Our Highest Expectations

04/17/19 • 35 min

With the Whig Party appearing poised for a major breakthrough in 1840, Abraham Lincoln campaigned hard, showing a desperation that led him to attack individuals and fall back on the shameful race-baiting that defined his youth. Toward the end of the year, he became involved with a young woman in Springfield, named Mary Todd.

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Towering Genius

As an economic depression hardened party lines, Abraham Lincoln became an enthusiastic Whig partisan, fighting hard to get his law partner into Congress. During the contest, the lynching of a black man and the later murder of a newspaper editor led him to deliver his first notable public address.

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This Weary, Mortal Round

His personal and professional bonds all snapped at once at the end of 1840. It proved a prelude to the worst emotional crisis of Lincoln's life, one that he would need a full year to pull himself out of.