Why Abe Lincoln Grew a Beard

Why Abe Lincoln Grew a Beard

Loads of Letters Before texting, there was email. Before email, there were telephones. Before telephones, people wrote letters. They still do, of course. But in the 1800s, letters were the main way people reached out to each other when they weren't in the same place. Sometimes people fell in love through letters. Sometimes good news-say, of a new grandchild-might reach people through a letter. Sometimes bad news--of a son killed in war-might reach people the same way.

Letters are still a great way to reach out to someone you might never meet in person. U. S. presidents receive thousands of letters a day一and ten times that many emails. Some of those letters are funny, some are angry, some are sad. All of them help keep the president in touch with what's happening around the country.

Sometimes children write the president. They might share a story, offer an opinion, or make a suggestion. What follows is the story of one such child, one such suggestion, and one of our most famous presidents of all.

What About Whiskers? When you look at most pictures of Abraham Lincoln, including the one on the five-dollar bill, he has a beard. He didn't always, though. In fact, before Abe ran for president, he was clean-shaven. No one knows for sure whether he ever even thought of growing a beard until an eleven-year-old girl living in western New York decided he should.

The girl's name was Grace Bedell. When her father showed Grace a picture of Lincoln, she was struck by the sadness in Lincoln's eyes, the wrinkles along his mouth, and his long, thin face. She thought that Lincoln would look much better if he grew a beard. (Back then, beards were often called whiskers. ) On October 15, 1860, she wrote him a letter to tell him so.