African Americans--Civil rights--Government policy

The editorial writer claims that northern newspapers have not presented an accurate account of suffrage in the South. The article discusses how the requirements for voting registration will “disfranchise only the ignorant and the thriftless negroes.” The author notes that there may be some areas where black citizens meeting these qualifications are still refused the vote. He argues that “the remedy for this condition…is not the repeal of the Constitution, but the just and equable enforcement of the Constitution.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-12

Creator(s)

Unknown

Theodore Roosevelt responds to Bradley Gilman’s letter and discusses the topics of marriage, divorce, and African Americans as voters and legislative representatives. Roosevelt argues the need for federal government to control marriage, divorce, and polygamy. Roosevelt asserts the need to incorporate African American representatives for the Progressive movement from states like New York, Rhode Island, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, or Indiana at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. He writes of the inequality faced by African Americans, particularly in the South, and their absence from legislative bodies in Southern states. In his argument, Roosevelt references Booker T. Washington and writes of the Republican Party’s use of uneducated African American representation as a corrupt tactic that won the candidacy for William H. Taft with William Barnes and Simon Guggenheim.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-07-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Judge Speer encloses a list of United States judges who will likely be appointed by Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan. He explains to President Roosevelt the ramifications of having Bryan potentially nominating a large number of justices to federal courts at various levels. The Bryan judges would likely jeopardize peonage laws and the Employers Liability Act, among other things. Democrat-appointed judges would shift jurisprudence to favor states’ rights over federal authority.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-26

Creator(s)

Speer, Emory

President Roosevelt writes his son-in-law Representative Nicholas Longworth that Senator Foraker is doing all the damage he can with “negroes” and that the Democrats on the committee will take such an extreme position the “negroes” will realize where their “real friends are.” Roosevelt asks Longworth to write to Julius Fleischmann to invite the Fleischmanns to dinner on Roosevelt’s behalf.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1907-06-26

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Rollo Ogden informs President Roosevelt that The Evening Post will publish results from a canvas of Republican representatives regarding African American disfranchisement. Ogden asserts that the findings reflect racial inequality that contradict the Fourteenth Amendment.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-25

Creator(s)

Ogden, Rollo, 1856-1937

Rollo Ogden of The Evening Post declines President Roosevelt’s invitation to attend a conference in Washington, D.C., but relays that Roosevelt may communicate with Francis E. Leupp anything he wishes Ogden to know. Ogden asserts the need for the Republican Party to address African American disfranchisement, or the Democratic party may secure a majority in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College by impeding African American votes.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-30

Creator(s)

Ogden, Rollo, 1856-1937

Lovell H. Jerome acknowledges receipt of a letter from William Loeb that warned against including President Roosevelt in the Republican Club matter. The Republican Club meeting, attended by Booker T. Washington, Mr. Dunham, and Governor Benjamin B. Odell, covered plans to utilize the forces already organized in the South. Jerome mentions an effort in Kentucky to debar the negro vote.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-18

Creator(s)

Jerome, Lovell H. (Lovell Hall), 1849-1935

United States Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson writes from Texas about efforts to educate cotton growers about boll weevil. Wilson relays that the Louisiana delegation in Congress opposes the Cuban treaty, but that businessmen and growers support President Roosevelt’s policies. Wilson also mentions African American civil rights in relation to the Republican Party.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-03

Creator(s)

Wilson, James, 1835-1920