The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln - Softcover

Neely PhD, Director Mark E; McMurtry, R Gerald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809318954 ISBN 13: 9780809318957

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Pr, 2001

Synopsis

In 1875 Robert Todd Lincoln caused his mother, Mary Todd Lincoln, to be committed to an insane asylum. Based on newly discovered manuscript materials, this book seeks to explain how and why.

In these documents--marked by Robert Todd Lincoln as the "MTL Insanity File"--exists the only definitive record of the tragic story of Mary Todd Lincoln's insanity trial. The book that results from these letters and documents addresses several areas of controversy in the life of the widow of Abraham Lincoln: the extent of her illness, the fairness of her trial, and the motives of those who had her committed for treatment. Related issues include the status of women under the law as well as the legal and medical treatment of insanity.

Speculating on the reasons for her mental condition, the authors note that Mrs. Lincoln suffered an extraordinary amount of tragedy in a relatively few years. Three of her four sons died very young, and Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. After the death of her son Willie she maintained a darkly rigorous mourning for nearly three years, prompting the president to warn her that excessive woe might force him to send her to "that large white house on the hill yonder," the government hospital for the insane.

Mrs. Lincoln also suffered anxiety about money, charting an exceptionally erratic financial course. She had spent lavishly during her husband's presidency and at his death found herself deeply in debt. She had purchased trunkfuls of drapes to hang over phantom windows. 84 pairs of kid gloves in less than a month, and $3,200 worth of jewelry in the three months preceding Lincoln's assassination. She followed the same erratic course for the rest of her life, creating in herself a tremendous anxiety. She occasionally feared that people were trying to kill her, and in 1873 she told her doctor that an Indian spirit was removing wires from her eyes and bones from her cheeks.

Her son assembled an army of lawyers and medical experts who would swear in court that Mrs. Lincoln was insane. The jury found her insane and in need of treatment in an asylum. Whether the verdict was correct or not, the trial made Mary Lincoln desperate. Within hours of the verdict she would attempt suicide. In a few months she would contemplate murder. Since then every aspect of the trial has been criticized--from the defense attorney to the laws in force at the time. Neely and McMurtry deal with the trial, the commitment of Mary Todd Lincoln, her release, and her second trial. An appendix features letters and fragments by Mrs. Lincoln from the "Insanity File." The book is illustrated by 25 photographs.

About this title

About the Author

Mark E. Neely Jr. is the McCabe Greer Professor in the American Civil War Era at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties as well as The Union Divided: Party Conflict in the Civil War North, Southern Rights: Political Prisoners and the Myth of Confederate Constitutionalism, and The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln, coauthored with R. Gerald McMurtry and published by Southern Illinois University Press. Neely is also the coauthor with Harold Holzer of five books about the iconography of Lincoln and the Civil War. Harold Holzer is the senior vice president for external affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among the country's leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln, he is a cochair of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of twenty-five books, including Dear Mr. Lincoln: Letters to the President and The Lincoln Mailbag: America Writers to the President, both published by Southern Illinois University Press, and Lincoln at Cooper Union, which won a 2005 Lincoln Prize. His web site is haroldholzer.com.

Edition details

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Pr
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0809318954
• ISBN 13: 9780809318957
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 220