Monarchy

A Russian man stands on a rowboat, using an axe labeled “Nat’l Assembly” to battle an octopus labeled “Bureaucracy.” The octopus wears a crown and royal robe, and its tentacles are labeled “Graft, Exile, Oppressive Taxation, Despotism, Religious Intolerance, Cossackism, Incompetence, [and] Greed.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

In cartoonist J. S. Pughe’s centerspread Puck cartoon, the embattled man is beset by many identified dangers, all parts of the same autocratic monster. The caption calls him a Slav, where it might have called him a Russian just as easily; and the crown and “Cossack” reference suggest that Russia, and not the Slavic lands and peoples, were the object of attention.

President Roosevelt appreciates Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph’s sympathy regarding his recent carriage accident.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-09-05

Theodore Roosevelt looks forward to receiving Mrs. Fremont Older’s novel, but it will not be possible for him to write about it. He will gladly pass it along to the regular literary critic of The Outlook though. Regarding Older’s statement about Thomas Jefferson, Roosevelt repeats his previous statement that popular sentiment as a whole at that time was against monarchy, and its revival was due to the ineffeciency of people like Jefferson in government and to the “violent excesses” of men like the French revolutionaries.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-12

President Roosevelt tells Dr. Brown that it is not possible for him as President, and probably not appropriate for Congress, to invite any king to visit the United States. Roosevelt was shocked to read in Brown’s article in The Outlook of the brutality of English officers in India. Roosevelt closes by objecting to Brown’s remark that American government representatives in the East are of an “unsatisfactory character.” He asks Brown to provide facts on which he bases such a statement.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-20

President Roosevelt thanks Emperor Franz Joseph I for the “very handsome volumes” he sent through Ambassador Ladislaus Hengelmüller von Hengervár. Roosevelt praises the emperor’s success in governing Bosnia and Hercegovina, and believes the entire Balkan peninsula would be “thrice-fortunate” if under his rule for many years.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-15

Mary Ella Wiswell believes that the United States needs a king, and would like Theodore Roosevelt to be that king. She disparages President William H. Taft’s policies and urges Roosevelt to accept the presidential nomination in 1912 and believes that he will be proclaimed king by all the people.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-14

Charles F. Ilkenhaus suggests that, in order to deal with the problems of trusts and corporations on one hand and labor on the other, the United States should become a monarchy with Theodore Roosevelt as its first king. He feels that a constitution modeled on England’s would be the best way to accomplish this, and believes Roosevelt is especially well suited to carrying out this change because of his relationship with “those western warriors and gun men who would be needed to accomplish the needed change.” Ilkenhaus thinks that Roosevelt’s popularity would rally significant support for this, and places himself at Roosevelt’s disposal.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-06

Maurice Francis Egan, American minister to Denmark, relays a conversation with Prince Valdemar of Denmark. Prince Valdemar is distressed at the rule of the farmers in Denmark, which he has no control over as a prince. Prince Valdemar is convinced that President Roosevelt is “the one man” who understands moral and social problems and desires to talk to him.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-21

Albert Apponyi, Minister of Religion and Education in Hungary, addresses President Roosevelt’s concerns that there is trouble brewing in the Austro-Hungarian Empire where he would wish for peace. Apponyi believes that there is discord between the Emperor and the Hungarian nation because the Austrian emperor knows nothing of his subjects, and neither he nor his ministers will take the time to learn of the needs and feelings of the Hungarian people. Apponyi encourages Roosevelt to set an example to the rest of Europe, as a free democracy, to come and see Hungary, to learn of its people and problems, to bring an impartial perspective to the emperor, who is surrounded by anti-Hungarian officials. He ends the letter by inviting Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice Longworth, and her husband to visit Hungary on their trip through Europe.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-06

In an informal letter, Ambassador Collier describes the atmosphere in Spain in regard to the new king and the current ministries. He also describes how he is getting along as the new Ambassador in Spain.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-31

Albert William Macy describes the key role that Samuel Adams played in bringing on the American Revolution. Adams was a key correspondent, linking men from all of the colonies together and uniting them in a common purpose. Adams should be considered the “Father of the Revolution.” A handwritten note on the article underlines the name of Sir Francis Bernard, the English governor of Massachusetts colony, and adds “Good. I am no Tory.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-14

President Roosevelt is pleased that Victor Emmanuel III should receive The Winning of the West, but thinks that the “unfortunate monarch certainly won’t read it!”

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1902-04-12

William Pember Reeves comments on the delay and rescheduling of Edward VII’s original coronation, which was planned for June 1902.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-08-09