Why Lincoln Grew a Beard

A young girl wrote a Letter to Lincoln persuading him to grow his beard since it would increase his popularity with the public

Today, when we think of Abraham Lincoln, immediately an image of Lincoln wearing a beard appears. However, for many years, Lincoln did not allow his beard to grow. Members of his own political party suggested to him to allow it to grow because they were afraid of his gangling appearance.

However, a young girl convinced Lincoln to grow his beard. The name of that eleven year old girl was Grace Bedell. She was from Westfield, a village in New York state.

Grace admired Lincoln but when her father brought a picture of Lincoln home during the election campaign of 1860, she was frightened by the grotesque, clean-shaven appearance of Lincoln with is crooked jaw-line. Since she was worried about Lincoln's look, she wrote him the following letter. It inspired Lincoln to grow his beard:

"I hope you won't think me bold to write to such a great man as you are but want that you should be the President of the United States very much. I have got four brothers and part of them will vote for you anyway [since they were Republicans], and if you will let your whiskers [beard] grow, I will try to 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."[103]

Lincoln replied to Grace and thanked her for the suggestion but stated that it might be regarded as unwise since he had never before grown his beard. Nevertheless, Lincoln acted upon the advice of Grace Bedell, began to grow his beard and a few weeks afterwards he won the election.

The following February when he went from Illinois to Washington for his inauguration, he stopped at the village of Westfield, New York. When Lincoln came out of his train, he addressed the cheering crowd and told them that a young girl from the town had sent him an inspiring letter. Lincoln further said:

"She asked me to let my whiskers grow, as it would improve my personal appearance. Acting upon her suggestion, I have done so. And now, if she is here, I would like to see her."[104]

After saying this, Lincoln stepped down from the train and went into the crowd where Grace was standing and thanked her for the advice she had given him to grow his beard. The bearded image of Lincoln proved important in the years to come when there was a bloody civil war. The Americans regarded their leader not as a rough, beardless leader but as a statesman whom they called "Father Abraham".[105]

[Taken from the book, "Growing a Beard: In Light of the Qur'an, Sunnah and Modern Science" by Dr. Gohar Mushtaq.]


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Footnotes:
[103] Holzer, Harold (1989). "Why Lincoln Grew a Beard". Cobblestone 10(1): 14 - 15

[104] Ibid.

[105] Holzer, Harold (1989). "Why Lincoln Grew a Beard". Cobblestone 10(1): 14-15