In class, we did a Round Robin of letters that reminded me of historical moments that were funny moments of history. The letters I read were between an eleven year old girl named Grace Bedell and Abraham Lincoln before he became president. Kind of weird that an eleven year old girl is sending letters to a grown man, but it does get better. Grace sent Abraham a letter in request to grow facial hair she called “whiskers”. Her reasoning was very interesting, and she made it sound like she was committed to make him grow facial hair. She said that he would win, if he would grow whiskers because many woman enjoy whiskers. But I have to ask, what “many” woman?
Also, she said that the men of her family are supporters but they won’t vote for him unless he has facial hair. Abraham replied the day after! He said that he doesn’t have any daughters, but his family has kept him from growing facial hair. This led to him growing a beard and winning presidential election! The fact that Abraham listened to an eleven year old girls advice about appearances with facial hair was interesting itself.
Grace had four older brothers and a baby sister during that time. It was fascinating how she shared her families situation on voting on supporting him since the time was before women’s rights became a historical moment. She even expressed that if she was able to vote, she would vote for him. I was overall surprised with both letters because her letter was so in depth that I couldn’t believe that she was eleven. Also, this led to a statue being made of Grace and Abraham in Westfield, NY.
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