Mary Todd Lincoln: Political Partner?
by Michael Burkhimer
Lincoln Herald, Volume 105 Number 2 (Summer 2003): 67-72.
Editor's Note: Michael Burkhimer is a Social Studies teacher in the Haverford School District in Pennsylvania. He received his B. S. from Penn State and M. A. from Holy family College an is currently working on another Master's in Library Science from Acadia University. His article "On the Ann Rutledge Merry-Go-Round" appeared in the Winter 2002 Herald.
In the never-ending charge and countercharge of those critical of Mary Todd Lincoln and those who would be called apologists of her, certain areas of contention are fought over. Lines have been drawn that seem insurmountable. Often the contending views are so far apart, that there appears little chance of finding common ground. Does this mean scholars should through up their hands and chose one camp or the other? The answer would have to be no. The more responsible notion would be to look at each charge and its rebuttal individually and come to a conclusion based on the merits of the charge. It is odd that historians in this area are sometimes placed in the role of prosecuting or defense attorney for Mary Todd Lincoln. Unfortunately, the wide gulf between the views of Mary Todd Lincoln makes this necessary.
Mary Todd Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln. From daguerreotypes ca. 1846.
A line of defense that recently has become popular with the apologists is that Lincoln's wife was a true political partner. The view of Mary's importance in Lincoln's political career was aired by Linda Levit Turner in the PBS documentary, Abraham and Mary: A House Divided. In that same documentary, famed Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald stated, 'They worked as a team politically."Lincoln scholar Jean Baker has also attested to this view. In a review of an essay by Jean Baker on the Lincoln marriage, Frank J. Williams asserts that, "Baker goes directly after those who have underestimated Mary's multiple contributions to the backward lawyer who transformed himself into the greatest political leader of all time." Jean Baker presented this essay in Gettysburg in 1999. The revised essay, "Mary and Abraham: A Marriage" can be found in Gabor Boritt's volume of essays entitled, The Lincoln Enigma: The Changing Face of an American Icon. In the essay Baker elaborates on three areas of "congeniality" in the Lincoln marriage. They are sex, children, and politics. In the area of politics. In the area of politics Baker writes, "At home Lincoln not only received the applause that a typical wife might bestow; he received heartening reinforcement as well as intelligent discussion of ambitions that were mutual.
Before a judgment is given on the merits of the supposed political partnership of the Lincolns, a distinction in the definition of the supposed political partnership needs to be made. The question can be asked many ways. Did Lincoln and Mary share a strong political ambition for Lincoln's career? Did Lincoln's marriage further his political career? Did Lincoln and Mary share political views? Did Lincoln listen to, and more importantly, follow Mary's political advice? All of these questions deal with the idea of a political partnership. To evaluate that partnership, all need to be answered.
The first question was if Lincoln and Mary shared a strong political ambition for Lincoln's career. The answer to this would have to be a resounding yes. There are a number of sources that point to both of their ambitions. The story is often told of Mary Todd bragging as a child that she would marry a president. Naturally one could see this as a later interpolation in the record, given the historical events, However, there are multiple attestations to it. Elizabeth Keckly, Mary's seamstress in Washington, states one of Mary's sisters remembered Mary making a commotion as a young child. Mary was told to be quiet by her grandmother and was asked what will become of her if she kept acting like this. Mary replied, "Oh, I will be the wife of the President someday." This sister was probably Elizabeth Edwards. She told the same story to William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner and biographer. "She was an extremely Ambitious woman in Ky & often Contended that she was destined to be the wife of some future president - Said it in my presence in Springfield and Said it in earnest." She also once said, "I would rather marry a good man - a man of mind - with a hope and bright prospects ahead for position - fame & power than to marry all the houses - gold & bones in the world." There can be little doubt that from an early age Mary was ambitious politically for her future husband.
Lincoln's own political ambitions cannot be in doubt at all. We have the familiar canard from William Herndon, "That man who thinks Lincoln sat down calmly and gathered his robes about him, waiting for the people to call him, has a very erroneous knowledge of Lincoln. He was always calculating, and always planning ahead. His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest." In fact, Lincoln historian Mark E. Neely, Jr. states, "But the facts remain that politics came first. He ran for the Illinois legislature in 1832, when he was only 23 years old. That was long before he decided to become a lawyer (He was still considering becoming a blacksmith at the time). And it was years before he married Mary Todd. Politics was his first love."
The record supports the notion that Lincoln and Mary Todd were ambitious politically from an early age. In that sense it was a true political partnership. The record also shows that each of their political ambitions was not dependent on the other. One cannot say that Mary Todd Lincoln fueled Lincoln's ambition in politics. The ambitions were these even before he even met her. What can only be said is that she did not discourage Lincoln in this area because she wanted him to succeed as much as he did.
Did Lincoln's marriage further his political ambitions? He was certainly marrying into a politically influential clan. The Edwards, Lincoln's future in-laws, had a long history of prominence in the state. Yet it seems that Lincoln's marriage actually had a detrimental effect on his political career, at least in the short run. In early March of 1843, the Whigs had set up a convention to nominate a candidate for Congress. This was a few short months after Lincoln's marriage. Congress was a job :Lincoln sorely wanted. He lost the nomination to his friend Edward Baker. Lincoln felt he knew why. He wrote another friend, "It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your County who twelve years ago knew me as a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flat boat at - ten dollars a month to learn I have been put down as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction." A scholar who has studied Lincoln's quest for Congress concluded, "Thus Lincoln saw his association with the wealthy Edwards family, and his marriage to Mary Todd (herself of a wealthy, aristocratic family related to the Edwardses), turning out to be political liabilities rather than assets.
Those who would rate high the importance that Mary's polishing gave on the prairie lawyer have to remember what Lincoln's political success was often based on. Lincoln never campaigned on the grounds that he was the most learned or polished candidate for office. As late as 1860 he was running as the "Rail Splitter" even though that was a life he had left far behind. From his earliest political campaign Lincoln stressed, "I was born and have remained in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular relations to recommend me." Friends remember Lincoln campaigning with such homely phrases as, "My politics are short and sweet, like the old Woman's dance." Lincoln was also not afraid to get dirty while campaigning. One early associate related that during harvest time Lincoln was introduced to some men working in the field. They told him they would not vote for a man "unless he could make a hand." Lincoln said that, "Boys if that is all I am sure of your votes." Lincoln then proceeded to work alongside the men. The associate did not think Lincoln lost a vote with the farmers.
One could also make a strong argument that at times in his presidency, Lincoln's wife made herself a distinct liability. Her behavior was at times an embarrassment for him. The famous City Point episode is the best example. Mary Todd Lincoln berated officers and their wives mercilessly when she arrived in City Point, Virginia to visit the army with her husband in 1865. Even stalwart apologist, Ruth Painter Randall was forced to admit, "The first lady remained in this abnormal state of mind the rest of the day, berating Lincoln in the presence of others, creating scenes and acting out like what she was, a woman temporarily out of her mind." The record shows that Lincoln's closest associates found her hard to deal with. Lincoln secretary John Hay wrote to his friend in April 1862, "The Hell-cat is getting more hell-cattical day by day. These and other examples of Mary Todd Lincoln's behavior in the White House do not come from enemies. The apologist for Mary Todd Lincoln must deal with the good possibility that instead of helping Lincoln's presidency as a political partner, she hindered it.
There is stronger doubt that Lincoln and his wife even agreed on politics throughout the marriage. When they first met they were both ardent Whigs. Lincoln had already served in the legislature as the Whig floor leader. Mary Todd Lincoln was a neighbor of Henry Clay, perhaps the supreme Whig, when she was younger. In 1840, Lincoln was out campaigning for William Henry Harrison for president. Mary was also involved in the campaign. She wrote a friend, "This fall I became quite a politician, rather an unladylike profession, yet at such a crisis, whose heart could remain untouched while the energies of all were called in question?" Jean Baker recounts some of Mary's activities during this period. "She was among those women who crowded into the offices of the Sangamo Journal to hear Harrison's chances. and she also watched parades, listened to speeches, and talked issues."
If Lincoln and Mary were both Whigs in their courtship and early marriage, what made them so? Lincoln was a Whig because he believed in the party's commitment to internal improvements and banks. He saw "the right to rise" as being an important point in the American dream. Lincoln author, Gabor Boritt, states that, "the key to Lincoln's economic persuasion was that all people should receive a good, full, and ever increasing reward for their labors so that they might have the opportunity to rise in life." A developed country would allow the many to do this. After two flatboat journeys down the Mississippi, Lincoln saw the need for improvement of waterways. Lincoln faced economic hardship growing up. He saw the politics of Andrew Jackson and the Democrats were holding back development and forcing future generations to live as he had.
Mary Todd Lincoln's allegiance to the Whig party is easier to explain. She was a Whig because her father was a Whig and because of her family's connection to Henry Clay. There is nothing in the record that states any reason for her party affiliation beyond those two rather unsophisticated reasons. Mary Todd Lincoln should not be judged harshly for this, as politics was not seen as a woman's profession. Even Mary herself in the above quoted letter calls her interest "unladylike." Still, this does bode ill for the contention of the political partnership between the Lincolns.
If Lincoln and Mary Todd got married agreeing in politics, did that situation ever change? There is strong evidence that it did. When the Whig party was falling apart in the early 1850s, there were a number of parties that vied to be the major opposition to the Democrats. many Whigs became Republicans; many others became Americans, better known as Know -Nothings. The very fact that anyone is discussing Lincoln today is because he made the choice to stand against the spread of slavery with the Republican party following the repeal of the Kansas-Nebraska Act which allowed slavery to spread into the territories in which it had previously been banned. It was this decision that ultimately put Lincoln in the White House and ended the peculiar institution. Apparently, he made this choice against the advice of his wife.
While Lincoln was supporting the Republican candidate fremont for president in 1856, Mary Todd Lincoln was supporting the Know-Nothing candidate Millard Fillmore. In a letter she wrote to her half sister Emilie Todd Helm that year she stated, "My weak women's heart was too Southern in feeling, to sympathize with any but Fillmore. I have always been a great admirer of his, he made so good a president & and is so just a man & feels the necessity of keeping foreigners, within bounds. If some of you Kentuckians, had to deal with the "wild Irish," as we housekeepers are sometimes called upon to do, the South would certainly elect Mr. Fillmore next time."
Compare the sentiments expressed above with what Lincoln wrote the year before. In a letter to his best friend Joshua Speed, Lincoln wrote, "I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can anyone who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people?" The Lincolns had parted ways politically with the end of the Whig party. Mary Todd came to support her husband politically because of their mutual ambition, and she later came to adopt Republican principals. However, these two letters, by themselves show that a political partnership never existed in the way that Mary Todd Lincoln's apologists would have us believe.
The strongest case made for Mary Todd Lincoln's political partnership is that she regularly gave advice to Lincoln on matters of public policy and especially patronage. How accurate is this characterization? Not very, according to Lincoln scholar Charles B. Strozier. In discussing Mary Todd Lincoln's possible influence on Lincoln's views towards African-Americans, Strozier states, "Actually she had exerted little influence on Lincoln in regard to this or any other political subject." Apologists for Mary Todd Lincoln may be hard pressed to come up with an example that contradicts Strozier.
It is true that Mary Todd Lincoln often gave Lincoln political advice. The record is very full of examples of her giving this advice to him. In her memoir, Elizabeth Keckley devotes a whole chapter to this entitled, "Candid Opinions." In the chapter Keckley remembers Mary Todd Lincoln being against a host of people associated with Lincoln in his cabinet and the military. She was particularly hard against Secretary of State Seward. Even in her drives around Washington, she ordered the coachman to avoid the street on which Seward lived. Keckley remembers, "She but rarely lost an opportunity to say an unkind word of him." Lincoln seemed to listen to all of this in a somewhat patronizing way, but never acted on her advice. It is true that she saw that Chase was not loyal. Lincoln, of course, knew this already, as it would seem most people in Washington did. Mary Todd Lincoln seemed to be against Chase mainly because of her jealousy of his daughter.
In the final analysis, to paraphrase Mark Twain, "The reports of Lincolns' political partnership have been greatly exaggerated." The emphasis on this partnership is fairly new. It is no doubt in response to the highly critical scholarship about Mary Todd Lincoln that appeared in the 1990s. In 1987, Jean H. Baker had stated, "She left no published work. She joined no reform movements, nor was she a clandestine supporter of unpopular social causes. She said nothing about women's issues and very little about slavery." Mary Todd was a product of her time. Yes, she shared a strong political ambition with her husband. Beyond that there is no real evidence of a true political partnership. To try to turn Mary Todd Lincoln into an Eleanor Roosevelt or an Abigail Adams would be unhistorical. Besides, Lincoln needed no help when it came to politics, since all can concede he was a master in its practice. As Pennsylvania republican boss Alexander McClure said, "If Abraham Lincoln was not a master politician, I am entirely ignorant of the qualities which make up such a character."
