메리 토드 링컨의 퍼스트레이디로서의 평가

The Rating of Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady

The Purpose of this paper is to understand the rating of Mary Todd Lincoln in America. Today, Mary Todd Lincoln ranks at the bottom of historian s rankings of First Ladies, while her husband, Abraham Lincoln, remains the top. American people consider Abraham Lincoln of the best president, but Mary Todd Lincoln the worst First Lady. What makes Mary the Worst? ① Mary indulge in ostentation in untimely. At that time, Civil War is under way. She show off one’s new dresses, new gloves, and ect. In fact, she was not a beauty. Her portraits show her well dressed but overwhelmed by her clothes. She looks shy, diffident, rather like a doll dressed up for an occasion...too many frills, too many flowers, too many ruffles, as if the clothes were taking the place of her own personality. Like a modern-day shopaholic, Mary couldn t resist buying things. Mary planned the interior improvements to the White House that would stand as one of her important, if untimely, accomplishments. But many people were repelled that she would attempt such a transformation during wartime. And at the same time, she was castigated for having the bad taste to give a such a gale during the war. ② Mary was nervous and extreme, too. Mary seemed to swing in manic extremes from gracious, charming hostess to angry, dressed virago...and the mood swings became more frequent, and less easily hidden. With Willie s death, her son, Mary fell into a state of depression from which she never quite emerged. But her grief was characterized as “excessive and ostentatious.” ③ Mary had been influenced patronage matters. At that time, patronage matters reserved for men. But she had been interested the patronage. Not so much as, she may even have initiated an exchange of her influence with the president for bills from rich merchants who were pleased to have her wearing their dresses. ④ Mary became interested in spiritualism and met with its practitioner in Boston and New York, what is worse, in the White House. But, ahead of her time, Mary saw herself as a vanguard of American fashion and intellectuality. In accordance with, such a malign, unbalanced view overlooks Mary Lincoln s contributions and her modern view of her role as First Lady.