Sprague has given me the impression of someone who rose to power and money to quickly and didn't know how to properly deal with it. He let those things control his life, instead of the other way around. He ended up with the usual results.

Perhaps one singular reason that Sprague turned out to be such a cad is that he was born to the manor - meaning that he was born into wealth and political power because of the hard work of family members who came before. Spoiled rich kid syndrome, IMO. He then lost some wealth because of family infighting, and it didn't help that Kate's half-sister was married to part of the familial enemies.
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When Kate was first introduced to Sprague, she has inquired about him to John Hay and he told her very honestly that Sprague was basically "much ado about nothing!" LOL! He told her that Sprague was a rich kid who basically was a big do nothing, flash in the pan kind of guy. Sprague actually, in later years, because of his jealousy of Kate, came between Kate and her long friendship with Hay just as he has with so many of her friends and even her sister.

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(10-31-2014 04:10 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(10-31-2014 07:39 AM)Gene C Wrote:  So if you compared Mary and Kate - who was more skilled in politics, and who was more influential on a political career? Mary on her husbands, or Kate on her father's?

That's a good question. I'll say Mary. In spite of her personality quirks, Abraham made it to become President. But then in my opinion, she also had the better man to support and encourage.

Kate certainly had her charms and abilities, but I'm not so sure she was the better judge of people, but maybe a bit more discreet than Mary. Anyone recommend a good book about Salmon Chase? (other than Team of Rivals - which is very good)

I had always thought that Kate married Sprague to help get financing for her fathers run for the presidency. Sprague has given me the impression of someone who rose to power and money to quickly and didn't know how to properly deal with it. He let those things control his life, instead of the other way around. He ended up with the usual results.

Perhaps one singular reason that Sprague turned out to be such a cad is that he was born to the manor - meaning that he was born into wealth and political power because of the hard work of family members who came before. Spoiled rich kid syndrome, IMO. He then lost some wealth because of family infighting, and it didn't help that Kate's half-sister was married to part of the familial enemies.
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As far as political strength, I don't think that Mary Todd was that strong. She was the wife of the President, but she just really wasn't skilled at all in how to use that power. Kate, on the other hand, did prove handily, that she knew exactly how to make that power work for her father. In the case of Salmon, he was what he was meant to be and Lincoln was what he was meant to be. As for Mary Todd, she was the wife of the President but she just didn't have the skill to be objective for her husband. Lincoln was very skilled in that way and he humored Mary Todd quite a bit. He was kind to her, but he was his own counsel, in the end. Salmon was a brilliant man. Capable and at an early point in his career, might have been a good president, but I honestly don't think that he would have been a great President, even with the right timing and Kate's great skill at entertaining power. In many ways, Kate was his strength, just as she was for Sprague and for Conkling. Sadly, Kate was stronger and greater than the men in her life. Not so unusual for that era. Mary Todd suffered from depression and I believe that was what held her back. She was given to uncontrollable, angry fits and while she knew her husband's enemies, she couldn't be objective in her counsel to him. Mary Todd carried the burden of grief throughout her husband's public office as President. That had to be a difficult burden on her. I think that it played into alot of her behavior during that time.

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I don't know how this happened but my posts that I wanted to answer ended up under the wrong quote so I hope that when you read the last two posts by me, you will please understand.