The Library › Reel VI · The Roommate
Did Lincoln really call himself “the most miserable man living”?
VERDICTTRUE
Yes, in a letter to his law partner John T. Stuart on January 23, 1841: “I am now the most miserable man living.” He had taken to his bed for about a week, seeing few people but his doctor and Speed. Friends later recalled removing razors and knives from his room. Speed remembered Lincoln saying he wanted to live until the world was a little better for it.
The receipts
- Abraham Lincoln to John T. Stuart, January 23, 1841, House Divided Project, Dickinson College
The comedy version
The untold story of Abraham Lincoln and the man who lent him half a bed.
Play The Roommate ☞More from this shelf
- Did Lincoln really move into Joshua Speed’s bed because he could not afford seventeen dollars of bedding?True
- Was it normal for two men to share a bed in the 1830s?True
- What happened on Lincoln’s “fatal first of January” 1841?Disputed
- Did Lincoln visit Joshua Speed’s family plantation in Kentucky?True
- Did Lincoln write that he was jealous when Speed got married?True
- Did Lincoln ask Speed whether marriage was worth it, a month before his own wedding?True