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The Tragedy Of Mary Todd Lincoln

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Research Question: Considering the events of her life, would it be more realistic to consider that Mary Todd Lincoln went insane/ diagnosable to today’s standards of being bipolar, or was she just in a state of post traumatic stress?

Considering the events of her life, would it be more realistic to consider that Mary Todd Lincoln went insane/ diagnosable to today’s standards of being bipolar, or was she just in a state of post traumatic stress? From the deaths of her 14-month old brother and mother during childhood, to the neglect she faced from her son later in life, it was clear that Mary Todd Lincoln certainly dealt with a considerable amount of stressors in her lifetime. Throughout this study, journal articles, websites, primary sources, and books were used to provide more insight on the details of her life and what she went through.
Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography, by Jean Harvey Baker, a U.S. History major with her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D in 19th Century Women’s History, describes that Mary Todd Lincoln was much maligned and misunderstood during her lifetime and furthers the developing question as to whether or not she could be deemed insane. Baker discusses that Mary Lincoln appeared to others as “unwomanly,” due to her inclinations to want to share her talents with her husband throughout his political career. Other claims of her insanity are said to have branched from the torments and misfortunes of those losses she had to endure in her life beginning at such a young

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