SACRIFICE

Before their years in the White House, the Lincolns raised a family of four boys. This became a great hardship as Abraham Lincoln, a new lawyer at the time, continually left for different states to further his career and political strategies. This had a tiring effect on Mary as she suffered from, “…nervous agitation, severe headaches, screaming episodes…and the stress and loneliness of her husband’s work schedule.”This also had a straining impact on their marriage.

In 1861 as the Civil War began, the Lincolns won the White House and were greeted with hate from both the south and north. The family received death threats daily from angry southerners to kill the President unless he left office. The northerners did not trust Mary because she was originally from a southern state. Most believed her to be a spy for the Confederates and they did not trust her to host White House events.

Even though most of Lincoln’s acts as the First Lady went unrecognized, arguably her most important role was as adviser to her husband. Mary was an advocate to free slaves, her encouragement along with outside factors influenced Abraham Lincoln’s judgment enough to later create an executive order called the Emancipation Proclamation. Threats to kidnap the Presidential family were made at the beginning of Abraham’s term so Lincoln was told to leave with her son Tad to be safer. Mary refused this and instead continued her efforts to visit and help wounded soldiers.

Unfortunately, Lincoln’s life was surrounded by death and loss. Out of her four children only her eldest son, Rob survived to adulthood. Edward, William, and Tad all past in childhood. Each death impacted Lincoln more until she was unable to function shutting herself up alone for weeks at a time. The death of her husband was the final tipping point leading to Lincoln’s ultimate self-destruction. In 1865, her husband took her to the Ford theater where he would be fatally shot. The loss of each of her family members would lead to a string of health issues amplified by grief that would lead to her insanity.

After the death of her husband, Mary went into a state of depression that would never go away. Whether her health issues were caused by grief are unknown. Lincoln was obsessed with the idea that she was going to die poor. This started a vicious cycle of selling all her belongings to then spend extravagant spending on materialistic items. Lincoln also had multiple phobias and delusions that made it hard for doctors and historians to claim what she succumbed to. Theories and evidence strongly point to things like a brain tumor, diabetes, overprescribed pain pills, and syphilis.

Lincoln’s last remaining family member, her eldest son Robert considered his mother an embarrassment and financial burden. Robert decided to enter her into an insane asylum. Robert believed that, “He was protecting his mother’s welfare, and the wider public’s, by preventing a “probable tragedy,” A trial was held to assess the claim of insanity and she was admitted to the asylum with a unanimous decision made by an all-male jury after many Doctors gave testimony. She was admitted to the asylum where she stayed for four months until she was released into the custody of her sister. She later died of what is believed to be a stroke in July 16th, 1882.

Mary Todd Lincoln undoubtedly gave every ounce of her being to her family. The sacrifices Lincoln made took such a toll on her that she eventually went insane to the eyes of the public. Her duty demanded that she remained in the public eye as a hated figure and no one recognized the personal sacrifices she made as a mother and to her personal safety to provide for Americans. Often the name Abraham Lincoln is treated with respect and dignity however, Mary Lincoln’s story is either unknown or shamed. The sacrifice of her own personal image and name will forever be tarnished to lift up her husband and to better the country.