"Herndon was born mediocre"

[Tom Emery]

In regards to Herndon's negative views on Mary Lincoln -- and he is not alone in this -- I kind of feel that the belief that Mary Lincoln was an ogre sells Lincoln short.

If she was as bad as Herndon and others have indicated, then why did Lincoln see fit to marry her?

I can't believe that Lincoln just stumbled into the marriage, and had no idea what he was getting into. His courtship with Mary was lengthy, albeit off-and-on.

So are we to assume that Lincoln, whom most of us have great respect, would have married this horrible woman, with all of these flaws? I realize that opposites attract, and some marriages are doomed from the start. But it just doesn't seem right that someone as methodical as Lincoln would have married someone with the horrific qualities Herndon depicts Mary as having.

In relation to the Ann Rutledge thing, I have never really figured out how Herndon and others drew that around to Mary. Mary herself said she had no problem with an early love of her husband's -- her gripe was the belief that (Abraham) could have never loved (Mary).

I agree with that. Personally, I'm inclined to believe there was not a romance between Lincoln and Ann Rutledge, because I'm just not sold on the evidence available (and I realize that others disagree with that). But even if there was, a romance, I don't agree with the idea that Lincoln could have never loved Mary, because he loved Ann Rutledge (Rob touches on this point well, and offers some plausible thoughts on it).

If the Lincoln-Rutledge romance was as great as Herndon, Edgar Lee Masters, etc. believe, then it has to rank up there with Adam and Eve, Romeo and Juliet, etc. to think that the thought of this long lost girl from New Salem was driving him for the rest of his life, and he could have never loved Mary. In Spoon River Anthology, Masters wrote that Lincoln and Ann "were wedded not through union, but by separation," or something like that -- whatever that means. It just seems really maudlin to me.

When Lincoln wrote to Mary from Washington during his term in Congress, there seems to be a real longing for her, which doesn't seem plausible if you assume that it was a loveless marriage.