Your TR Source
Nicholas Murray Butler informs Theodore Roosevelt of the general good feeling towards Roosevelt at a luncheon attended by Butler and southern politicians. Butler stresses that Roosevelt’s standing in the South has greatly improved upon his reelection and suggests some steps Roosevelt can take to cement that relationship.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-16
Theodore Roosevelt is very interested in the letter and newspaper Walter J. Ladd sent. Roosevelt confesses he did not know about the provision in the Rhode Island Constitution.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-03
Responding to a request for an endorsement of the proposed New York State Constitution, Theodore Roosevelt expresses concern that the Constitution is not a “progressive document” and does not accomplish what he and others had hoped was possible during the Progressive Party campaign three years earlier. Roosevelt looks forward to discussing matters with Lyman Abbott soon.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-10-28
Theodore Roosevelt had many conflicting statements made to him by Progressives about that Constitution and is not prepared to state an opinion about it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-10-16
President Roosevelt informs Senator Millard that he has used the expression “administrative body” rather than department because the constitutionality of creating a department would be called into question.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-06
As requested by E. W. Scripps, Frank H. Blighton sends Senator Poindexter a copy of the newspaper “Voice of the People,” containing a portion of a letter offering a complaint made to President William H. Taft regarding the inability of Arizonans to remove corrupt judges. Blighton asks Poindexter to consider the issue, and not to vote to amend Arizona’s proposed constitution to remove the right of recall. The current judge of the first judicial district of Arizona, Judge John H. Campbell, is thoroughly corrupt, and has acted poorly at the bench.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-07-22
Governor Colquitt is glad Theodore Roosevelt was interested in his discussion on the principles of initiative, referendum, and recall being “contradistinguished from representative and republican form of government.” He believes such a theory would negate the need for constitutions, legislature, or Congress.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-24
Dwight B. Heard received Theodore Roosevelt’s letter and assures him that the progressive element of the Republican party in Arizona will be guided by the common sense he suggested in drafting a constitution. He was selected as a delegate to the convention and encloses a copy of his platform. The Democrats strongly favor the initiative, referendum, and recall, whereas the Republicans do not. Heard asks Roosevelt for comments on the matter. John P. Orme authorized Heard to defer opening the Roosevelt Dam until June.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-08-17
Samuel W. Small informs President Roosevelt of the content of a long telegram sent by Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World to his managing editor. Pulitzer plans to launch a series of editorials attacking Roosevelt, accusing him of violating the United States Constitution. Small believes that Roosevelt is doing well in the South.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-17
Excerpt from “Development of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution,” published in the February, 1907 edition of the Yale Law Journal. The quote discusses the need to interpret a constitution in terms of its practical application in the present day. While it is important to consider the framers’ intents, the writer argues that it is a fundamental principle that a constitution is “always a present rule of national life.” The language in a constitution can be applied beyond the writers’ original intent.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02
The Constitution of the Lincoln-Roosevelt Republican Club outlines the purposes of the club, general organizational structure, and rules. The immediate goals of the club are expressed to be emancipating the Californian Republican Party from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, selecting future delegates who will uphold President Roosevelt’s policies, and the election of a capable Legislature.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Unknown
In this article, published in Ladies Home Journal, June 1917, Theodore Roosevelt compares the constitutions put forth during the French Revolution to the constitution developed by the founding fathers of the United States of America. Roosevelt observes that the American constitution succeeded because it did not attempt too much and because the men who wrote it also put it into practice, and they possessed both education and practical knowledge of government. He argues that “the vital element in the success of any plan for social, civic, or political or industrial betterment is the actual application of it in practice, the testing of it by work and by results.” He decries the many programs for social uplift which are written about in pamphlets and other publications but never put into practice. At the end of the article, he asserts that the same principles apply in achieving individual success. That is, one should profit by the advice of others, testing it by putting it into practice.
1917