Presently, there are three books that evaluate Mr. Lincoln's relationship with women, but only one, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln (2005) by Clarence Author Tripp, attempts to examine his disinterest towards the opposite sex by claiming that the sixteenth president was gay. Another book--Donald Winkler's The Women in the Life of the Sixteenth President (2004)--examines Lincoln's relationship with women by focusing on Ann Rutledge, Lincoln's first love interest. The last book, The Women Lincoln Loved (1927) by William E. Barton, is more a biography of Lincoln's women than a scholarly synthesis. For many scholars, Tripp's book is too farfetched, Winkler's is overly subjective because it was written by a distant cousin of Ann Rutledge, and Barton's book is outdated, using research methods that are inadequate for the twenty-first century. Overall, none of these studies evaluates Mr. Lincoln's deficiencies with women by analyzing the social, political and religious climate of his time.

Using a psychohistorical perspective, this dissertation will examine the underlying social and cultural factors that shaped Lincoln's character, especially regarding women. It contends that Lincoln's reaction to women was a result of his childhood experiences, his profound preoccupation with his career, his intent focus on reading books, his lack of courting practice, his intellectual superiority, his stern observance of the law, his biological and physical makeup, the influence of the religious and social standards of the times, and many other pertinent issues. This psychohistorical approach seeks to show a connection between the social and political spirit of the time and Mr. Lincoln's life within these constraints, thereby offering a revisionist analysis of one of history's most puzzling and enigmatic historical figures. While not claiming that Mr. Lincoln's actions were inevitably determined, this study presents evidence that social conventions strongly influenced his reactions regarding women.