Today, in Springfield, Illinois, American socialite Mary Todd marries Illinois Congressman and lawyer Abraham Lincoln in 1842.

Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Anne Todd, a Kentucky native, on November 4, 1842, at her sister's house in Springfield, Illinois. Mary Todd, nicknamed Molly, was the daughter of rich parents and attended elite all-girls institutions where she excelled in cultural studies and the arts. Mary Todd, more than her husband, was a fervent abolitionist. She backed his political career as he ascended through the ranks of the Illinois assembly to become one of the country's most charismatic political orators to speak out against slavery.
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