Skip to content

TR Encyclopedia

Law and Justice

After briefly attending law school at Columbia University, Roosevelt realized that questions of legal procedure and precedent interested him much less than questions of justice and morality. He famously said, “the Constitution was made for the people, not the people for the Constitution,” and later in his life espoused judicial recall when the judicial system stood in the way of the progressive movement’s agenda.

a cartoon depicting Theodore Roosevelt as Police Commissioner
“A Roosevelt to the Rescue,” a cartoon depicting Theodore Roosevelt as Police Commissioner, 1895.

Schrank, John Flammang

John Flammang Schrank (March 5, 1876-September 15, 1943) attempted to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt on October 14, 1912.