Abraham Lincoln, Slavery and Sexual Orientation

The boyfriend and I went and saw the movie Lincoln this afternoon and we both  thoroughly enjoyed it.  I and others have written about the inscrutable Abraham Lincoln, particularly the increased modern day speculation that Lincoln may have in fact been gay, although that term did not yet  exist to describe men whose most intense emotional and sexual attractions are to other men.   A fellow contributor to The Bilerico Project, Mark Segal, recently wrote a great post about Lincoln and his possible - even probably - life in the closet that reviews the facts currently know about Lincoln and his two significant relationships with men.  Why does it matter whether Lincoln was gay or straight?  Because if Lincoln were successfully documented to have been gay or even bisexual, it would throw anti-gay stereotypes on their head and force a significant reevaluation both in public perception and the teaching of history.  And one last note on the movie: during some of the debates on adoption of the 13th Amendment to end slavery, the Bible and "natural law" were cited as justification to vote against the Amendment.  Sound familiar?  Here are excepts from The Bilerico Project post (please be sure to read the entire piece):

The first reference to him possibly being "homosexual" came from notable Lincoln expert Carl Sandburg in his 1926 biography, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years. In describing the early relationship between Lincoln and his close friend, Joshua Fry Speed, Sandburg wrote "a streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets." This line got historians talking about an issue from which many had previously shied away.

Still, the biography was written in the early 20th century, a time when such topics were only discussed in whispers. But by including the line, Sandburg felt the relationship deserved acknowledgement. It wasn't until 2005 when the first book was published on Lincoln's relationships with men, C.A. Tripp's The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln.

[H]istory, like everything else, is open to interpretation and influenced by new findings. Bias also motivated the retelling of historical events. The best example of bias in American history is the story of Thomas Jefferson and his slave/concubine Sally Hemings, which was not accepted as a truthful account until 1998 -- and only after DNA proof. African-American citizens -- not historians -- led the effort to give Hemings her rightful place in history. Likewise with Lincoln, most historians have referred to isolated facts rather than the pattern of events in his life to tell his personal story. Will history once again prove historians wrong?

In 1837, Lincoln moved to Springfield, Ill., to practice law and enter politics. That's where he met the two men who would be his greatest friends throughout his life. One, Joshua Fry Speed, became his bed partner for a while; the other was law partner Herndon. Beyond the revelation that Lincoln and Speed had an intimate friendship, little has been written about how diligently Speed worked for Lincoln's legal and political career. Speed's name popped up in many of Lincoln's legal filings and on the Illinois Whig Party's central committee. The two were almost inseparable. Most Lincoln historians agree this relationship was the strongest and most intimate of the president's life. What they don't agree on is why they slept in the same bed together for four years when they had the space and means to sleep separately, as was expected of men their age. They were no longer young and poor. And this was a house with ample room, unlike the hotels that accommodated Lincoln and his team on the road; then, it was common to sleep two or more in a bed.

By 1840, both Lincoln and Speed -- now 31 and 26-- were considered well past the marrying age. Both bachelors reportedly were hesitant to tie the knot, but it was a de-facto requirement to have a wife if you wanted to move in political circles -- or at least create the perception of interest in marriage. Both Speed and Lincoln dreaded this "requirement," as evidenced by Lincoln's letters. Speed takes the marriage plunge first and moves back to Kentucky, leaving Lincoln. At this precise time, Lincoln suffered a mental breakdown. Historians have been all over the map as to what caused the breakdown, but it was so intense that friends, including Herndon, worried he would take his own life. Lincoln only recovered after Speed invited him to visit him and his new wife in Kentucky.

Lincoln's most emotional and intimate writings were contained in his letters to Speed. From the time they lived together until shortly after Speed married and moved to Kentucky, Lincoln always signed his letters "forever yours" or "yours forever."

In 1862, Lincoln met Capt. David Derickson, who served as his bodyguard, providing protection for the president when he commuted from the White House to his cottage at the Soldier's Home. Lincoln spent about a quarter of his presidency at the cottage, which allowed him some escape from D.C.'s summers and from public interruptions at the White House.

Lincoln and his bodyguard became close, and historians Tripp and David Herbert Donald noted two recorded mentions that Lincoln and Derickson slept in the same bed: Derickson's superior, Lt. Col. Thomas Chamberlain, and Tish Fox, the wife of Assistant Navy Secretary Gustavus Fox, both wrote about it. Tish wrote in her diary that Derickson was devoted to Lincoln and "when Mrs. Lincoln was away, they slept together."

Taken individually, accounts of Lincoln with other men may not offer enough proof that he was gay. But the pattern reveals a man who, in his sexual prime, slept exclusively with another man for four years -- two of those years (according to Donald) without romancing someone of the opposite sex; who wrote a poem about a boy marrying a boy; and who, as president, slept with his bodyguard.

From historical records, one can conclude that Lincoln enjoyed sleeping with men. He did so when it was acceptable in youth and poverty, and also when he was older and successful. While it is documented that Lincoln slept with several men, there is only one confirmed woman who shared his bed -- Todd.

Not surprisingly, Segal's piece caused shrieks and wailing from those who cannot accept that a man who some view as America's greatest president may well have been gay.  In response to these naysayers, Segal did a follow up piece in Philadelphia Gay News that in my view shoots down the reasons cited against Segal's Bilerico piece.  Here are highlights from this response:

With the new Steven Spielberg film “Lincoln,” the debate about the late president’s sexuality is once again on the front burner. Let’s be clear: The detractors’ points are simply illogical. Any serious Lincoln scholar or historian agrees that Joshua Speed was Lincoln’s most intimate friend. That word, “intimate,” is continually used, from the very first researched biography. That book was written by Lincoln’s only other close friend, his law partner William Herndon, and published in 1889. It’s been sanitized in many new additions, but many subsequent biographies stem from that work and the letters of Lincoln and his contemporaries.

What it comes down to is the question, Was one of America’s most revered presidents a gay man? The idea of this enrages those who are not comfortable with the LGBT community. They claim that we want to have Lincoln in our fold to claim some form of gay patriotism. The point is, we already have such a figure; his name was Baron Friedrich von Steuben, and without him there would be no United States of America for Lincoln to save. (My previous research on von Steuben can be found at www.epgn.com.)

David Herbert Donald, the most esteemed of modern Lincoln biographers, opposed the theory of Lincoln’s possible homosexuality with the following points:

1. No one saw Lincoln and Speed being intimate, even though others spent the night in their home in other bedrooms But when, even today, when you stay at a friend’s house, do you ever see others being intimate? And this was the 1800s.

2. Poor men often slept with other men in those days to keep warm or to split a bed when others were not available. But, in Donald’s own words, there were other beds in the house; Herndon himself slept there on occasion. They were not poor and they were not young. Yet for four years they slept together.

3. They slept with each other to keep warm on cold nights. If they could afford a house, they could afford the blankets that were sold in Speed’s own dry-goods store downstairs. And they slept together on warm summer nights too.

Lincoln’s psychological background might very well be a part of his push for the 13th amendment. All historians look for Lincoln’s motivation. There’s even a recent best-seller devoted to it: “Lincoln’s Melancholy.” Kushner should’ve read Lincoln’s discussions with Frederick Douglass. Slaves were imprisoned, and so was Lincoln. As to not sleeping with men at that point in his life, Kushner fails to present the historic knowledge that Capt. David Derickson and Speed himself spent a night with the president at his cottage, about 3 miles from the White House.

In 1800s language, the letters between Lincoln and Speed are curious for their bluntness. There is no need to debate the content; each letter Lincoln sent Speed is signed “Affection” or “Always yours,” uncommon among men in the 1800s, especially married men. And the clincher: The only other person with whom Lincoln uses that language is Mary, his wife. Not even Herndon.

We have more proof of a relationship between Lincoln and Speed than we do of the relationship between Alexander the Great and Hephaestion. If we look at the nervous breakdown Lincoln suffered after Speed left him to marry, you’d see a similarity between the emperor Hadrian and the death of his Antinous.

Let’s not use words like gay, homosexuality or even bisexuality for Lincoln. All we can say with clarity is that for four years he slept with a man when he did not have to. They worked together, Lincoln in Speed’s store, and Speed is often cited in Lincoln’s law cases and helped him in the Wig party. They shared each other’s lives in their fullest.   Facts and common sense ... versus a blind bias.