Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln

The sexuality of Abraham Lincoln is a topic of debate. [Cathy Young "Co-opting Lincoln's sexuality" Boston Globe Jan 31st, 2005] Lincoln was married to Mary Todd from November 4, 1842 until his death on April 15, 1865. They had four children. C. A. Tripp has commented that Lincoln's problematic and distant relationship with women stood in contrast to his more warm relations with a number of men in his life and that two of those relationships had arguable homosexual overtones. Richard Brookhiser [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E5D61439F93AA35752C0A9639C8B63 Was Lincoln Gay?] New York Times Jan 9th. 2005 ] Lincoln biographers, such as David Herbert Donald, have strongly contested those claims and believe that there is no evidence of homosexuality in Lincoln's life. D. H. Donald "We are Lincoln Men" pg 141-143 Simon & Schuster 2003 ISBN 0743254686 ] As an astute politician, Lincoln was a man with many "friends," Donald says. In his letters, for example, Lincoln refers frequently to acquaintances, even political enemies, as "my personal friend." [ [http://www.powells.com/review/2003_12_15.html A Review by Gregory M. Lamb at www.powells.com] of "We Are Lincoln Men": Abraham Lincoln and His Friends" D. H. Donald ]

Historical scholarship and accusations of academic fraud

Commentary on Abraham Lincoln's sexuality has existed for some time but re-entered the public light in 2005 with the posthumous publication of C.A. Tripp's book "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln".

In his biography of Lincoln, Carl Sandburg in 1926 made an allusion to the early relationship of Lincoln and his friend Joshua Fry Speed as having "a streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets." "Streak of lavender" was slang in the 1930s for a "sissy" or an effeminate man; later "lavender" connoted homosexuality. [ A. J. Pollock, "Underworld Speaks" (1935) p 115/2, cited in "Oxford English Dictionary.] Sandburg did not state that either was homosexual or that the relationship was sexual in nature. Philip Nobile " [http://hnn.us/articles/97.html Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Publish: Homophobia in Lincoln Studies?] " GMU History News Network June 2001 ]

C. A. Tripp, who died in 2003, was a sex researcher and protégé of Alfred Kinsey. He began writing "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" with Philip Nobile until a falling out between them. "The New York Times" quoted Mr. Nobile saying "Tripp's book is a fraud". Nobile wrote a critical review of Tripp's book in the "Weekly Standard", in which he accused the Tripp book of plagiarizing his own work, of relying heavily on Charles Shiveley without proper attribution, and of distortion. [Nobile, Philip [http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/107koqzy.asp "Honest, Abe?"] , Jan 17, 2005, "Weekly Standard", Vol 10, Issue 17] ] Tripp's book includes an afterword by historian and Lincoln biographer Michael Burlingame titled "A Respectful Dissent", in which he states:

In a second afterword to the book titled “An Enthusiastic Endorsement”, historian Michael B. Chesson makes the argument for the historical significance of the work:

In 1999, author and gay activist Larry Kramer claimed that he had uncovered new primary sources which shed fresh light on Lincoln's sexuality. The sources included a hitherto unknown Joshua Speed diary and letters in which Speed writes explicitly about his relationship with Lincoln. These items were supposedly discovered hidden beneath the floorboards of the old store where the two men lived, and are now are said to reside in a private collection in Davenport, Iowa. [ Carol Lloyd [http://www.salon.com/books/it/1999/04/30/lincoln/index.html Was Lincoln Gay?] Salon Ivory Tower May 3, 1999 ] Kramer has yet to publish any of this material for critical evaluation, and historian Gabor Boritt, referring to Kramer's documents, wrote, "Almost certainly this is a hoax ... ." [Gabor Boritt, "The Lincoln Enigma: The Changing Faces of an American Icon", Oxford University Press, 2001, p.xiv.] C. A. Tripp also has expressed skepticism over Kramer’s discovery, writing, “Seeing is believing, should that diary ever show up; the passages claimed for it have not the slightest Lincolnian ring.” [C.A. Tripp The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln pg xxx Free Press 2005 ISBN 0743266390 ] "Time" magazine also addressed the book as part of a prominent cover article by Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of "Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness." However Shenk dismissed Tripp's conclusions, stating that arguments on Lincoln's homosexuality were "based on a tortured misreading of conventional 19th century sleeping arrangements" [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1077281,00.html The True Lincoln - TIME ] ] .

Critics of the hypothesis that Lincoln was homosexually inclined note that Lincoln married and had four children. Scholars such as Douglas Wilson claim that Lincoln as a young man displayed heterosexual behavior, including telling stories to his friends of his interactions with women, Douglas Wilson "Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln" Vintage Publishing 1999 ISBN 0375703969 ] however, these were expected behaviors at the time for men, regardless of their sexuality.

Lincoln's youth

When he was twenty, Lincoln penned this comic poem about a boy marrying a boy:

I will tell you a Joke about Jewel and Mary
It is neither a Joke nor a Story
For Rubin and Charles has married two girls
But Billy has married a boy
The girlies he had tried on every Side
But none could he get to agree
All was in vain he went home again
And since that is married to Natty
So Billy and Natty agreed very well
And mama's well pleased at the match
The egg it is laid but Natty's afraid
The Shell is So Soft that it never will hatch
But Betsy she said you Cursed bald head
My Suitor you never Can be
Beside your low crotch proclaims you a botch
And that never Can serve for me
[ [http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20041206/lincoln.html Discovery Channel :: News :: Book: Abraham Lincoln Was Gay ] ]

Tripp notes that Lincoln's awareness of homosexuality and openness in penning this "bawdy poem" was unique for the time period. C.A. Tripp "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" pg 40-41 Free Press 2005 ISBN 0743266390 ] Donald, however, notes that Lincoln would have needed to look no further than the Bible to realize "that men did sometimes have sex with each other", [D. H. Donald's We are Lincoln Men pg 36] and historian William Lee Miller, among others, has acknowledged that Lincoln was reading the Bible well before his twentieth birthday. [William Lee Miller "Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography"(2002) ISBN 0-375-70173-7 pg 49. Miller states of the young Lincoln, "... there cannot be much doubt that he read and reread and came to know a good deal of the Bible."]

Lincoln's stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln, commented that he "never took much interest in the girls". However some accounts of Lincoln's contemporaries suggest a strong but controlled passion for women.Jonathan Ned Katz, Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001). On Lincoln and Speed see chapter 1, "No Two Men Were Ever More Intimate," pages 3-25. For more on Lincoln and sexuality see the notes to this chapter.] Lincoln was devastated over the 1835 death of Ann Rutledge. While some historians have questioned whether there was in fact a romantic relationship between her and Lincoln, historian John Y. Simon reviewed the historiography of the subject and concluded, "Available evidence overwhelmingly indicates that Lincoln so loved Ann that her death plunged him into severe depression. More than a century and a half after her death, when significant new evidence cannot be expected, she should take her proper place in Lincoln biography." [ [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/11/simon.html "Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge"] , John Y. Simon] An anonymous poem about suicide published locally exactly three years after her death is widely attributed to Lincoln. [ [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/06/14/040614ta_talk_shenk "The New Yorker", Eureka Dept., Jun 14, 2004 "The Suicide Poem"] ] [ [http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/prespoetry/al.html Library of Congress:Collection Guides (online), "Lincoln as Poet"] ] His courting of Mary Owens was diffident. After she had rejected his 1837 handwritten, dutiful marriage proposal, Lincoln wrote to a friend in 1838: "I knew she was oversize, but now she appeared a fair match for Falstaff." [ [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mcc:@field(DOCID+@lit(mcc/030)) Letter, Abraham Lincoln to Mary S. Owens reflecting the frustration of courtship, 16 August 1837. (Abraham Lincoln Papers); Library of Congress] ]

Relationship with Joshua Speed

Lincoln met Joshua Fry Speed in Springfield, Illinois, in 1837. They lived together for four years, during which time they occupied the same bed during the night (some sources specify a large double bed) and developed a friendship that would last until their deaths. [Excerpt from D. H. Donald's "We are Lincoln Men" Simon & Schuster 2003 ISBN 0743254686] According to some sources, William Herndon [Sandburg 1:244] and a fourth man also slept in the same room. [Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (1926) 1:244; [http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/9548.html "Roundup: Talking About History"] , by Richard Brookhiser, NYT Book Review (Jan 9, 2005) of C.A. Tripp's "Gay Lincoln Biography" online at the History News Network; David H. Donald's "We are Lincoln Men", op.cit. ] Historians such as Donald point out it was not unusual at that time for two men to share even a small bed due to financial or other circumstances, without anything sexual being implied. Putting the issue in historical perspective, Jonathan Ned Katz, wrote of the bed sharing:

cquote|At the start of the twenty-first century it may even be difficult to imagine a man, especially a bachelor, offering another a place in his bed without some conscious fear or desire that the proposition will be understood as a come-on.

In the nineteenth century, Speed was probably not conscious of any such erotic possibility. His immediate, casual offer, and his later report of it, suggests that men's bed sharing was not then often explicitly understood as conducive to forbidden sexual experiments. [ Katz pg. 6]

Katz does indicate that such sleeping arrangements "did provide an important site (probably the major site) of erotic opportunity." Katz notes that referring to present day concepts of "homo, hetero, and bi distort our present understanding of Lincoln and Speed's experiences" [Katz pg. 9] and that rather than there being "an unchanging essence of homosexuality and heterosexuality" people throughout history "continually reconfigure their affectionate and erotic feelings and acts." [Katz pg.11] He suggests that the Lincoln-Speed relationship fell within the 19th century category of "intense, even romantic man to man friendships" with erotic overtones that may have been "a world apart in that era's consciousness from the sensual universe of mutual masturbation and the legal universe of 'sodomy,' 'buggery,' and 'the crime against nature.'" [Katz pg. 6]

Certainly, correspondence of the period, such as that between Thomas Jefferson Withers and James Hammond, provides clear evidence of a sexual dimension to some same-sex bed sharing. [Martin Duberman, "Writhing Bedfellows": 1826 Two Young Men from Antebellum South Carolina’s Ruling Elite Share "Extravagant Delight," in Salvatore Licata and Robert Petersen, eds., Historical Perspectives on Homosexuality (New York: Haworth Press & Stein & Day, 1981), pages 85-99.] The fact that Lincoln was open about the fact that they had shared a bed is seen by some historians as an indication that their relationship was not romantic. [Donald pg. 38. In speaking of an incident when Lincoln openly referred to the four years he "slept with Joshua," Donald wrote, "I simply cannot believe that, if the early relationship between Joshua Speed and Lincoln had been sexual, the President of the United States would do freely and publicly speak of it."] None of Lincoln's enemies hinted at any homosexual implication. [Donald pg 36. Donald notes, "Though nearly every other possible charge against Lincoln was raised during his long public career – from his alleged illegitimacy to his possible romance with Ann Rutledge, to the breakup of his engagement to Mary Todd, to some turbulent aspects of their marriage – no one ever suggested that he and Speed were sexual partners."]

Joshua Speed married Fanny Hennings February 15, 1842, and the two men seem to have consulted each other about married life. Despite having some political differences over slavery, they corresponded for the rest of their lives and Lincoln appointed Joshua's brother, James Speed, to his cabinet as Attorney General.

Mary Todd Lincoln

Lincoln and Mary Todd met in Springfield 1839 and became engaged in 1840. In what historian Allen Guelzo calls "one of the murkiest episodes in Lincoln’s life," Lincoln called off his engagement to Mary Todd at the same time that the legislative program he had supported for years collapsed, his best friend Joshua Speed left Springfield, and John Stuart, Lincoln’s law partner, proposed ending their law practice. [Allen C. Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President, (1999) pg. 97-98.] Lincoln is believed to have suffered something approaching clinical depression. "Lincoln's Preparation for Greatness: The Illinois Legislative Years" by Paul Simon has a chapter covering the period that Lincoln later referred to as "The Fatal First," which was January 1, 1841. That was "the date on which Lincoln asked to be released from his engagement to Mary Todd." Simon explains that the various reasons the engagement was broken contradict one another and it was not fully documented, but he did become unusually depressed, which showed in his appearance, and that "it was traceable to Mary Todd." During this time, he avoided seeing Mary, causing her to comment that he "deems me unworthy of notice."

Jean H. Baker, historian and biographer of Mary Todd Lincoln, describes the relationship between Lincoln and his wife as “bound together by three strong bonds – sex, parenting and politics.” [Jean H. Baker, “Mary and Abraham: A Marriage” in “The Lincoln Enigma” edited by Gabor Borrit pg. 55] In addition to the anti-Mary Todd bias of many historians engendered by William Herndon’s (Lincoln's law partner and early biographer) personal hatred of Mrs. Lincoln, Baker discounts the criticism of the marriage as both a basic misunderstanding of the changing nature of marriage and courtship in the mid-19th Century and attempts to judge the Lincoln marriage by modern standards.

Baker notes that “most observers of the Lincoln marriage have been impressed with their sexuality.” Some “male historians” claim that the Lincolns’ sex life ended either in 1853 after their son Tad’s difficult birth or in 1856 when they moved into a bigger house have no actual evidence for their speculations. In fact, there are “almost no gynecological conditions resulting from childbirth” other than a prolapsed uterus (which would have produced other noticeable effects on Mrs. Lincoln) that would have prevented intercourse, and in the 1850s “many middle-class couples slept in separate bedrooms”. [Baker pg. 49-50]

Far from abstaining from sex, Baker suggests that in fact the Lincolns were part of a new development in America that saw the birth rate declining from seven births to a family in 1800 to around 4 per family by 1850. As Americans separated sexuality from child bearing, forms of birth control such as coitus interruptus, long-term breast feeding, and crude forms of condoms and womb veils, available through mail order, were available and used. The spacing of the Lincoln children (Robert in 1843, Eddie in 1846, Willie in 1850, and Tad in 1853) is consistent with some type of planning and would have required “an intimacy about sexual relations that for aspiring couples meant shared companionate power over reproduction.” [Baker pg. 50. Baker relies on (page 286 footnote 36) Linda Gordon’s “Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control” (1976) and Janet Brodie’s “Contraception and Abortion in 19th Century America (1994).]

Relationship with David Derickson

Captain David Derickson was Lincoln's bodyguard and companion between September 1862 and April 1863. They shared a bed during the absences of Lincoln's wife, until Derickson was promoted in 1863. [Tripp, C.A. : Intimate World, Ibid.] Derickson was twice married and fathered ten children, but whatever the exact level of intimacy of the relationship, it was the subject of gossip. Elizabeth Woodbury Fox, the wife of Lincoln's naval aide, wrote in her diary for November 16, 1862, "Tish says, Oh, there is a Bucktail soldier here devoted to the president, drives with him, and when Mrs. L is not home, sleeps with him. What stuff!" [Tripp, Ibid] This sleeping arrangement was also recorded by a fellow officer in Derickson's regiment, Thomas Chamberlin, in the book "History of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade". Historian Martin P. Johnson notes that the strong similarity in style and content of the Fox and Chamberlin accounts suggests that, rather than being two independent accounts of the same events as Tripp claims, both were in fact based on the same report from a single source. Martin P. Johnson, [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/27.2/johnson.html "Did Abraham Lincoln Sleep with His Bodyguard? Another Look at the Evidence"] Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association Vol 27 No 2 (Summer 2006)] David Donald and Johnson both dispute Tripp's interpretation of Fox's comment, saying instead that the exclamation of "What Stuff!" was an allusion to the absurdity of the suggestion rather than the gossip value of it. ]

References in the media

The subject of Lincoln's sexuality was referenced in an episode of the cartoon "American Dad", in the episode "Lincoln Lover". In this episode Stan, the father of the Smith family, wrote a play intending to show the greatness of Lincoln's legacy, but accidentally produced gay overtones when addressing the subject of Lincoln and his 'special friend.'

Electric Six's song 'Gay Bar' was launched with a pop video showing Abraham Lincoln look-alikes in stovepipe hats (and sometimes little else). In an interview with RES, one of the band members stated that the video was partly inspired by rumors about Lincoln's sexuality.

Lincoln's sexuality was debated in a telephone conversation between a conservative talk-show host and Kevin Walker (portrayed by Matthew Rhys) in episode 2x02 of the ABC show "Brothers & Sisters".

During the third episode of the MTV series "Clone High", a teenage clone of Lincoln kisses a clone of Mahatma Gandhi on the lips; a recap narration at the beginning of the following episode later states that "...He's not gay or anything. Abe actually likes Cleo, a girl; that was just a hilarious plot twist."

In "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?" the ninth episode of the second season of The Venture Bros. When ghost Lincoln possesses Dean's body, he is confused by the sudden of rush of hormones and tries to make out with Hank. This is a possible reference to the sexuality of Abraham Lincoln.

References and footnotes

External links

* cite book
title = Abraham Lincoln: a History
year = 1890
first = John
last = Hay
authorlink = John Hay
coauthors= Nicolay, John George
** cite web
url = http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6812
title = Volume 1 to 1856; strong coverage of national politics
** cite web
url = http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11708
title = Volume 2 (1832 to 1901) ; covers 1856 to early 1861; very detailed coverage of national politics; part of 10 volume "life and times" written by Lincoln's top aides
* Michael F. Bishop, "All the President's Men," "Washington Post" February 13, 2005; Page BW03 [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15605-2005Feb10.html online]
* [http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20041206/lincoln.html Book Questions Abraham Lincoln's Sexuality - Discovery Channel]
* [http://www.salon.com/books/review/2005/01/12/lincoln/index.html "The sexual life of Abraham Lincoln"] by Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com, Jan. 12, 2005 (requires subscription or viewing an ad before reading)
* [http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/summer2005/symposium.html The Lincoln Bedroom: A Critical Symposium] Claremont Review of Books, Summer 2005
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4495619 Exploring Lincoln's Loves] Scott Simon in conversation with Lincoln scholars Michael Chesson and Michael Burlingame. National Public Radio, February 12, 2005
* [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec03/donald_11-26.html We Are Lincoln Men] Margaret Warner speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Herbert Donald about his book, "We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends". Public Broadcasting Service, November 26, 2003
* Jay Hatheway. "American Historical Review" 111#2 (April 2006) - An Edgewood College history professor's book review of C.A. Tripp's "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/111.2/br_60.html online]
* [http://www.mrlincolnandfriends.org/inside.asp?pageID=38&subjectID=2 Mr. Lincoln and Friends: Joshua F. Speed]