Random Small But Poignant Facts We Just Learned About Abraham Lincoln (14 items)

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  (#4) His Stepmother Called Him 'The Best Boy I Ever Saw'

  After the premature passing of Abraham Lincoln's birth mother, his father Thomas Lincoln remarried. In 1819, the widow Sarah Bush Johnston became Abraham's stepmother.

  The stepmother and stepson enjoyed an affectionate bond. Abraham even referred to her as his "mama." The feeling was mutual. Sarah Lincoln called him "the best boy I ever saw" and celebrated how well they got along:

  Abe never gave me a cross word or look and never refused in fact, or even in appearance, to do anything I requested him. I never gave him a cross word in all my life... His mind and mine - what little I had [-] seemed to move together - move in the same channel.
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  (#13) He Had Lifelong Swings Toward 'Melancholy'

  Though Mary Todd Lincoln's mental health has been the subject of intense debate since the 19th century, Abraham Lincoln seems to have struggled with his mental health, too.

  His family, friends, and colleagues often noted Lincoln's melancholic disposition, though it was balanced by his sense of humor. According to colleague Henry Whitney:

  No element of Mr. Lincoln's character was so marked, obvious and ingrained as his mysterious and profound melancholy.

  Biographer Joshua Wolf Shenk has argued that Lincoln's "melancholy" was really a case of clinical depression that ebbed and flowed his entire life.
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  (#11) His Wife Defied Her Family To Marry Him

  Abraham Lincoln met his future wife Mary Todd in Springfield, IL. Unlike Lincoln, raised on the frontier, Todd had grown up in Kentucky high society. The pair became attached to one another and courted clandestinely. 

  But Mary Todd's family wasn't enthusiastic about her engagement to Lincoln. Her sister Elizabeth Edwards admitted that she and her husband told Todd and Lincoln that they had better not ever marry - that their natures, minds, education, and upbringing were so different that they could not live happy as husband and wife.

  Despite their reservations, the Edwards nonetheless graciously hosted Todd and Lincoln's wedding in 1842. 
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  (#2) He Grew His Famous Beard Because An 11-Year-Old Girl Suggested It

  Though Abraham Lincoln's beard is nearly as synonymous with the tall, lanky president as his stovepipe hat, he actually spent the vast majority of his life clean-shaven. But that changed after the 51-year-old president-to-be received a letter from 11-year-old Grace Bedell in October 1860.

  In her letter, Bedell explained how Lincoln could soften his angular facial features ahead of the presidential election:

  I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President.

  Lincoln replied to Bedell's letter and stopped shaving his facial hair. The rest is history.
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  (#5) He Wrote And Obsessively Rewrote All His Own Speeches

  Abraham Lincoln's rich legacy includes the lyrical, plainspoken words he wrote to soothe a nation divided by civil conflict.

  Unlike many politicians today, Lincoln didn't rely on a speechwriter - he wrote his speeches himself. Part and parcel of Lincoln's writing process were purposeful edits and rewrites.

  His experiences often informed his speeches. Lincoln famously revised and improved his Gettysburg Address after seeing the battlefield for himself.
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  (#8) He Was 'Inordinately Fond Of Jokes, Anecdotes, And Stories'

  By all accounts, Abraham Lincoln loved telling tales - and the funnier the tale, the better. Indeed, Lincoln was well known for his sense of humor.

  His jokes had a political function: He often used humor as a way to bridge divides with opponents, connect with audiences during speeches and debates, and undermine critics.

  One 19th-century reporter remarked:

  I could not take a real personal liking to the man, owing to an inborn weakness for which he was even then notorious and so remained during his great public career, he was inordinately fond of jokes, anecdotes, and stories.

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