Profile: Mary Todd Lincoln
By Sheri Teller

Until I started researching the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, I too had a misunderstanding of her place in history. In my research, I found authors who liked and authors who disliked Mary. When discussing Mary's life, there has always been a question about her sanity. This makes her, in my opinion, on of the most misunderstood ladies in history.

Even as a child, she was described as a "spring day: sunny and bright one moment, dark and stormy the next." What many people do not realize is the amount of grief and tragedy Mary had in her life. At the age of seven she lost her mother who always made her feel safe and loved. As an adult, she lost three of the four children she brought into this world. Then to have her husband assassinated while sitting next to her… it would probably push most of us over the brink of reality.

To conclude that Mary was insane is mostly a matter of perception. By the standards of her time, I'm sure that she could have been perceived as being insane. The fact that she lost half of her body weight and her eyesight near the end of her life suggests she could have been the victim of diabetes. Her mood swings also can be attributed to this condition by the inconsistent blood sugar levels that would have been present. The autopsy performed upon her death revealed a tumor in her brain; this growth could also have been part of the reason for the mood swings.

One fact often overlooked is Mary's age at the time of becoming first lady in the executive mansion. Being 42 brings up the question of her "change of life." What did the medical profession at the time know about this time in a woman's life? Not much, I'll wager. It was probably passed off as the "vapors" or "that time of the month."

One other factor that stands out in all the writings about Mary is her use of medication. In several references I find that she took all her medications, put them into a glass, stirred them together and drank it all at once. These prescription drugs (obtained from sever different physicians) could have caused the hallucinations she so often experienced. Mary was well aware of some drugs' effects. She tried to commit suicide shortly after Lincoln's death, only to be stopped by a druggist who recognized what she was thinking of doing.

As for being committed by her son Robert, I believe Mary had become an embarrassment to him with her behavior. The press would not leave her alone, and anything she did was never correct. Therefore it was easy for Robert to have her committed. It's interesting to note that the judicial system only held "trials" to pronounce someone insane if the family had money. A lesser well-off individual would not have had the luxury of a trial. After Mary was found to be a "lunatic" and committed to the care of the asylum, I am sure that all the medications she had been taking were stopped and a new regimen set up. This is why I believe that it was more of a drug problem than a question of her sanity. In my opinion Mary was not insane but more a victim of a medical community that did not yet understand the workings and diseases of the body or the interactions of medicines.

Differences in lifestyles, experiences and upbringing can color one's perception of sanity and reality. As a living historian portraying Mary Todd Lincoln, I find myself always, at every event, being asked the age-old question: "Are you really crazy?"

My typical answer is: "Yes. But then aren't we all, a little bit?"