Extra Credit Questions

[RJNorton]

(07-29-2018 10:19 AM)L Verge Wrote:  That source, however, did state that the quote might be apocryphal.

Thanks - this is indeed what I wonder about. It's amazing how many books, including textbooks, that include it as the truth.

[L Verge]

(07-29-2018 10:52 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(07-29-2018 10:19 AM)L Verge Wrote:  That source, however, did state that the quote might be apocryphal.

Thanks - this is indeed what I wonder about. It's amazing how many books, including textbooks, that include it as the truth.

This is a long article from the Winter 2009 issue of The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, but it might help set things straight:

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/262986...w=fulltext

[RJNorton]

Abraham Lincoln slept here one night during his life. Where is this?

[AussieMick]

I'll guess Brown's Hotel where he briefly stayed on first getting to Washington in 1847.

[Eva Elisabeth]

My guess:
   

[RJNorton]

Wonderful guess, Michael, but kudos to Eva. This is an etching (done by Bernardt Wall) of the second-floor guest bedroom in David Wills' house where Lincoln stayed on November 18, 1863 (the night before he gave the Gettysburg Address).

Eva, if you ever travel to the USA again, you have won a free night in the David Wills' house in Gettysburg.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thank you. Unfortunately not at any time soon. I will never forget the mystical atmosphere of Gettysburg.

[L Verge]

We can certainly agree that, whether or not Lincoln considered Harriet Beecher Stowe's book on Uncle Tom's Cabin a cause of the Civil War, the turmoil it caused certainly contributed to the growing ill will between the sections. However, almost two decades before that book appeared on the market, there was another female who might be said to contribute to the war down the line also -- not as blatantly as Mrs. Stowe, but certainly in a politically charged way. Who was this femme fatale?

[AussieMick]

(07-31-2018 07:27 PM)L Verge Wrote:  We can certainly agree that, whether or not Lincoln considered Harriet Beecher Stowe's book on Uncle Tom's Cabin a cause of the Civil War, the turmoil it caused certainly contributed to the growing ill will between the sections. However, almost two decades before that book appeared on the market, there was another female who might be said to contribute to the war down the line also -- not as blatantly as Mrs. Stowe, but certainly in a politically charged way. Who was this femme fatale?

Mrs. Nance Legins-Costley?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Anna Dickinson?

[RJNorton]

Fanny Wright?

[Gene C]

Sarah and/or Angelina Grimke ?

[L Verge]

Good guesses everyone, and Mick, I had to google yours. Interesting info for others who may not have been familiar with Nance Legins-Costley: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ncoln.html

Hint: A politician's wife.

[Steve]

Peggy Eaton

[L Verge]

Another outstanding history student! Congratulations, Steve.

Peggy is an interesting story, a woman of questionable virtue who married John Eaton, a friend of President Andrew Jackson. Politics came into play and even the wives of Cabinet members and ranking politicians decided to shun the young lady -- led by Floride Calhoun, wife of the venerable John C. Calhoun, then Vice President of the U.S. This was during the 1830s when Jackson was creating troubles with the tariff, Martin Van Buren was making waves, etc. What made matters worse was that Jackson, reminded of the harsh treatment his deceased wife, Rachel, had endured, sided with Peggy Eaton.

Things got so heated that what has been dubbed the Petticoat Affair ended with Calhoun resigning and returning to South Carolina and stirring up a lot of trouble between the North and South for the next few decades. This effectively ended any hope that Calhoun had once had of gaining the Presidency. He died before the 1860 election, but if he had become President earlier perhaps he might have served to bridge the divide between North and South instead of being considered the Father of Secession.

Google Peggy Eaton for an interesting story -- right down to her old age, when she took a 20-year-old husband (who ran away with her money and her granddaughter)!