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Theodore Roosevelt praises the values of honesty, courage, and common sense. Roosevelt also states that the secret to decent citizenship is steadily performing the everyday duties of life. He emphasizes the importance of being a good neighbor, husband, and father.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-02
In a post-Labor Day speech, Theodore Roosevelt emphasizes the importance of hard work. He praises the soldiers who fought in the Civil War and the qualities of good citizenship that they embody. Courage is also an essential virtue.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-02
Theodore Roosevelt praises the courage of the men who fought in the Civil War. Roosevelt is irritated to see a division of the National Guard armed with black powder muskets. He wants the best modern weapons used. Roosevelt also mentions the importance of good and intelligent citizenship.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-03
Theodore Roosevelt discusses how he knew Maine when he was younger. He praises the values of “self-help” and “individual initiative.” In Maine, Roosevelt does not have to argue on behalf of the Navy. The people of Maine are good Americans and so they believe in the Navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-08-27
Theodore Roosevelt describes what it means to be a good citizen by drawing on the lessons of the American Civil War. Roosevelt closes by praising the army in the Philippines.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-08-28
President Roosevelt speaks to a crowd in Wheeling, West Virginia. After thanking and praising native Senator Nathan B. Scott for the introduction, Roosevelt discusses how America is living in a period of unparalleled prosperity and advancement in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. However, that prosperity comes with its own problems, namely those related to the rise of large, interstate corporations. He encourages the crowd to reject patent solutions or revolutionary reactions to the problems introduced by trusts. Rather, he asserts that the country must evolve, with the federal government regulating corporations, gaining facts and encouraging publicity but not opposing corporations as such. He compares the need to adapt the law to address trusts with the evolution of military arms and tactics; the means may change, but the need for citizen courage, honesty, and character remain.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-06
President Roosevelt says that he will not make a speech at this time because he is “simply going down to the Firemen’s Convention at Chattanooga,” but he assures the crowd that he will return to see Ohio later. He thanks everyone, especially veterans of the American Civil War, for coming to see him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-06
President Roosevelt says he will not make a speech at this time but assures the crowd that he will return to Ohio later. He tells the spectators that he is traveling to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a convention of firemen and thanks everyone for coming to greet him, especially the veterans of the American Civil War.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-06
President Roosevelt thanks everyone who came to see him, especially the veterans of the American Civil War. He says he will not give a long speech because he is going to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee, adding that he is fond of railroad workers and enjoys attending their meetings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-06
President Roosevelt says he will not make a speech at this time, but he assures the crowd that he will be coming back to Ohio in a few weeks. He says he is on his way to a convention of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, adding that he has always had a special fondness for railroad workers. He thanks the crowd for coming, especially the parents carrying small children—reminding him of his own—and men who wear a button showing they are Union veterans of the American Civil War.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-06
President Roosevelt tells the crowd in Lexington, Kentucky, that the state has a special relationship to American history as a border state both between north and south, as well as east and west. Kentucky has also contributed more than one would expect to “the leadership of the country in peace and in war.” Roosevelt expounds on three necessary qualities of citizenship: honesty, courage, and common sense. He argues that, just as military tactics and arms change but the soldier’s spirit remains constant, so too must good citizenship continue even as laws or the Constitution must adapt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-06
At an event in Chickamauga, Georgia, President Roosevelt thanks the young men of Georgia, which he refers to as his mother’s state, for the gift of a commemorative cane engraved with the names of three Confederate generals and three Union generals. Roosevelt highlights how he served at the Battle of Santiago in Cuba under one of them, General Joseph Wheeler, and with Colonel Duncan Norbert Hood, son of another general on the cane, John Bell Hood.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-07
At the opening session of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen convention, President Roosevelt praises railroad workers as possessing the necessary qualities of soldiers, including obedience, initiative, and the rugged, manly virtues that Roosevelt feels are threatened by modern luxuries. He argues that organized labor is wonderful, but only if it encourages individual improvement while working for the group, and he feels that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen have historically exemplified this virtue. Roosevelt warns that the prosperity of modern progress also gives rise to new challenges. He insists that, just as certain soldierly qualities remain constant despite changes in arms or military tactics, laws and constitutions may change but the need for good citizens of honesty, courage, and common sense will always be necessary. Having just visited the Chickamauga and Chattanooga battlefields, Roosevelt also praises the unified American spirit shared by men and women across the country, including immigrants.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-08
Theodore Roosevelt will not give a full speech because he did not know they would stop at Ooltewah Junction, Tennessee. He is in the area to attend a convention of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. Roosevelt took pleasure at seeing the Civil War battlefields in the Chattanooga area. He takes pride in the valor shown during that conflict.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-08
During a brief stop in Cleveland, Tennessee, Theodore Roosevelt addresses a crowd. Moved by seeing the Civil War battlefields, he remarks that every American should be inspired by the heroic deeds “done alike by the men who wore the blue and by those who wore the gray.” He says that he will leave Tennessee feeling like a better American.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-08
President Roosevelt has been enjoying his trip through eastern Tennessee. He came to the state for the meeting of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fireman, and he has also visited several Civil War battlefields.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-04
President Roosevelt briefly addresses the crowd that gathered at Knoxville, Tennessee, despite the heavy rain. He praises Tennessee as the home of many American leaders, including officers in the Revolutionary War and American Civil War. He celebrates the increase of industry, railroads, and mining in East Tennessee but extols more the virtues of citizenship and value of worthy labor, referencing Civil War veterans and early settlers as examples.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-08
President Roosevelt addresses the crowd that has gathered at Morristown, Tennessee. He expresses gratitude that he has been able to visit East Tennessee as president, especially the Civil War battlegrounds of Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Lookout Mountain. He says anyone who visits these sites and reflects on the post-war lives of the Civil War veterans should come away a better American citizen and reminds his audience that the greatest Union naval commander, Admiral David Farragut, came from Tennessee. Roosevelt concludes by noting that Americans’ great deeds reflect positively on other Americans just as a deed “of a shameful character makes all of us hang our heads a little.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-08
President Roosevelt gratefully but briefly addresses the crowd gathered at Johnson City, Tennessee. He reflects on his experiences of the past two days visiting the grounds of the Battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge—experiences which he says should make anyone a better American. He also references visiting the Knoxville home of Eliza Ann O’Brien Brownlow, widow of Governor William Brownlow of Tennessee.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-08
President Roosevelt reminds the crowd in Asheville, North Carolina, of the state’s connection to American history. He mentions his recent visits to the battlegrounds at Chickamauga and Chattanooga and says no citizen can visit them without becoming a better American. He discusses his multi-state journey, saying it is a good thing for a president to travel so he can see that sectional and class differences are trivial. He notes how military arms and tactics may change but the necessary spirit of the good soldier remains the same; so too may laws and constitutions change, but Americans must always possess the qualities of good citizens: honesty, courage, and common sense. He concludes by reminding the crowd that all Americans are part of the government.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-09