Mary Todd Lincoln Speech

Mary Todd Lincoln - A First-Person Account of Slavery

[The White House, 1863]

Hello everyone, my name is Mary Todd Lincoln. I shamefully confess to you all that my upbringing was of extreme privilege in Lexington, Kentucky; my family owned enslaved people, and I cannot believe that my earliest memories were shaped by a country whose system treated living, breathing human beings as property. 

Similar to so many others in Kentucky, my upbringing consisted of witnessing the dependence on the labor of enslaved African Americans who lived and worked in our home. When I was born, more than 93% of the Black residents of Lexington were enslaved, and I grew up with this fact being the world that I knew, but knowing something and accepting something as right are two different things entirely. 

When my darling husband Abraham visited our Lexington family home in the fall of 1847, enslaved African American people still worked and lived there. I saw him observe the scene with discomfort in his eyes, and I grew to deeply admire his moral clarity surrounding slavery. He once said, "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think, and feel."

Unlike my husband, I cannot ever claim to have opposed slavery right from my earliest days; my opinion grew and changed, shaped by my exposure to different perspectives as I moved beyond Kentucky and my marriage to my dearest Abraham. When I left my family in Lexington to live with my sister, Elizabeth, in Springfield, Illinois, I began to see slavery in an entirely new light. 

As an adult, I have had a clear opposition to slavery, although I understand that the views and history of my family complicates this. I have never owned enslaved people myself, and as I grew and matured, I realized that this institution is clearly wrong, though I cannot ignore the fact that my comfortable childhood and upbringing was built upon the unpaid labor of human beings who deserved freedom. 

During my time as First Lady, the irony is not lost on me that some of my closest relationships were with formerly enslaved people. My seamstress and friend, Elizabeth Keckley, was born into slavery and eventually bought her own freedom, showing a strength and dignity that I had not previously known. Elizabeth means so much to me, she has been a friend, a counselor, and a witness to the private moments of our family's life in the White House. Elizabeth helped me understand the true cost and meaning of slavery, not just physical chains and bondage, but also the seperation of families, denial of education, and crushing of dreams. How would you feel if someone said you cannot do something, just because of your race or gender?

Elizabeth has helped me realize that this war must end slavery forever. As I write this speech in 1863, our nation is tearing itself apart over the institution that shaped my childhood, along with the childhood of many others. My husband has just issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring freedom for the enslaved people in rebellious states. I hold my family close to my heart and love them dearly, but I cannot love and support the system that determined our way of life. Everything that we had was built from the labor of these people that we took for granted, and I will not ever stand for that.

Thank you.

Sources:

Claude AI

Mary Todd Lincoln