Mississippi

The editorial writer claims that northern newspapers have not presented an accurate account of suffrage in the South. The article discusses how the requirements for voting registration will “disfranchise only the ignorant and the thriftless negroes.” The author notes that there may be some areas where black citizens meeting these qualifications are still refused the vote. He argues that “the remedy for this condition…is not the repeal of the Constitution, but the just and equable enforcement of the Constitution.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-12

Creator(s)

Unknown

President Roosevelt clarifies William H. Taft’s opinion on the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, and on the appointment of African Americans, for Lawrence F. Abbott. Namely, that Taft shares Roosevelt’s sentiments, as well as those of The Outlook, on Mississippi Governor James Kimble Vardaman and Representative John Sharp Williams. Roosevelt offers a list of the principle African American appointments he has made while in office, and encourages Abbott to contact Booker T. Washington for further statement on the character of the appointees.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt has received praise for Minister to Denmark Maurice Francis Egan, along with John Wallace Riddle and David Jayne Hill, from Nicholas Butler Murray. Roosevelt is confused by the rates of depression and tendency toward socialism in Denmark, a country of farmers. Mississippi is the most agricultural state in the United States, and Roosevelt concludes that although there are many great Mississippians, a mixture of farmers and townsfolk is the best population to have.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-05

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

William K. Kavanaugh, President of Great-Lakes-to-the-Gulf Deep Waterway Association, encloses a speech he gave in which he mentioned Theodore Roosevelt and hopes Roosevelt will read it. Kavanaugh also mentions that the people of the Mississippi Valley are still talking about Roosevelt’s visit and speech at the Memphis Convention several years ago.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-11

Creator(s)

Kavanaugh, William K. (William Kerr), 1860-1932

Political cartoon featuring President Roosevelt traveling west and obviously prepared for hunting. Various animals have signed a note that they have all left for Mississippi.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-08

Creator(s)

Bush, Charles Green, 1842-1909

Booker T. Washington asserts that the charges against Robert Lloyd Smith are baseless, given that Texas officials previously deemed him fit for office.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-06-30

Creator(s)

Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915

Calling card from Lonnie B. Moseley, a member of the Republican National Committee from Mississippi.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904

Creator(s)

Moseley, Lonnie B. (Lonnie Bondurant), 1852-1917

President Roosevelt, as a southern plantation owner, rides on a donkey, holding an umbrella, a jug of “Corn Lickker” behind him. William Loeb walks behind, holding the donkey’s tail. In the background, perched on a tree, is a bird labeled “Vardaman.” Caption: “Way down South in the land of cotton.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-10-18

President Roosevelt responds to Representative Williams’s claim that he does not understand the South. Although Roosevelt is “greatly puzzled” by some difficulties he has encountered in the South, he has tried to treat the Southern States fairly. Roosevelt believes there are no issues with what he has done in the South but how he has been misrepresented in the South. The president is fine if people disagree with his policies, but he does not like when the facts are misrepresented. He mentions statements made by Alabama Senator John Tyler Morgan and Williams himself that were incorrect. Roosevelt does not appreciate the application of base motives to the president of the United States, and believes if the people of the South have been misled, it is because Southern leaders have misled them. Roosevelt also does not appreciate white men in the South trying to get their vote to count more than those in the North, and believes African American men should be judged by the same tests as “ignorant, vicious and shiftless whites.” Roosevelt closes by saying that what the South “really needs” is for her leaders to tell the truth.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-05

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

On Theodore Roosevelt’s behalf, his secretary thanks Walter Raleigh Adams for the letter and for his work with the Progressive campaign in Mississippi.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-11-02

Creator(s)

Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt explains to Floyd Reading Du Bois that the unseating of “colored” delegates from the South had nothing to do with their race, but that they were not legally entitled to their seats. In Florida, both the white and the colored delegates were unseated. In Mississippi, Benjamin F. Fridge had called for a “white” convention based on a misunderstanding, and rather than waiting for an adjustment from the National Committee, the unseated delegates held their own illegal state convention. Richard Washburn Child agrees with Roosevelt that the Mississippi decision was legally, not racially, based. Finally, the unseated delegates in Cincinnati were judged to be associated with the Republican Party machine.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-26

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt writes about the necessity of the canalization of Mississippi, one part of his progressive program.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-19

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary asks Oscar K. Davis what is being done in Mississippi and requests help responding to telegrams from Redmond, Howard, and Samuel Wesley Long.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-07-10

Creator(s)

Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt

Gifford Pinchot requests the draft of the Mississippi statement prepared for Theodore Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-06

Creator(s)

Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946

Theodore Roosevelt feels that the flooding from the Mississippi River must be dealt with by the nation as a whole and by all the states that share its watershed. Roosevelt writes that had recommendations from the Inland Watershed Commission been followed damage would have been averted. If elected president, Roosevelt will commence a comprehensive study of the Mississippi River focused on the River’s economical and ecological usefulness, impacting transportation, housing, food production, and emigration. Roosevelt supports conservation policies and the 14-Foot Waterway Board of Army Engineers plan to construct an efficient, extensive canal and levee system.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-06-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt thanks J. B. Yellowby for his telegram and the story of when Roosevelt met Yellowby at Governor Edmond Favor Noel’s house.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-05-31

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Frank Harper encloses a letter from an unnamed Mississippi man and suggests that something can be done through him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-03-18

Creator(s)

Harper, Frank, 1882-1971

Theodore Roosevelt wishes he could have helped Senator Percy in some real and tangible way. Many gentlemen from across the country have spoken well of Percy and are disappointed about his defeat. Roosevelt prefers hunting elephants over ducks because they are easier to hit.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-14

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt regrets having to reject Clifford I. Michael’s invitation to bear hunt. He has recently rejected two other bear hunting invitations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-09-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Theodore Roosevelt assures John Milliken Parker that he holds Mississippi Senator LeRoy Percy in high regard and will not mention him by name or office in any way that could be misconstrued as negative. James Kimble Vardaman is stirring up trouble in The Issue, and Roosevelt feels contempt for him. He asks Parker to assure Percy of his support.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-07

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919