Should Mary have received Abraham's salary?

[L Verge]

Since women did not have the right to vote in 1865, there was no chance one would get Cabinet status or diplomatic appointments. I will say that, IMO, in her own fashion, Dolley Madison appears to have had some excellent skills for the job.

[RJNorton]

Since women did not have the right to vote in 1865, there was no chance one would get Cabinet status or diplomatic appointments.

I second Laurie. According to Jean Baker even Mary Lincoln would probably not have approved of this. She writes, "Impatient with what she (Mary) considered silly and undereducated females, she could not accept the other extreme: intellectual reformers working for women's rights." Baker also writes "...suffragists gained no respect from her (Mary); she believed them unwomanly creatures. She had no interest in obtaining the vote, intending instead to influence her husband."

[Gene C]

I guess y'all don't want to hear about MaryCare then.


Mary's plan to have government subsidize glove purchases so poor women could protect their delicate hands from the harsh duties of domestic life and also have a pair so as to be properly attired for social occasions.
An increase in demand for (cotton) gloves would also help the south rebuild their economy.

[L Verge]

Actually, Gene, your fictional scenarios seem better politics to me than some of the shenanigans that have been pulled on our citizenry.

[Donna McCreary]

I do not believe that Mary should have received Lincoln's salary. However, I do think she should have been given a pension in a much more timely fashion. Of course, I am looking at this through the eyes of a modern woman - not a 19th century male member of Congress. Yes, she was given a pension after years of congressional debate. And yes, the pension was increased. However, Mary died before she every received the pension increase.

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I guess y'all don't want to hear about MaryCare then.


Mary's plan to have government subsidize glove purchases so poor women could protect their delicate hands from the harsh duties of domestic life and also have a pair so as to be properly attired for social occasions.
An increase in demand for (cotton) gloves would also help the south rebuild their economy.

Gene, most of Mary's gloves were kid leather. But I do think she would have supported a movement to increase a demand for American cotton. When she first came to Washington, she wanted to start a campaign for women to have their gowns made from cotton.

And I love your theory. It brought a smile.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Wasn't it rather a campaign she was asked to join and did for awhile to ban imported goods? (I think it was in "Lincoln in the World", will look up later.)

[RJNorton]

Wasn't it rather a campaign she was asked to join and did for awhile to ban imported goods? (I think it was in "Lincoln in the World", will look up later.)

Eva, I found this in "Mary Todd Lincoln Death and Funeral
Excerpts from newspapers and other sources Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection:"

"There were various movements among women during the Civil War to eschew finery and especially foreign-made finery in order to save money better spent for patriotic purposes. Lincoln and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase opposed Mrs. Lincoln's participation, however, because the government needed the tariff revenue from imported goods to support the war effort."

https://archive.org/stream/marytoddlinco...9_djvu.txt

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks much, Roger. According to K. Periano in "Lincoln in the World", Mary signed a pledge in 1864 to avoid buying European "velvets and plushes, satins, white and black thread laces, foreign embroideries, foreign artificial flowers and feather, ermine, camel's hair shawls, French hats, bonnets, caps, and head-dresses."

Alledgedly she "impulsively" agreed to do when she was approached from a group of activists, calling themselves "Ladies's National Covenant", who wanted to boycott these goods mainly due to the ongoing French invasion in Mexico. Abraham Lincoln was "outraged at the First Lady's freelancing on critical trade issues", and told her: "You have no idea what a hornets' nest you are stirring up", and that, considering the delicate "state of our foreign relations", signing the boycott "will never do".

The original source is given as follows: Jane G. Swisshelm letter, n.d., Chicago Journal, copied in "Mrs. Lincoln and Foreign Goods," NY World, May 3, 1865.

Can anyone find this letter?

Mary certainly soon had regretted to sign this anyway - banning her from all her favorite goodies!