Encounters
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In February 1862, the First Lady scandalized the North by throwing an elaborate White House party, inaccurately called a ball (there was no dancing because Lincoln emphatically forbade it). Instead of the traditional open house, she decided to invite a select group, thereby antagonizing those who were excluded. It was widely viewed as a social blunder. The exclusiveness of the event made it seem like a throwback to the aristocratic “drawing rooms” of Martha Washington and a repudiation of the egalitarian practice introduced by Thomas Jefferson. The last exclusive White House fete, given by Mrs. John Tyler two decades earlier, had offended many.
Source: Abraham Lincoln∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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