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William Morrow asks Assistant Attorney General McReynolds to convince President Roosevelt to tour the South. Morrow does not believe that Roosevelt is advocating social equality with African Americans. Morrow claims that he and others happily associate with African Americans without the question of social equality being raised.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-09
Typed excerpt from Chapter V of Theodore Roosevelt’s Autobiography, Applied Idealism, in which he discusses gender relations and roles in society.
1913
This article discusses a quote from Henry S. Barker, a prominent African American in Washington, who lauds how African Americans were treated at the Republican Convention and says that if Theodore Roosevelt is elected president, African Americans will demand that Booker T. Washington be the Republican candidate for vice president in 1908. The article says that Democrats will resent the “threat” made in the letter and that the South should stand together for white supremacy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-28
A draft of a speech addressing members of the Grand Army of the Republic in which President Roosevelt praises the efforts of the Union Army during the Civil War. He argues that with the growth of cities, and of individual and corporate fortunes, men have become more divided into groups and classes. Roosevelt asserts that in order to solve the “dark problems looming before us,” Americans must “strive onward” in the same spirit Union soldiers demonstrated when they fought alongside men regardless of class or religion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-08-28
President Roosevelt addresses members of the Grand Army of the Republic, praising the efforts of Union Army soldiers during the Civil War. He argues that with the growth of cities and individual and corporate fortunes, men have become more divided into groups and classes, thereby diminishing the “realization of that essential underlying brotherhood which ought to be deep in the heart of every American.” Roosevelt asserts that in order to solve the “dark problems looming before us,” they must prioritize cooperation. He insists that Americans must “strive onward” in the same spirit Union soldiers demonstrated when they fought alongside men regardless of class or religion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-08-28
Theodore Roosevelt “really values” Jean Finot’s new book, Problems of the Sexes, and comments that, although he believes there should be equality between men and women, he does not believe in “identity of function.” Along with the demand for women’s rights, there should be an insistence upon the “full performance” of women’s duties by women (and men’s duties by men).
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-06-13
Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary writes William E. Henderson regarding Roosevelt’s speech, in which he spoke of giving a square deal to both “colored and white citizens.” The secretary discusses Roosevelt’s racial empowerment policy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-05-16
Theodore Roosevelt expresses his support for members of the Catholic church being allowed to serve in leadership positions in the Y.M.C.A. Roosevelt asks Cleveland H. Dodge to forward his letter to the proper governing board of the Y.M.C.A.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-17
Theodore Roosevelt approves of the work being done by the Women’s Department of the National Civic Federation and discusses women’s rights. He believes the success of the movement to acknowledge women’s equality with men in political rights will be depend on its concrete results. If women do their duty better for having those rights, then they should have them. Their primary duty is in the home. If Roosevelt believed that women would not fulfill those duties well because they gained the right to vote, he would not advocate for them to have that right; just as he would not advocate for men to have political rights if he believed that their having them would take them from their prime duty of providing for their wives and families.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-03-29
Theodore Roosevelt was able to secure wide publication of Ladislaus Hengelmuller von Hengervar’s letter. Roosevelt does not believe there is “substantial feeling against Austria-Hungary in America,” but the public is wary of Germany due to the invasion and occupation of Belgium. He does not see the slightest analogy between his actions in Panama and Colombia while president with the German action towards Belgium. Roosevelt had hoped that Austria-Hungary could develop into a “gigantic Switzerland of South-eastern Europe” with equality for the country’s many ethnic groups. Since the nation became prominent in public life, Great Britain has always been friendly towards the United States. This contrasts sharply with Roosevelt’s feeling that, given the opportunity, Germany would force the United States to accept “utter humiliation or war.” He admires Germany and Germans and has always sought friendship between Germany and the United States. However, Roosevelt sees no justification for German conduct in Belgium and he will always judge foreign nations by their conduct.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-03-24
President Roosevelt denies a statement that he attacked the Quakers and sends John E. Keyes a letter he wrote four years prior as proof. Roosevelt describes Quaker characteristics that he values, and says there were no better in the Civil War Army than the Quakers, though they are against fighting. Roosevelt supports the Republican Party’s right to ask for support of every friend of the country, as everyone is equal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-10
President Roosevelt appreciates what James Jeffrey Roche said and the way in which he said it. If there is one thing that Roosevelt would like to have emphasized about his public life, it is his “desire to do equal justice to all without regard to race, creed or color.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-07
President Roosevelt thanks Ben Brave for his kindness and is pleased that Brave will be voting in the fall. Roosevelt hopes that all Native Americans reach the point where they vote and are equal citizens.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-02-02
President Roosevelt is pleased with Paul H. Lacey’s picture as he particularly wants to stand for the square deal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-16
Alfred Mosely would like Theodore Roosevelt to present a John Charles Dollman painting to the New York Board of Education on his behalf. The picture depicts the social inequality of Great Britain. Mosely believes this inequality is due to a lack of industrial education. Although the United States provides better education than Britain, he believes the Board can learn from the lessons depicted in the painting.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-02-08
President Roosevelt notes that Bishop Henry Gabriels, in his speech to the Pope, correctly reflected the meaning of Roosevelt’s words regarding equal treatment of members of different religions, but that the precise words used were the Bishop’s own.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08
After considering a paragraph at President Roosevelt’s request, Silas McBee believes that “the principle is sound and essential to the right solution of the problem.” He argues that policies should be based upon “the absolute integrity of citizenship applied alike in principle to all sorts and conditions of men.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-19
A selection of quotes by Theodore Roosevelt commenting on the importance of giving white citizens and African American citizens equality of opportunity, and of treating each person, regardless of race, on their own merits.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1901-1905
An article titled “The President’s Original Southern Platform” asserts that southerners should pay attention to a letter that Herman Henry Kohlsaat wrote in response to Reverend W. W. Landrum. Landrum asserted that “the negro question” is a purely religious problem in the South, and Kohlsaat relays conversations he had with President Roosevelt where Roosevelt said that he intended to appoint Democrats in the South when he could not find appropriate Republicans in positions. The writer of the article notes that the South asks Roosevelt to keep African Americans out of public office in the South. The newspaper page includes the letters from both Kohlsaat and Landrum.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06-07
An excerpt from a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave in a debate against Stephen A. Douglas when he was a candidate for the Senate. In the speech, Lincoln argues that the central idea of American democracy is equality of all men, not only white Anglo-Saxon men.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1858