Adams, Charles Francis, 1835-1915

George Otto Trevelyan writes to President Roosevelt about Panama and the Philippines, drawing parallels with Macaulay’s histories and Ancient Rome. Trevelyan discusses the British diplomatic service and his latest work on the American Revolution. He also describes a recent visit from Charles Francis Adams and his wife, and he muses on what it is like to be old. Trevelyan writes of their shared love of English literature, mentioning Milton, Chaucer, and W. W. Jacobs.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-12

A statue labeled “Thomas Jefferson The Father of Expansion” stands at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis, Missouri, with Puck directing the attention of George Frisbie Hoar and other anti-expansionists Edward Atkinson, Carl Schurz, and Charles Francis Adams, who look on in disbelief.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition was planned for 1904 to commemorate the centennial of President Jefferson’s acceptance of Napoleon’s offer to sell vast Western lands — actually French claims to lands — on the American continent. It was planned for St. Louis, the “Gateway To the West,” then one of the largest cities in the United States.

Anti-imperialists George Frisbie Hoar, Carl Schurz, Edward Atkinson, Charles Francis Adams, and Andrew Carnegie are drowning in “Quicksand of Public Opinion,” with the U.S. Capitol building in the background.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The underlying issues of America’s anti-imperialists (the men depicted here, as well as Mark Twain and several other prominent figures) remained in 1902. Those included the constitutionality and moral implications of empire, but as Spain’s surrendered territories accommodated themselves to new flags and occupiers, the problems receded from headlines. A month before this cartoon’s publication, President Roosevelt formally (though not entirely cleanly) ended armed conflict in the Philippines. Rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo and other insurgents surrendered, military atrocity charges were addressed, and a general amnesty for rebels was declared. Anti-imperialists back in America might have felt subsumed by the quicksand of irrelevance.

Theodore Roosevelt hopes that Clifford Bartlett likes what Roosevelt has written about “the European situation” and notes that it would be a “great pleasure” for Bartlett to use a previous letter. Roosevelt also remarks on Charles Francis Adams’s “confused and false” views on public questions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1914-12-18

President Roosevelt suggests that the Committee on Department Methods consider forming a subcommittee to deal with the issue of documentary historical publications of the United States government. Roosevelt suggests several names for the Committee to consider for service on this subcommittee.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-11

President Roosevelt informs President of Harvard University Eliot he is speaking at the fiftieth anniversary of the Michigan State Agricultural College on May 31. Before taking stronger action in Cuba, he will do everything in his power to facilitate a peaceful agreement. He will contact Secretary of War William H. Taft about Americans financing revolutionists.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-20

President Roosevelt would like to Frederic Adrian Delano to come to Washington to speak with him and Attorney General William H. Moody about railroads and other businesses. Roosevelt believes that if there is not some kind of government regulation implemented, they will be faced with a movement either for government ownership of the railroads or for legislation of a “drastic and damaging character” against corporations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-11

President Roosevelt tells James Ford Rhodes he has just finished reading his fifth volume, which has tied in well with Roosevelt’s other readings of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s History and Abraham Lincoln’s letters and speeches. Although the president agrees with Rhodes that the right is not all on one side and the wrong is not all on the other in quarrels, Roosevelt thinks the American Civil War is the exception, as he believes “the right was exclusively with the Union people.” Roosevelt talks about his plans to build up the Navy to avoid war, believing the Panama Canal will help. Finally, he discusses problems he has been having with the tariff and Southern states. He disagrees with Rhodes that the South is not trying to reinstate slavery, as there is peonage in three states right now. Roosevelt closes by mentioning how his opponents helped him during the election campaign.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-29

Theodore Roosevelt sends Oliver Wendell Holmes an excerpt of a speech by Charles Francis Adams. Adams believes that the most important issue facing the American people is the curbing of Senate powers, as evidenced by the fact that recent appointments in the judiciary (referring to those of Holmes and William R. Day to the Supreme Court) have been influenced by powerful Senators. Roosevelt says facetiously that he will try to find out who the “political heelers” were behind the appointments of Day and Holmes, so they can make sure that Holmes “swings [his] words properly this fall.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-02

President Roosevelt agrees with Owen Wister’s thoughts. Roosevelt is grateful to the American people even though he has had a great deal of work as president. Roosevelt notes his cabinet has been a huge support to him and is glad he owed the election to “Abraham Lincoln’s ‘plain people.'” The president expresses his frustration with certain journalists and newspapers who criticize Roosevelt about having too close of a connection with “the wicked” but who ignored Alton B. Parker’s “hand-in-glove intimacy” with James J. Hill, William F. Sheehan, and Thomas Taggart. Roosevelt acknowledges he has made mistakes, but many of the criticisms leveled at him are due to ignorance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-19

President Roosevelt responds to a request from Senator Lodge that he comment on an article about Egypt written by Charles Francis Adams. Roosevelt observes that Adams was apparently not aware of many of the issues related to holding colonies before traveling to Egypt. Comparing the British occupation and control of Egypt and India with the relationship of the United States to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and particularly the Philippines, Roosevelt asserts that the goal of the United States must be to administer the islands for the good of the natives with an eye towards eventual self-government (whereas this has not always seemed to be the goal of the British). Roosevelt also quotes a letter from General Leonard Wood regarding the condition of British colonies and the topic of Chinese labor. Roosevelt believes that the United States has acted much more benevolently towards its island holdings than the British have towards their colonies, and praises the efforts that the United States has made in reducing corruption and increasing the effectiveness of the governments of these dependencies.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-30

John Graham Brooks thanks President Roosevelt for his letter on Alfred Holt Stone. He had already gotten letters about Stone’s Studies in the American Race Problem from Edwin Anderson Alderman, Walter Hines Page, and William Garrott Brown. Brooks also received another edition of Socialism & Individualism. He told Lawrence F. Abbott that it is the most powerful work he has seen in thirty years of reading socialist literature.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-16

Los Angeles City Librarian Charles Fletcher Lummis thanks President Roosevelt for the autograph page and hopes to show him the library’s autograph collection sometime. The library staff took to Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield, who made friends with members of the Southwest Society during his visit.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-12

Charles William Eliot explains to President Roosevelt why Leonard Wood experiences hostility. This goes back to the service Wood gave President McKinley and his wife. Wood’s “egotistic freedom of speech” to the press also contributed to distrust of him. Eliot hopes Roosevelt will not pay attention to those who have business interests in Cuba. The U.S. government cannot immediately create peace and prosperity in the country. Eliot believes the Democratic Party is desperate after William Jennings Bryan’s recent failure.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-27

Charles J. Bonaparte agrees to write an article for McClure’s Magazine, most likely referring to a short article about President Roosevelt as a presidential candidate, which would be published alongside an article written by Grover Cleveland about Judge Parker. He found the letter that President Roosevelt enclosed interesting and amusing, although he feels it would not be suitable for publication without the consent of the author. Bonaparte encloses a clipping to demonstrate that part of his letter to Charles Francis Adams has been published.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-18

Charles J. Bonaparte encloses a letter from Charles Francis Adams. Bonaparte does not think it would be right to publish his correspondence with Adams, since he suspects Adams would have given his letters to the paper if Bonaparte’s reply had suited him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-15

Oliver Wendell Holmes responds to a letter from President Roosevelt regarding accusations made by Charles Francis Adams about how Holmes came to be appointed. Holmes also discusses his reading habits and various books.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-05

Secretary of State Hay criticizes the speech that Charles Francis Adams gave at Boston.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-02

In a letter to James Ford Rhodes, President Roosevelt asserts that the South was in the wrong on every issue in the American Civil War, and argues for the buildup of the Navy to avert war. Roosevelt also believes that there exists a serious movement to reestablish slavery in the Southern states in the form of peonage, and he criticizes various politicians and intellectuals in the North for either supporting the South or being ineffective in their criticism of it. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1904-11-29

President Roosevelt encloses Senator George Frisbie Hoar’s letter. Roosevelt has asked Hoar to let him know if there is anything against Oliver Wendell Holmes or any reason why anyone else should be named to the United States Supreme Court. Roosevelt is choosing to ignore the “foolish letter” of Carl Schurz, Charles Francis Adams, and Herbert Welsh, but would like to make anti-imperialism a major issue in the congressional campaigns, because it gives the Republicans an advantage over the Democrats. In a handwritten postscript, Roosevelt notes that there has been a “ferocious Catholic” outbreak against William H. Taft, Governor-General of the Philippines, on behalf of the friars.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1902-07-30