Today in History
November 04, 1842
The Odd Couple
After finishing her formal education, Mary Todd moves to Springfield, Illinois where she lives with her sister and begins a search for marriage material. Equipped with a razor wit, refined social graces and beauty to boot, Mary Todd is a lively part of the Springfield social scene and inspires the romantic interests of many prominent men—including future presidential hopeful Stephen Douglas. But Mary has her sights set on Abraham Lincoln and they strikes up a romance, much to the disapproval of Todd's family who do not care for the socially-reserved country bumpkin-come-legislator. The two later become engaged—and although Lincoln initially calls off the wedding for fear that he will be unable to support his wife—and marry on this day in 1842.
November 2009
Today's Feature History Article
Lincoln's Contested Legacy
Great Emancipator or unreconstructed racist? Each generation evokes a different Lincoln. But who was our sixteenth president?
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