Your TR Source
Sterling E. Edmunds sends copies of the editorials he wrote for the St. Louis Chronicle. Edmunds’s opinion of President Roosevelt changed from a negative one to a positive one over the course of the election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-28
Theodore Roosevelt does not understand how Julian Street can criticize Senator Eugene Hale so vehemently without also criticizing President Woodrow Wilson and his administration, who are refusing to prepare the country’s military and people for war. Members of the military who advocate for preparedness and attempt to prepare do so against the feeling of the President and may arouse his hostility against them. Roosevelt likens the present conditions to those under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, but he believes the current peace-at-any-price sentiment is worse.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-07-08
Theodore Roosevelt has just finished reading Arthur Twining Hadley’s Undercurrents in American Politics, and he discusses Hadley’s conclusions, particularly as they relate to the records of American presidents through the Civil War.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-07-08
Theodore Roosevelt does not understand C. Grant La Farge’s question, but suggests that Henry Adams’s History of the United States During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and History of the United States During the Administrations of James Madison will give the most detailed account of the matter. Concerning Napoleon’s account, Roosevelt urges La Farge to “discriminate between the real and make-believe facts.” Roosevelt believes that Great Britain was worse to the United States than France.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-03-05
President Roosevelt writes his son Kermit Roosevelt about the events of Thanksgiving week. His son Archibald B. Roosevelt has taken extremely ill, although he has had a good time at the Groton School. Roosevelt has gone on several outings with friends and plans to go riding with Henry Cabot Lodge the next day.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-30
President Roosevelt thanks Alfred E. Cohen for sending him a copy of The Law of Nations by G. F. de Martens signed by James Madison.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-30
Theodore Roosevelt writes to William Roscoe Thayer on the subject of criticism. Roosevelt feels that those who do are more aptly placed to be critics as to who do not, using the comparison that the authors of the Federalist were political doers who also criticized and acted. He then extends the metaphor to cover Harvard’s struggles in sports competitions with Yale and Cornell.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-03-01
President Roosevelt gives instructions to George B. Cortelyou regarding Senator Knox’s speech. Roosevelt also believes the Democrats are taking some statements about the early United States presidents out of context, but that he should not respond since his views as a historian are not relevant to the campaign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-23
Theodore Roosevelt has received Thomas Nelson Page’s letter about raising a Thomas Jefferson Memorial Fund as an endowment for the University of Virginia. Roosevelt believes fundraising efforts should reach people all across the country who care about higher education. Roosevelt believes the American people can carry out Jefferson’s work in the most gratifying way.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-05
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt greatly admires William P. Trent’s book and appreciates that it is dedicated to him. Roosevelt is converted to Trent’s views on Thomas Jefferson and Jefferson Davis, even though he does not entirely accept them. His main objection to Jefferson is “his utter inefficiency as an executive officer in the face of a foreign foe.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-04-20
Oscar Hallam calls Theodore Roosevelt’s attention to a historical inaccuracy in his article concerning the doctrine that courts can declare a legislative act unconstitutional. Hallam cites historical cases and thoroughly discusses the Constitutional Convention to prove his point.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-29
Justice Spring found Theodore Roosevelt’s editorials on Nationalism and the judiciary interesting and was pleased Roosevelt quoted him. He discusses how judges beliefs influence their interpretations of the Constitution and rights of the public, particularly noting John Marshall and Roger Brooke Taney. Then he discusses the role the three branches of government regarding law making and interpretation. Spring will send an article he wrote responding to Roosevelt’s 1905 recognition of Panama.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-17
David Starr Jordan congratulates President Roosevelt on the end of his term, and praises his many accomplishments. In particular, Jordan believes he has done good in encouraging the people to be better citizens. He believes Roosevelt will be remembered as great alongside Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-03-04
John Carter Rose was interested in a statement that President Roosevelt said to him recently, that he was “successful in a larger portion of what [he] set out to do than any of [his] predecessors.” Rose considers all the previous presidents, and ultimately draws the comparison down to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Washington, Rose writes, made the nation, Lincoln preserved it, and Roosevelt has caused it to adapt to twentieth century conditions. He praises the various policies that Roosevelt has instituted during his term in office.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-14
Senator Lodge encloses a letter from William E. Alger, consular agent in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, who happens to be Lodge’s cousin. Lodge thanks Roosevelt for sending him Frederick Scott Oliver’s biography on Alexander Hamilton and reviews the work and other Hamilton biographies, and expresses his opinion on early American politics.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-20
Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt between January 1879 to December 1883. Notable events include Theodore Roosevelt’s engagement and marriage to Alice Hathaway Lee, his appointment to the New York State Legislature, and his first visit and buffalo hunt in North Dakota.
Theodore Roosevelt Association
1985
Frederick W. Marks examines Theodore Roosevelt’s rules for conducting diplomacy, including maintaining a large, capable navy, using force as a last resort, and keeping one’s word. He compares Roosevelt’s conduct of foreign policy to several other presidents and demonstrates how some of them experienced setbacks when they failed to adhere to Roosevelt’s precepts. Marks argues that Roosevelt is deeply admired overseas and that it is only in the United States that he is subject to persistent caricature.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1981
In this magazine article, John Bassett Moore discusses the concept of expatriation. In the early days of the American republic, the government inherited the idea of “indefeasible allegiance” from English common law, which was maintained for some time. The first Secretary of State to announce the doctrine of expatriation was James Buchanan, who believed it was the duty of America to protect naturalized and native citizens exactly the same. This opinion was not adopted by subsequent secretaries of state until Buchanan was president, and did not become law in the United States until July 1868. Since 1872, the United States has tried to secure naturalization treaties with all countries. Moore concludes his article discussing an incorrect impression about expatriation. Some people believe a declaration of intention to become an American citizen brings about the same protection as a citizen, which Moore firmly states is “altogether erroneous.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12
This newspaper article includes a section from a letter written by President Roosevelt to Thomas Nelson Page in which the president endorses a memorial endowment for Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia. Given Roosevelt’s previous negative remarks about Jefferson, the article states the president has broadened his mind since then. According to the article, “The letter can be viewed in no other light than as an endeavor to atone for the past and it should be accepted as such.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-21
An article by Thomas E. Watson rails against the efforts of national bankers to replace the the Department of the Treasury issued notes which had historically been used to combat inflation with their own bank notes. Such a practice would give private banks full control over the financial state of the country and would only increase bankers’ wealth at the expense of the economy. Should President Roosevelt allow this to happen, he would prove himself a hypocrite and incapable of living up to his promises to fight the “malefactors of wealth” in the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-10