What was written in these diaries have enough material for a good book on Todd’s mental state during the Lincoln Administration. But let’s talk about her spending. It is disclosed in the diaries that Mary had expensive taste and didn’t spare any expense to get what she wanted.  The first lady basically engaged in outright “misappropriation of public funds.” Among the items she bought, the diary mentions, 300 pairs of expensive kid gloves, dresses in the amount of $2000 each, some she never even wore! And when she left the White House she took everything that was not nailed down. Bear in mind she is doing this while an expensive war is being fought, and the soldiers fighting it were getting paid a mere $13.00 a month. Had the nation known she was doing this, they would’ve taken to the streets. I can see how they wanted to protect the image of the First Lady.

Before we pass judgment on poor Mary, we must understand she was mad. In these same diaries there is talk of her violent temper, public outbursts, and horrible treatment of her husband. There is mention of her physically and verbally abusing her husband. Her mental instability was no secret however, all of DC knew it.  Her bizarre behavior had no limits, if you crossed her, she’d let you know. Early Lincoln biographers took great care of protecting Mary’s image. Some historians say that these early biographers felt that a lot of the information they gathered about the Lincolns was “considered improper for publication” at the time. Things like Mary throwing coffee at Lincoln’s face in public, throwing potatoes at him, and smacking him in the face with a piece of firewood.

Mary Todd Lincoln wasn’t liked in DC by many because of her mental instability. Lincoln however, remained with his wife. But I can’t say he did it because he “loved” her. I think he felt responsible for her condition and so took care of her. A rumor at the time spread all around that Mary became mad because of a sexually transmitted disease she got from her husband early on in their marriage. Although this is a rumor, it may be true. This was very common in those days.

Source: That’s not in my American History Book-
Thomas Ayres

To help with the problem, Congress passed a law permitting the use of postage stamps as currency! Huh? You can imagine the headaches this caused both those that used them, and the Post Office. The Post Office didn’t enjoy selling stamps as legal tender, and when customers came in with dirty or damaged stamps, the post office refused to replace them. After all, stamps were not made to be handled from person to person, and as small as they were, they were easily lost. One inventor tried to remedy the problem when he invented a protective encasing for the stamps and that helped for while. But the demand for the stamps increased, thus causing yet another shortage. What to do? US Treasurer F.E. Spinner, asked the government to produce fractional currency and on July 17, 1862, Abe Lincoln approved the Postage Currency Act. This act approved bills of five, ten, twenty-five, and fifty cents be produced and put in circulation.

The bills were much smaller than the ones we use today, in fact, they were postage stamp size. I might date myself here, but they looked like the sheet of small little stamps my mom used to get from the A & P. The first fractional bills produced were easy to counterfeit, so they came up with the idea of producing new ones that were more colorful and were printed on both sides. The bills came to be known as “shinplasters” because the soldiers were paid in fractional bills and they stuffed these bills into their boots to keep their feet warm. Some bills survive today.