Are those stories about Mary abusive to Abraham overstated???

[David Lockmiller]

(01-09-2020 03:57 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Here is the text of what the Collected Works has for the speech:

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Remarks at Opening of Patent Office Fair [1]

February 22, 1864

Loud calls being made then for the President, Mr. Lincoln stepped forward, and said that he appeared before the audience to apologize for not speaking rather than to speak.

He thought that the Committee had practiced a little fraud on him, for they did not intimate when they came to see him in the morning, that they expected him to speak, therefore he had come before the audience totally unprepared to say anything; that was taking one at great disadvantage after the eloquent speech of Mr. Chittenden and the poem of Mr. French.

There was great objection to his saying anything, for necessarily, in consequence of his position, everything went into print. [Laughter and applause.] If he made any mistake it might do both himself and the nation harm. [Applause.] It was very difficult to say sensible things. [Laughter.] He therefore hoped that the audience would excuse him after expressing his desire that the charitable enterprise in which we were engaged might be abundantly successful. [Applause.]

Annotation
[1] New York Tribune, February 24, 1864. Lincoln's remarks followed a speech by Lucius E. Chittenden and a patriotic poem read by Benjamin B. French.

Many thanks, Roger, for posting the actual speech. I thought it to be masterful.

Under the circumstances, I do not believe that President Lincoln could have made a better speech, and yet be more informative as to his valid "political" reasons for not attempting to make a different extemporaneous speech.

By the reaction of the audience (in brackets), it would appear that the audience, other than Mary, understood his reasoning.

It most certainly calls into question how "politically astute" Mary Lincoln really was.