In the third section of Douglas Wilson's Honor’s Voice, Lincoln's relationships with women are discussed. From the young age of seven until he was an adult, he was "unattracted" to girls. His grandmother is quoted as saying that Lincoln "was not very fond of girls..." (Wilson 110). Although others identified Lincoln as being a young man without a particular liking towards women, Lincoln didn't let it phase him. In fact, the main reason Lincoln lacked a strong liking for women was because with them, he couldn't display his social talents. Wilson writes about Lincoln saying, "He had...the inclination and ability to take center stage in social situations...but girls did not compete with boys in athletic contests, and most of his stories would probably not have been considered suitable for a mixed audience" (Wilson 114). By no means was it that Lincoln plainly disliked them or that was afraid of girls, he just liked the spotlight more.
Lincoln did, however, fall in love with a women by the name of Ann Rutledge. The two became lovers, she a tavernkeepers daughter and he a boarder. While Ms. Rutledge was in love with Lincoln, she was publicly engaged to a man named John McNeil. A neighbor who lived near the Rutledge farm recalled Lincoln's presence at the farm saying, "Mr. L. came over to see me & them every day or two. I did not know of any engagement or tender passages between Mr L & Miss R at the time" (129). The fact that Ann was already engaged to Mr. McNeil most likely allowed the neighbor to not suspect anything. Once she Ann died in 1834 though, the neighbor was very aware of the fact that there had been something between Lincoln and Miss Rutledge. According to Wilson, "his extraordinary emotions...accurately reflect what local residents came to believe and to remember about the aftermath of Ann's death, some of whom used words like 'crazy' and 'insanity' to describe Lincoln's condition" (Wilson 132). Lincoln took her death quite seriously, but he would move on. He would always find himself in the middle of social gatherings, but his love to do that never took him away from establishing deep relationships with others, even women.
3 comments:
I find it funny that one of our most important Presidents didn't like women because he couldn't upstage them in athletics. It is also rather odd that Lincoln essentially committed adultery during his younger days. Abe Lincoln never struck me as that type. Great job with this post.
I think this post brings up an interesting topic in that Lincoln was not particularly fond of girls based on the fact that he wanted to showcase his talents to the general public. I find it amazing that someone who was such a good public speaker who turned out to be one of the most famous presidents ever got "nervous" in front of girls in a way that it directly effected his skills. At first, when you said he was "unattracted" to girls, I thought he could possibly be considered gay in that book, but later in the post, the dialogue and your explanations cleared that issue up.
I found it very interesting that Lincoln like the spotlight, I would not have guessed that, he seemed more like a man just interested in doing what was right. Who was not concerned about gaining any sort of recognition. It was also entertaining that he, who stood up against so many people for what he believed was right, could not have "the spotlight" when in the presence of women. This bibliography sounds very interesting, there are so many things I never would have guessed about Lincoln.
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