Teaching the young idea how to spell.

President Roosevelt holds a chalkboard with two words written on it in cursive: “dropt” and “dropped.” “Dropt” is crossed off. He stands on the steps of a school building labeled “Congressional School.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Of the many extra-curricular campaigns and crusades of President Roosevelt — his eclectic interests did not abate during the White House years — were challenging writers of children’s books who imbued animals with human characteristics, the charm of ancient Irish sagas, and the reform of spelling.

Simplified Spelling was not a cause that Roosevelt originated, but he joined the movement (and likely was attracted by his lifelong problems with spelling and punctuation, despite writing dozens of books and scores of articles). Industrialist Andrew Carnegie was among the chief proponents and underwriters of the reform movement. Brander Matthews and Mark Twain were members.

The president’s advocacy took the form of a presidential order — everything spelled correctly — but instructing the Public Printer and other agencies to substitute traditional spelling of words like “spelled” to be spelled “spelt.”

This presidential whim was not indulged by the Congress, nor, largely, by his normally indulgent public. Capitol Hill intervened, and only few official government documents ever adhered to the long list of “simplified” words. The cartoon depicts the rare rebuke of the president.

C. R. Macauley (sometimes MacCauley) was, with Charles Green Bush and later Rollin Kirby, a chief political cartoonist of Joseph Pulitzer’s World newspapers in New York City, and others in Pulitzer’s chain. In 1912 Macauley was the official, salaried cartoonist hired by the Democratic National Committee to supply political cartoons to Democratic papers around the country. He later drew for Hearst newspapers, and won a Pulitzer Prize for Cartooning while at the Brooklyn Eagle.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-15

Creator(s)

Macauley, C. R. (Charles Raymond), 1871-1934

Language

English

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

Page Count

1

Production Method

Printed

Record Type

Image

Resource Type

Cartoon

Rights

These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.

Citation