PBS American Experience - Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided (2001)

The story of the Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's childhoods - his in a remote backwoods log cabin, hers in a wealthy Kentucky home - and describes their courtship. Mary sets her heart on the raw, socially awkward Lincoln, saying later: "He'll be President of the United States one day. If I had not thought so I never would have married him."

Part 1: Ambition
The story of the Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln's childhoods - his in a remote backwoods log cabin, hers in a wealthy Kentucky home - and describes their courtship.

Part 2: We Are Elected
The Lincoln marriage is both tempestuous and passionate: she has a temper; he suffers bouts of depression. But they share a powerful political ambition.

Part 3: Shattered
When the Lincolns arrive in Washington in 1861, the country is breaking apart. The country's president-elect is unknown, untested and mistrusted.

Part 4: The Dearest of All Things
Tormented by her grief and losing grip on sanity, Mary Lincoln turns to spiritualists for comfort. Though bowed down with sorrow, her husband never loses sight of the tragedy consuming the nation and issues the Emancipation Proclamation.

Part 5: The Frightful War
As 1863 begins, Northerners resent fighting to free black slaves; others are furious with Abraham Lincoln for the devastating Union casualties. Mary Lincoln, worried about her husband, spends money compulsively.

Part 6: Blind with Weeping
Following the Union victory at Gettysburg, and the surrender at Appomattox, the president tells Mary Lincoln they can find some happiness again. Just days later, he is shot to death.