Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Newspaper article on presidential campaign

This newspaper article discusses the political background and potential candidates in the 1908 presidential election. The author believes, “A man is needed,” and suggests that someone of Abraham Lincoln’s caliber would be the best option. However, although American may need another Lincoln, “she has no lack at all of vital personalities,” and the author suggests William H. Taft “would probably make an altogether unexpectedly good President.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-10

Political parties

The Republican Party is the party of national unity, both during the Civil War and under the Roosevelt Administration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-12

Shall the solid south be shattered?

Advance proof of an editorial by Julian LaRose Harris on the South’s political future, intended for publication in the March issue of Uncle Remus’s Home Magazine. Harris discusses the reasons why white southerners currently vote only for the Democratic Party, and why this has caused a stagnant political landscape that the Republican Party might exploit. Harris supports the disenfranchisement of African American citizens. However, he asserts that the focus on this disenfranchisement in the South has resulted in the diminishing influence of Southern Democrats over national Democratic Party policies and presidential nominations. He suggests that president-elect William H. Taft could encourage more bipartisan voting by white southerners if he heeds their political appointment suggestions and refuses to give federal appointments to African American candidates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-02

Roosevelt the man, estimated by Taft

On Inauguration Day, the New York Times reprints an article from Collier’s Weekly in which newly-inaugurated President William H. Taft describes his relationship with outgoing President Theodore Roosevelt. Taft describes his friendship with Roosevelt and gives his assessment of his legacy and character.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-03-04

Excerpt from address by Theodore Roosevelt at Everett, Washington

President Roosevelt speaks of the importance of national unity, saying that dividing the nation by caste, creed, or locality is the surest path to destruction. He believes the government should not devolve either to government by a moneyed elite or by the masses of the poor who want to destroy the wealthy. He says that the character of a person is more important than their possessions when determining their worth.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1903-05-23

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George von Lengerke Meyer

Theodore Roosevelt thanks George von Lengerke Meyer for the salmon and for what he said regarding the libel suit. Roosevelt would like to arrange a visit with Meyer and Frank B. Kellogg, but does not see what can be done about “getting the Republicans and Progressives together.” Roosevelt feels that the Progressives are “sundered” from the Republican Party by two causes. The first is the “utter dishonesty” of men such as Boies Penrose, William Barnes, Winthrop Murray Crane, Elihu Root, and their associates who “stole the convention” last summer. The second cause is that the Progressive Party, unlike the Republican Party, have in their platform “applied the principles of Abraham Lincoln to the present day.” Roosevelt will never again work with a party controlled by the men guilty of the theft last June or with any party that “does not take in their entirety the principles of Abraham Lincoln applied to the needs of the present day.”

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1913-06-09

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to George von Lengerke Meyer

Theodore Roosevelt tells George von Lengerke Meyer he is not sure there is anything to be done to make things better in politics. Roosevelt believes Republican leaders “stole the nomination” in Chicago, Illinois, and that such action “creates a train of evil consequences so extensive that it is almost impossible by any single act afterwards to undo the evil.” It was extraordinary to see men such as Bishop William Lawrence and President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University “explicitly or implicitly, endorse the lowest forms of political immorality.” Roosevelt compares the Progressive platform to that of Abraham Lincoln and the early Republicans, and accuses the men who object to these principles of being the “spiritual heirs of the Cotton Whigs.” He believes that what happened in Chicago makes it likely that Woodrow Wilson and the Democratic Party will win the fall presidential election. When Roosevelt returns, he would like for Meyer and Frank B. Kellogg to visit him.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1913-10-07

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Henry Cabot Lodge

President Roosevelt congratulates Senator Lodge on the birth of his grandson, Henry Cabot Lodge, and is glad that Lodge’s daughter-in-law Bessie is in good health. Roosevelt lays out the cases both in favor of, and against, Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes as a Supreme Court Justice. Roosevelt is concerned about Holmes’s speech about former Chief Justice John Marshall and hopes that Holmes understands that Supreme Court justices should be neither partisan nor politicians. Roosevelt has been happy with the majority of the Supreme Court but is concerned with the “reactionary folly” of the minority. Roosevelt wants to ensure that the replacement for Justice Gray upholds his legacy.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1902-07-10

Leslie’s, October 22, 1921

This issue of Leslie’s magazine, published shortly before the celebration of Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, collects a number of stories and anecdotes remembering Roosevelt. These stories include remembrances from Roosevelt’s boxing partner while Roosevelt was president, an article by Hermann Hagedorn on the collection of Roosevelt-related artifacts, and a report on the upcoming creation of Roosevelt-Sequoia National Park in California as a memorial to Roosevelt.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation

Creation Date

1921-10-22

Letter from Charles W. Watson to Theodore Roosevelt

Charles W. Watson shares his opinion concerning independence for the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-29

Letter from Robert Underwood Johnson to Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt returns a document containing Abraham Lincoln’s signature which was intended as a gift from Lincoln biographer Jesse William Weik. Robert Underwood Johnson lets Roosevelt know that it was intended as a gift so that Roosevelt might “set the matter right with Mr. Weik.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-21

New York’s domination

The writer discusses the need for balance in selection of presidential candidates so they come from differing parts of the United States, rather than from the same state, to make sure demands of one state are not regarded as more important.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-11

Speech by Curtis Guild

Curtis Guild expands on the success of Theodore Roosevelt and criticizes the press who disparage a man and then years later declare how influential that man and his policies are after he no longer is a leader. Reciprocity treaties and their impacts were included.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-04-21

The demonstrated safety and conservatism of President Roosevelt

Extracts from a speech presenting resolutions in support of President Roosevelt by John G. Capers, Republican national committeeman for South Carolina. Capers compares Abraham Lincoln’s skill at selecting individuals for Cabinet positions to the excellent choices made by Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-24

Letter from Lincoln Steffens to Theodore Roosevelt

Lincoln Steffens wrote to President Roosevelt asking him to meet with Peter Fenelon Collier, owner and editor of Collier Weekly and Norman Hapgood, the author of the Life of Lincoln since Roosevelt was interested in Lincoln. Steffens will send Roosevelt a copy of the book.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-29

Letter from George Frisbie Hoar to Theodore Roosevelt

Senator Hoar writes President Roosevelt about the “reckless falsehoods” of Wendell Phillips during the Civil War. Hoar would also like Roosevelt to give a speech at Clark University’s first commencement.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-21

Letter from Silas McBee to Theodore Roosevelt

Silas McBee writes to President Roosevelt about a statement he made concerning Abraham Lincoln and the notion of strong people and a strong government. McBee expresses his admiration of Lincoln but argues that George Washington also held these ideas and had them before Lincoln. He closes his letter by referring to Lincoln’s birthday as a “Holy Day of the Nation.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-12

Letter from John G. Capers to Theodore Roosevelt

John G. Capers encloses a clipping of his remarks concerning demonstrated safety and conservatism.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-04

Letter from Silas McBee to Theodore Roosevelt

Silas McBee admires the “matchless democracy” of Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt’s sentences about Lincoln have inspired McBee to deeper study. McBee also gives credit to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington in forming a strong country.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-12

Letter from John Campbell to Theodore Roosevelt

John Campbell reports that Colorado’s delegation will support President Roosevelt at the Republican National Convention. He comments on the recent resignation of Colorado’s former U. S. Representative John F. Shafroth.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-16