Smashing all precedents
Subject(s): Courts, Precedence, Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919, Tableware, United States. Congress
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President Roosevelt stands with a big stick in his hand looking ahead to dishes that are running away. One is labeled, “Arrangement of Courts.” Behind him are several broken dishes, “Precedent No. 6–The president never leaves the United States,” “The president should not smile,” “The president should not bust trusts,” “Precedent No. 4–The president should not work hard,” “Precedent No. 10–The President sends few messages to Congress.”
Comments and Context
A type of challenge for historians and researchers is represented by this cartoon. When an inferior political cartoonist addressed a contemporary issue, it is sometimes difficult to discern the intention of the drawing.
Jack Smith was the political cartoonist of the Washington Herald, a daily that was founded in 1906, and fought for its share of the morning market in the nation’s capital. It would have a tortuous but somewhat influential career, with owners including Frank Munsey, Cissy Patterson (of the McCormick-Patterson family, publishers of the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News), and William Randolph Hearst. It eventually merged with the evening Times; then absorbed by Eugene Meyer’s Washington Post.
But in 1907 it was new and evidently had to settle for an unpolished political cartoonist. In this cartoon, the artist might be complimented on a photographic likeness of President Theodore Roosevelt, even if the head sits awkwardly on his shoulders. But why suggesting that smashing pottery was a positive thing to do was a mystery known best by the cartoonist himself.
Nevertheless, and no matter what logic was illustrated, President Roosevelt indeed smashed many precedents, and that fact clearly is presented to students, the primary duty of a political cartoonist.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1907-01-06
Creator(s)
Language
English
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
Page Count
1
Production Method
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
Smashing all precedents. [January 6, 1907]. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301404. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Smith, Jack H., -1935. Smashing all precedents. [6 Jan. 1907]. Image.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 5, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301404.
APA:
Smith, Jack H., -1935., [1907, January 6]. Smashing all precedents.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301404.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 5, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division.
APA:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division.
