Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Harper Pennington praises Charles M. Shean’s portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-16

Sarah W. Loud expresses to Theodore Roosevelt that her husband, Civil War veteran Thomas B. Loud, has been unjustly kept at the Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea rather than allowed to live at home with her. She recounts his military service, declining health, and the actions of local officials that resulted in his pension being withheld and adequate aid denied, causing their prolonged separation. Loud appeals to Roosevelt for help in securing a pension sufficient to support him at home, describing her emotional and financial hardship and her faith in Roosevelt’s sense of justice.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-12

George H. Maine sends Theodore Roosevelt a copy of a letter being distributed to governors, school superintendents, and others, requesting his public support and a statement to the Associated Press.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-11

Howard Pyle thanks President Roosevelt for his letter of introduction to Gifford Pinchot. Due to Roosevelt’s kind deed, Pyle praises Roosevelt’s administration and believes that he “will stand forth in history as one of the very greatest of our presidents.” Pyle also notes that Roosevelt had inspired him in painting a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, which Anna Roosevelt Cowles has seen in Pyle’s studio in Wilmington, Delaware.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-11

Emily Tyler Carow describes her experiences in Egypt, including her concern about an “undercurrent of hostility” that seems to be present in the Egyptian Arab people. Carow tells Roosevelt about her conversations with Lord Evelyn Baring Cromer and his dinner guests, which have been about topics such as the British occupation of Egypt, the American occupation of Cuba and the insular possession of the Philippines, whether Roosevelt will run for president again, and the natural beauty of the desert.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-01

After James Sullivan Clarkson reads about a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave in 1858 in Abbott’s History of the Civil War and the Growth and Downfall of Slavery, he forwards a copy to President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-07

John W. Vrooman praises President Roosevelt for his style of governance and both his public and private behaviors, referencing Abraham Lincoln and Daniel Webster. Vrooman recounts a speech in which he described the President as someone with a “big heart, big brain, and big purpose, who stands today the central figure of the civilized world.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-30

Booker T. Washington is sending President Roosevelt a letter that Washington feels Roosevelt should see before he finishes his address for Lincoln’s birthday.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-26

James Ford Rhodes and Henry S. Pritchett have been discussing their recent correspondence with President Roosevelt. Both men support President Roosevelt’s stance regarding the American South and agree his policies will result in improving regional and racial tensions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-23

Henry S. Pritchett, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, writes to President Roosevelt about “the Negro question.” Pritchett claims that Republican Reconstruction was a failure, and argues that the federal government should stop trying to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment, since legislative threats are not making the Southern states comply. He recommends that the Southern states be allowed to control their own voting laws, subject only to outside criticism without force. Pritchett admits the Southern states will immediately disenfranchise most African Americans, but that this will be fair since they will also disenfranchise ignorant whites. He believes Roosevelt will still be allowed to make some African American appointments pending approval of local white leaders. Pritchett encloses an article he wrote on the subject and pages from James Ford Rhodes’s history. Rhodes, a historian specializing in Reconstruction, adds a postscript to Pritchett’s letter saying he agrees with Pritchett’s recommendations and will discuss with Pritchett conversations he had previously on the subject with Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-06

Historian James Ford Rhodes is pleased to have received a long letter from President Roosevelt. Rhodes responds to questions raised by Roosevelt, using historical precedents. Rhodes discusses tariff revision. He thinks Roosevelt is right not to “break with [his] party” over legislation. Rhodes asks Roosevelt if he can share the president’s views on “the Southern question” with Henry S. Pritchett, president of MIT, who has asked Rhodes for assistance. Pritchett is preparing a paper for Roosevelt. Rhodes answers Roosevelt’s comparison of his Cabinet with President Lincoln’s Cabinet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-01

Erman J. Ridgway, editor of Everybody’s Magazine, congratulates President Roosevelt on his electoral victory and praises his statement that he will not accept a renomination. He pledges to assist Roosevelt however he can, and says that if Roosevelt can finish his work, he “will not only be the greatest President since Lincoln, but the greatest ruler this country or any country has ever had.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-09

William Hooker congratulates President Roosevelt on winning the election, and knows he must feel gratified. Hooker has a note from Abraham Lincoln to his grandfather, and wants a letter to himself from Roosevelt to hang alongside it. He asks Roosevelt to please do this for him sometime when he is feeling good-natured.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-09

John Lewis Griffiths praises President Roosevelt’s character and the achievements of his administration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-03

President Roosevelt grins as he stands in a boat labeled “Lock Canal System” while a generic figure labeled “Senate” sits in a large bucket filling with water labeled “Senatorial Kicks.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

History remembers, and credits, Theodore Roosevelt with the building of the Panama Canal. He famously said that he “took” Panama himself, and let Congress debate him, instead of the canal, as construction proceeded. This was a paradigm that he applied to other initiatives throughout his presidency. This sentiment implies what was the case — that work on the canal in all its particulars was controversial, and it remains the case more than a century later.

President Roosevelt sits at his desk and looks at three papers: “Panama Canal,” “Philippine Tariff,” and “Railroad Rate Legislation.” There is a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall. Uncle Sam directs several men, including a “R. R. trust” and a “obstructionist,” away.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-11

Published in The Critic, President Roosevelt discusses the history of the Republican Party and includes a quote from Abraham Lincoln in this article.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1904-03

Illustrated Buffalo Express, Vol. XVIIII, No. 51, September 22, 1901, pages 1-8:

Page 1: – Mast head is draped in black bunting with eagles above – Black and white photographs captioned: The Funeral of President McKinley in Buffalo: Leaving the Milburn House; Procession on Delaware Avenue; Sailors and Soldiers Taking the Casket Into City Hall; The Body of the President at City Hall, with Military and Civil Guard – “In Memoriam” and “William McKinley” – Poems about McKinley – “Buffalo’s Sad Sunday” – Short article about McKinley’s funeral in Buffalo as depicted by the photographs – “Stamping Out Anarchy” – Group “The Law Rules” on the facade of the Government Building at the Pan Am; drawing of woman holding a tablet with the title at the bottom left of the page

Page 2: – Black and white photographs captioned: The Funeral of President McKinley in Washington: Carrying the Body into the Capitol; Passing the Treasury Building; Arrival of Battery at the Capitol; Crowd Waiting in the Rain at the Capitol; Naval Honorary Pall Bearers – “Funeral in Washington” – Short article to explain the context of the photographs – “Shooting at Lincoln” – Recollection of Colonel Lamon, who guarded Abraham Lincoln about the measures taken to keep him safe

Page 3: – Black and white photographs captioned: One of the Black Arches in the Canton Streets; The Funeral at Canton: Procession from the McKinley Home to the Church; Taking the Casket Into the Church; President Roosevelt’s Body Guard; Receiving Vault, West Lawn Cemetery, Canton; The McKinley Family Lot in the Cemetery at Canton, O. – “Scenes at Canton” – Narrative about the funeral in Canton, to explain the photographs

Text of a speech given by Mayor Low to the Society of the Army of the Potomac in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Low discusses the challenges of the Battle of Gettysburg and the American Civil War, as well as more current challenges, including the Anthracite Coal Strike.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-09-19

President Roosevelt’s introduction to Francis Curtis’s history of the Republican Party.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-01-04