{"id":480,"date":"2015-03-04T19:18:05","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T19:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/?page_id=480"},"modified":"2016-06-20T15:46:08","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T15:46:08","slug":"close-reading-letter-to-eliza-browning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/close-readings\/close-reading-letter-to-eliza-browning\/","title":{"rendered":"Close Reading &#8211;Lincoln&#8217;s Letter to Eliza Browning"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Standard2ColLayout\">\n<div id=\"ld_iawoxq_51\">\n<div class=\"board_page content contents main_content fixed_header ContentWrapper\">\n<div id=\"__w2_yZvLpgg_content\">\n<div id=\"ld_xnphuu_1215\">\n<div id=\"ld_xnphuu_1216\">\n<div class=\"BlogItemMain\">\n<div class=\"grid_page\">\n<div class=\"grid_page_wrap\">\n<div class=\"grid_page_center_col\">\n<div id=\"ld_xnphuu_1219\">\n<div class=\" BoardStandaloneItem BoardItem\">\n<div class=\"BoardItemView PostBoardItemView\">\n<div class=\"board_item_content\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"row board_item_description\">\n<div id=\"ld_leakxr_1077\">\n<div class=\"suggested\">\n<div id=\"__w2_itXC7Ek_inline_editor_content\" class=\"inline_editor_content hover\">\n<div id=\"__w2_P5d2HCs_outer\">\n<div><strong>By <a href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?s=jESSE+o%27NEILL&amp;submit=Go\" target=\"_blank\">Jesse O&#8217;Neill<\/a> (Understanding Lincoln, Summer 2014)<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LveLuxmoWEk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"__w2_P5d2HCs_container\"><i>Honest<\/i> Abe? Yes\u2014perhaps to a fault.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>When the future sixteenth president of the United States stumbled into a relationship with Mary Owens\u2014an \u201cover-size,\u201d \u201cwithered\u201d woman who reminded him of nothing so much as his mother\u2014the end result was a\u00a0<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-eliza-browning-april-1-1838\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">letter<\/a><\/span>to his friend, Eliza Browning, that reveals Lincoln\u2019s caustic wit and intolerance of \u201cunfortunate corpulency.\u201d\u00a0 Still, he saved his most strident criticism for himself:\u00a0 \u201cOthers have been made fools of by the girls\u2026.\u201d Lincoln wrote.\u00a0 \u201cI most emphatically\u2026made a fool of myself.\u201d[1]Through allusion, hyperbole, and imagery, Lincoln depicts Mary Owens as one from whom he seems to physically recoil, and the reader cannot help but laugh.\u00a0 He calls the 5\u2019 5\u201d, 150 pound woman[2] \u201ca fair match for Falstaff,\u201d an unhappy comparison to the comic character of Shakespeare\u2019s plays.<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"portrait qtext_image zoomable_in zoomable_in_feed\" src=\"http:\/\/qph.is.quoracdn.net\/main-qimg-8a26230a0913410b54ca2b411b7c644d?convert_to_webp=true\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p><i>A portrayal of Falstaff<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Deriding her for \u201cher want of teeth,\u201d \u201cweather-beaten appearance,\u201d and age (\u201cnothing could have commenced at the size of infancy, and reached her present bulk in less than thirtyfive or forty years\u201d), Lincoln suddenly has the reader commiserating through laughter as he reveals his dilemma:\u00a0 how to escape this relationship with his integrity and Mary\u2019s feelings intact.[3]<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"portrait qtext_image qtext_image_large zoomable_in zoomable_in_feed\" src=\"http:\/\/qph.is.quoracdn.net\/main-qimg-36cf184c40d991a3d344c5b63b90670b?convert_to_webp=true\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p>As he writes to Eliza, \u201cI made a point of honor and conscience in all things, to stick to my word,\u201d[4] a re-phrasing of the same idea in his final <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-mary-owens-august-10-1837\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">letter<\/a><\/span> to Mary, from August 1837\u2014\u201cI want in all cases to do right, and most particularly so, in all cases with women.\u201d[5]<\/p>\n<p>But what had been, in Lincoln\u2019s letter to Mary, a heart-rending sense of obligation, here transforms into a humorous imagining, \u201c\u2026that no other man on earth would have her, and\u2026[they] were bent on holding me to my bargain.\u201d\u00a0 Here he regretfully reports to Eliza that he was \u201c\u2018firm as the surge repelling rock,\u2019\u201d[6] an allusion to the frontispiece of <i>David Ramsey\u2019s The Life of George Washington<\/i>,[7] which echoes what he had written to Mary in May 1837:\u00a0 \u201cWhat I have said I will most positively abide by, provided you wish it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Still, he advised Mary, \u201cMy opinion is that you had better not do it.\u201d[8]<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"landscape qtext_image zoomable_in zoomable_in_feed\" src=\"http:\/\/qph.is.quoracdn.net\/main-qimg-41a69e4994c411a6ba6c7880677a234b?convert_to_webp=true\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p>To Eliza Browning he explains that his sense of obligation to Mary was a form of \u201cbondage\u201d from which he \u201cmuch desired to be free,\u201d[9] while in his letters to Mary, he resorts to a kind of subterfuge\u2014hinting that she might not be happy marrying Lincoln and moving to Springfield (e.g., \u201cI am afraid you would not be satisfied. There is a great deal of flourishing about in carriages here, which it would be your doom to see without shareing in it.\u00a0 You would have to be poor without the means of hiding your poverty.\u201d[10])\u00a0 In his letters to Mary, Lincoln subtly suggests reasons <i>she<\/i> might want to end it, rather than admitting that he<i>himself<\/i> does not want this.<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"landscape qtext_image zoomable_in zoomable_in_feed\" src=\"http:\/\/qph.is.quoracdn.net\/main-qimg-b4ed4945b8af2138c0506880f961e0fd?convert_to_webp=true\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p><i>Illustration of Springfield, IL, 1867<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Lincoln\u2019s penultimate paragraph to Eliza explains that, having delayed as long as he could, he finally \u201cmade the proposal to [Mary] direct,\u201d several times, and to his surprise, was flatly rejected. \u201cI was mortified, it seemed to me, in a hundred different ways.\u00a0 My vanity was deeply wounded by the reflection, that I had so long been too stupid to discover her intentions, and at the same time never doubting that I understood them perfectly.\u201d[11]<\/p>\n<p>While the story is better for Lincoln\u2019s assertion of certainty, Lincoln\u2019s May and August 1837 letters to Mary reveal that he was actually full of doubt\u2014in both, he seeks to clarify the status of the relationship.\u00a0 For example, in the context of a discussion of whether Mary would be happy with Lincoln, he wrote, \u201cWhat you have said to me may have been in jest, or I may have misunderstood it.\u201d[12]\u00a0 Even in his final, unanswered letter to Mary, Lincoln writes, \u201cit may be, that you, are mistaken in regard to what my real feelings towards you are. If I knew you were not, I should not trouble you with this letter.\u00a0 Perhaps any other man would know enough without further information; but I consider it my peculiar right to plead ignorance, and your bounden duty to allow the plea.\u201d[13]<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"portrait qtext_image qtext_image_large zoomable_in zoomable_in_feed\" src=\"http:\/\/qph.is.quoracdn.net\/main-qimg-e227c5634d305ada33ab6dd16a53004c?convert_to_webp=true\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p><i>Eliza Browning<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Eliza Browning and her husband, Orville, had met Lincoln while living in Vandalia, where both he and Orville were serving in the Illinois state government.\u00a0 Lincoln\u2019s letter to Eliza, although it concerned the aborted engagement to Mary, was \u201cwritten in a droll and amusing vein,\u201d and neither Eliza nor her husband imagined that it was autobiographical at all, but rather \u201cone of his funny stories, without any foundation of fact to sustain it.\u201d[14]\u00a0 The historian Paul M. Zall suggests that the date\u2014April 1, 1838\u2014was a clue to the recipients that the letter was in jest,[15] which is indeed how they took it.\u00a0 As Eliza learned more than twenty years later, however, there was \u201cmore truth in that letter than she supposed.\u201d[16]<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"portrait qtext_image zoomable_in_feed\" src=\"http:\/\/qph.is.quoracdn.net\/main-qimg-29c9a5bfb2d28445d4649253b9086b13?convert_to_webp=true\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p><i>Orville Browning<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The letter purports to render \u201ca full and intelligible account\u201d[17] of Lincoln\u2019s life since he last saw Eliza, and it does adhere to the skeleton of what is known[18] about Lincoln\u2019s troubled relationship with Mary Owens in 1836 and 1837.\u00a0 While Lincoln does not reveal Mary\u2019s identity in his letter to Eliza, he leaves some clues to follow.\u00a0 For example, he mentions \u201ca married lady of my aquaintance,\u201d[19] who turns out to be Elizabeth Abell, a friend of his who encouraged his relationship with her sister, Mary Owens.\u00a0 Lincoln had first met Mary when she visited New Salem in 1833,[20] but it was not until several years later that Elizabeth suggested the two should marry, and Lincoln agreed.<\/p>\n<p>By this time, Elizabeth was apparently a close observer of Lincoln; by her report, Lincoln was staying with the Abell family around the time of the death of his love interest, Ann Rutledge.[21]\u00a0 As Catherine Clinton points out, although he was only twenty-nine at the time of the letter, Lincoln had experienced several traumas related to women.\u00a0 She writes that, \u201cThe death of his mother, the death of his sister, and the sad circumstances surrounding the death of Ann Rutledge opened floodgates of grief.\u00a0\u00a0 Each of the three women with whom he had become intimate had been taken from him. As he became more and more withdrawn, more emotionally reticent, his relationships with women became even more challenging.\u201d[22]\u00a0 The \u201cchallenging\u201d weigh-station on the road to his ultimate marriage to Mary Todd was Mary Owens.<\/p>\n<p>Lincoln writes that he is initially \u201cconfoundedly well pleased with the project.\u201d[23]\u00a0 His pleasure probably derived from his sense that the marriage was a way to advance himself.\u00a0 Clinton describes Lincoln as \u201cweighed down by thoughts of both <i>how<\/i> and <i>with whom<\/i> he might cast his lot,\u201d[24] and Allen Guelzo asserts that \u201call of Lincoln\u2019s attempts at marriage were, in more than a few respects, policy matches.\u201d\u00a0 Ann Rutledge and Mary Owens both would have been \u201cmarriages-up,\u201d as was his eventual marriage to Mary Todd.[25]\u00a0 In his letter, Lincoln is decidedly unromantic in his choice, offering only that he \u201csaw no good objection to plodding life through\u201d with her.[26]<\/p>\n<p>A second factor that may have contributed to his hasty proposal was sheer loneliness.\u00a0 In the years prior to the letter, Lincoln had been twice elected to the Illinois State Assembly, but seemed to find the life in Vandalia and later Springfield to be unbearable. \u201cWrite back as soon as you get this,\u201d he told Mary in December 1836, \u201cand if possible say something that will please me, for really I have not been pleased since I left you.\u201d[27]\u00a0 In a second letter, this time from Springfield in May 1837, he complains of being \u201cquite as lonesome here as ever was anywhere in my life.\u00a0 I have been spoken to by but one woman since I\u2019ve been here, and should not have been by her, if she could have avoided it.\u201d[28]<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"landscape qtext_image qtext_image_large zoomable_in zoomable_in_feed\" src=\"http:\/\/qph.is.quoracdn.net\/main-qimg-39702a6616a8ef2489593c542f77bb43?convert_to_webp=true\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p><i>Map of Illinois, annotated detail, 1833<\/i><\/p>\n<p>While the unexpected end to his relationship with Mary Owens left him without companionship or upward mobility for the time being, Lincoln was relieved to be out of the difficult situation. And, he felt that he had learned an important lesson: \u201cnever again to think of marrying\u201d because he \u201ccan never be satisfied with any one who would be block-head enough to have [him].\u201d[29]\u00a0 But as Mary Todd soon found out, never say never.<\/p>\n<p>While the letter is a showcase of Lincoln\u2019s wit and style, it also represents how a relationship that was painful\u2014for different reasons\u2014both in its existence and in its conclusion, could with the passage of time be transformed into a humorous, and deeply self-deprecating, letter to entertain Lincoln\u2019s friend.\u00a0 He reveals enough of himself to make others laugh, but disguises his story (his betrothed is anonymous, and his use of hyperbole and other humorous strategies leads the reader to think the story could not possibly be true).\u00a0 With the help of Lincoln\u2019s letters to Mary, his letter to Eliza illustrates his honesty (even as Eliza read it as fiction), his commitment to keeping his word, and his reluctance to disappoint.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"qtext_hr\" \/>\n<p><b>Footnotes:<\/b><br \/>\n[1]Matthew Pinsker, ed., &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning (April 1, 1838),&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>, last modified 2014, accessed June 28, 2014,<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-eliza-browning-april-1-1838\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Letter to Eliza Browning (April 1, 1838)<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\n[2]Paul M. Zall, ed., <i>Lincoln on Lincoln<\/i>(Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2010), 43, accessed June 23, 2014, <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=Q02YcA-XBkUC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lincoln on Lincoln<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\n[3]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[4]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[5]Abraham Lincoln, &#8220;To Mary S. Owens,&#8221; in <i>Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/i> (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services, 2001), 1:94, originally published as <i>Collected Works<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), accessed June 23, 2014,<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln1\/1:123?hi=0;rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;size=25;sort=occur;start=1;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=Mary;op2=and;q2=Owens\" target=\"_blank\">Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\n[6]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[7]<i>David Ramsey\u2019s The Life of George Washington<\/i>, revised and enlarged, by Wm. Grimshaw, Baltimore:\u00a0 Joseph Jewett, and Cushing &amp; Sons, 1832; via Google Books: <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=xChV1CO8KhcC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;source=gbs_ge_summary_r&amp;cad=0#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Life of George Washington<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n[8]Abraham Lincoln, &#8220;To Mary S. Owens,&#8221; in <i>Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/i> (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services, 2001), 1:78, originally published as <i>Collected Works<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), accessed June 23, 2014,<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln1\/1:105?hi=0;rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;size=25;sort=occur;start=1;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=Mary;op2=and;q2=Owens\" target=\"_blank\">Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\n[9]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[10]Lincoln, &#8220;To Mary S. Owens,&#8221; in <i>Collected Works of Abraham<\/i>, 1:78.<br \/>\n[11]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[12]Lincoln, &#8220;To Mary S. Owens,&#8221; in <i>Collected Works of Abraham<\/i>, 1:78.<br \/>\n[13]Lincoln, &#8220;To Mary S. Owens,&#8221; in <i>Collected Works of Abraham<\/i>, 1:94.<br \/>\n[14]Orville Hickman Browning, &#8220;Browning to Arnold,&#8221; in <i>Abraham Lincoln and Mary Owen<\/i>, by Abraham Lincoln, Orville Hickman Browning, and Isaac Newton Arnold, comp. Harry Ellsworth Barker (Springfield, IL: Barker&#8217;s Art Store, 1922), n.p., accessed June 23, 2014, <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.archive.org\/details\/abrahamlincolnma00linc\" target=\"_blank\">Abraham Lincoln and Mary Owen : three letters, Lincoln to Mrs. O.H. Browning, I.N. Arnold to O.H. Browning, O.H. Browning to I.N. Arnold : Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 : Free Download &amp; Streaming : Internet Archive<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\n[15]Zall, <i>Lincoln on Lincoln<\/i>, 43.<br \/>\n[16] John George Nicolay, &#8220;The Springfield Interviews,&#8221; in <i>An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln: John G. Nicolay&#8217;s Interviews and Essays<\/i>, ed. Michael Burlingame (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University, 1996), 4, accessed June 23, 2014.<br \/>\n[17]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[18]The evidence comes mainly from three extant letters, between December 1836 and August 1837, from Lincoln to Mary Owens, as well as from the recollections of Eliza Browning\u2019s husband, Orville.<br \/>\n[19]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[20]Abraham Lincoln, &#8220;To Mary S. Owens,&#8221; in <i>Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/i> (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services, 2001), 1:55, originally published as <i>Collected Works<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), accessed June 23, 2014, <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln1\/1:85?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=Mary+Owens\" target=\"_blank\">Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 Footnote 1.<br \/>\n[21]Lewis Gannett, &#8220;The Ann Rutledge Story: Case Closed?,&#8221; <i>Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association<\/i>31, no. 2 (2010): 33, accessed June 20, 2014, <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/spo.2629860.0031.205\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Ann Rutledge Story: Case Closed?<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\n[22]Catherine Clinton, &#8220;Abraham Lincoln: The Family That Made Him, the Family He Made,&#8221; in <i>Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World<\/i>, ed. Eric Foner (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2008), 259.<br \/>\n[23]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[24]Clinton, &#8220;Abraham Lincoln: The Family,&#8221; in <i>Our Lincoln: New Perspectives<\/i>, 260.<br \/>\n[25]Allen C. Guelzo, &#8220;Come-outers and Community Men: Abraham Lincoln and the Idea of Community in Nineteenth-Century America,&#8221; <i>Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association<\/i> 21, no. 1 (2000): n.p., accessed June 19, 2014,<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/spo.2629860.0021.103\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Come-outers and Community Men: Abraham Lincoln and the Idea of Community in Nineteenth-Century America<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\n[26]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<br \/>\n[27]Lincoln, &#8220;To Mary S. Owens,&#8221; in <i>Collected Works of Abraham<\/i>, 1:55.<br \/>\n[28]Lincoln, &#8220;To Mary S. Owens,&#8221; in <i>Collected Works of Abraham<\/i>, 1:78.<br \/>\n[29]Pinsker, &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning,&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p><b>Image credits, in order of appearance:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i>Falstaff: portrayal by Tree in \u201cHenry IV<\/i>, Photograph, from <i>Britannica Online for Kids<\/i>, accessed June 24, 2014, <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/kids.britannica.com\/comptons\/art-144972\" target=\"_blank\">Falstaff: portrayal by Tree in &#8220;Henry IV&#8221; &#8211;Kids Encyclopedia<\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\nMary S. Owens:\u00a0 Library of Congress:\u00a0 <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/resource\/lprbscsm.scsm0876\/\" target=\"_blank\">[Photographic reproduction of Sarah Rickard and Mary S. Owens.]<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li>Firm as the Surge Repelling Rock: via Google Books<br \/>\nSpringfield, IL illustration:<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/17374\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Springfield, Illinois, central area, 1867<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li>Eliza Browning:\u00a0 Indiana Historical Society:\u00a0 <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.indianahistory.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Welcome &#8211; Indiana Historical Society<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li>Orville Browning:\u00a0 House Divided Project:\u00a0 <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/5236\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Browning, Orville Hickman<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li>1833 Illinois map (annotated detail): <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.illinois.gov\/inside\/PublishingImages\/1833B.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/www.illinois.gov\/i<wbr \/>nside\/P&#8230;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Bibliography:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Browning, Orville Hickman. &#8220;Browning to Arnold.&#8221; In <i>Abraham Lincoln and Mary Owen<\/i>, by Abraham Lincoln, Orville Hickman Browning, and Isaac Newton Arnold. Compiled by Harry Ellsworth Barker. Springfield, IL: Barker&#8217;s Art Store, 1922. Accessed June 23, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.archive.org\/details\/abrahamlincolnma00linc\" target=\"_blank\" data-tooltip=\"attached\">Abraham Lincoln and Mary Owen : three letters, Lincoln to Mrs. O.H. Browning, I.N. Arnold to O.H. Browning, O.H. Browning to I.N. Arnold : Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 : Free Download &amp; Streaming : Internet Archive<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Clinton, Catherine. &#8220;Abraham Lincoln: The Family That Made Him, the Family He Made.&#8221; In <i>Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World<\/i>, edited by Eric Foner, 249-66. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Gannett, Lewis. &#8220;The Ann Rutledge Story: Case Closed?&#8221; <i>Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association<\/i> 31, no. 2 (2010): 21-60. Accessed June 20, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/spo.2629860.0031.205\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Ann Rutledge Story: Case Closed?<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Guelzo, Allen C. &#8220;Come-outers and Community Men: Abraham Lincoln and the Idea of Community in Nineteenth-Century America.&#8221; <i>Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association<\/i> 21, no. 1 (2000): 1-29. Accessed June 19, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/spo.2629860.0021.103\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Come-outers and Community Men: Abraham Lincoln and the Idea of Community in Nineteenth-Century America<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Lincoln, Abraham. &#8220;To Mary S. Owens.&#8221; In <i>Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/i>, 54-55. Vol. 1. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services, 2001. Originally published as <i>Collected Works<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953). Accessed June 23, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln1\/1:85?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=Mary+Owens\" target=\"_blank\">Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014. &#8220;To Mary S. Owens.&#8221; In <i>Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/i>, 94-95. Vol. 1. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services, 2001. Originally published as <i>Collected Works<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953). Accessed June 23, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln1\/1:123?hi=0;rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;size=25;sort=occur;start=1;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=Mary;op2=and;q2=Owens\" target=\"_blank\" data-tooltip=\"attached\">Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014. &#8220;To Mary S. Owens.&#8221; In <i>Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/i>, 78-79. Vol. 1. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services, 2001. Originally published as <i>Collected Works<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953). Accessed June 23, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln1\/1:105?hi=0;rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;size=25;sort=occur;start=1;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=Mary;op2=and;q2=Owens\" target=\"_blank\">Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014. &#8220;To Mrs. Orville H. Browning.&#8221; In<i>Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln<\/i>, 117-19. Vol. 1. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services, 2001. Originally published as <i>Collected Works<\/i> (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953). Accessed June 24, 2014. <span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lihttp:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/l\/lincoln\/lincoln1\/1:134?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=Falstaffncoln\/lincoln1\/1:85?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=boolean;view=fulltext;q1=Mary+Owens\" target=\"_blank\">Page on umich.edu<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Nicolay, John George. &#8220;The Springfield Interviews.&#8221; In <i>An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln: John G. Nicolay&#8217;s Interviews and Essays<\/i>. Edited by Michael Burlingame. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University, 1996. Accessed June 23, 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Pinsker, Matthew, ed. &#8220;Letter to Eliza Browning (April 1, 1838).&#8221; <i>Lincoln&#8217;s Writings: The Multi-Media Edition<\/i>. Last modified 2014. Accessed June 28, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/letter-to-eliza-browning-april-1-1838\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-tooltip=\"attached\">Letter to Eliza Browning (April 1, 1838)<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Ramsey, David, and William Grimshaw. &#8220;Frontispiece.&#8221; In <i>David Ramsey&#8217;s The Life of George Washington<\/i>. Baltimore, MD: Joseph Jewett, and Cushing &amp; Sons, 1832. Accessed June 23, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=xChV1CO8KhcC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;source=gbs_ge_summary_r&amp;cad=0#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-tooltip=\"attached\">The Life of George Washington<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Zall, Paul M., ed. <i>Lincoln on Lincoln<\/i>. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2010. Accessed June 23, 2014.<span class=\"qlink_container\"><a class=\"external_link\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=Q02YcA-XBkUC&amp;printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-tooltip=\"attached\">Lincoln on Lincoln<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"__w2_P5d2HCs_container_boundary\" class=\"container_boundary\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"ld_iawoxq_52\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jesse O&#8217;Neill (Understanding Lincoln, Summer 2014) Honest Abe? Yes\u2014perhaps to a fault. When the future sixteenth president of the United States stumbled into a relationship with Mary Owens\u2014an \u201cover-size,\u201d \u201cwithered\u201d woman who reminded him of nothing so much as his mother\u2014the end result was a\u00a0letterto his friend, Eliza Browning, that reveals Lincoln\u2019s caustic wit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":440,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-480","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/480\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}