Morgan, John Tyler, 1824-1907

Several items from the editorial page of the Commercial Advertiser are highlighted. They include comments on the current gridlock in the Senate, the Michigan Republican State Convention, which endorsed President Roosevelt’s policies, and a criticism of Secretary of War Elihu Root’s response to new information about an insurgency in the Philippines. An article from the Chattanooga Times criticizes the New Orleans Picayune’s criticism of Roosevelt’s social equality platform.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-07

Creator(s)

Unknown

Several articles from the Commercial Advertiser are highlighted. They discuss the “terrible” precedent that President Roosevelt set by inviting the African American educator Booker T. Washington to dinner, and criticize Congress for its conduct during the most recent legislative session.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-04

Creator(s)

Unknown

Theodore Roosevelt, as Hercules, wears a lion skin and holds a sword. He faces a nine-headed hydra, with each head identified as that of a senator. The hydra’s tail is labeled “U.S. Senate.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-04-05

Seven men dressed as Roman senators are labeled “T.C. Tillman, Lodge, Stewart, Morgan, Quay, [and] Hoar.” George F. Hoar is speaking to the others while pointing at a diminutive President Roosevelt standing in their midst. Caption: Senator Hoar’s Decree–Hereafter, when he wants to talk, let him ask us and say “please.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-02-25

The Democratic Party platform is in flames with a donkey labeled “Democratic Party” rising from the flames as the mythological phoenix. Eleven Democratic Party members have gathered around the fire to supplicate the supernatural being. Caption: The Democratic Phoenix. — If they’d just keep that Bryan boy from playing around me with matches I wouldn’t have to do this stunt every four years.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-01-02

President Roosevelt is shown pushing an extra session of Congress down the throat of Senator Morgan of Alabama who is standing on the Panama Canal bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-02

Creator(s)

Bush, Charles Green, 1842-1909

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

President Roosevelt argues to Senator Millard that the proposed bill would be a disaster for the construction of the Panama Canal. Believing that the Isthmian Canal Commission will be too large, Roosevelt asserts that “no commission at all” would be better than Senator John Tyler Morgan’s proposal.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-01

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt complains to Lyman Abbott about a number of matters that are being affected by partisanship. In particular, he is upset about partisan opposition to two of his nominations: Franklin K. Lane to the Interstate Commerce Commission and Joseph Bucklin Bishop as Secretary of the Isthmian Canal Commission. He is also frustrated that Democratic Senators are blocking the ratification of the Santo Domingo treaty “on mere partisan grounds,” and would normally favor the treaty if he were not a Republican president.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-12-14

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

In response to a “extraordinary statement” in William Randolph Hearst’s paper, President Roosevelt tells Joseph Bucklin Bishop that although he is fond of his uncle Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, they rarely agree on politics. Roosevelt did not make a statement that he did not intend to accept the nomination for a third term as president without thinking it over, and he stands by his decision even though it is causing him trouble in the Senate. Roosevelt complains about the inability of the Senate to ratify his San Domingan treaty. Efforts from both Democratic Senators and Republicans Eugene Hale and John C. Spooner derailed the treaty.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-23

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt informs Senator Platt that he has instructed Secretary of State John Hay to “endeavor to procure” an amendment to Article 2 of the Bering Sea Tribunal of Arbitration, per the request of several senators. Roosevelt goes on to point out that the original text of the treaty was approved in advance by the members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations prior to to negotiation, and that a joint resolution by the House and Senate requested Roosevelt to negotiate and conclude the treaty governing the hunting of fur seals with Great Britain.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-23

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt updates Ernest Hamlin Abbott on changes in the arbitration treaties and instructs him to show the letter to his father, Lyman Abbott. Roosevelt remains of the opinion that if an amendment like the one he mentions is added to the treaty he should just withdraw the treaty, as it would be a sham.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt corrects and suggests changes to Lyman Abbott’s letter about which senators are holding the treaties up in committee.  

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-31

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt shares with Lyman Abbott how frustrated he is with the Democratic senators who are holding up the treaties, especially Senator Augustus Octavius Bacon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-28

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

After consulting the Alabama senators, President Roosevelt has decided to appoint G. B. Deans as Marshal for the Southern District of Alabama.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-15

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Henry White received President Roosevelt’s letter but has waited until reaching Rome to answer it. White’s views on disarmament were sent in a confidential letter through the British Embassy’s dispatch bag. He has omitted any reference to Roosevelt’s observations about the German emperor although he has borrowed some of Roosevelt’s phraseology. White writes that Roosevelt’s action in Cuba was met with “universal admiration.” White saw the Chilean minister yesterday who said that Elihu Root’s visit there brought great comfort and was epoch making. Other topics in the letter include the German and Jesuit influence in the Vatican and the reputation of the emperor as an influencer, and White’s visit with the King of Italy and their discussion of new literacy-based immigration laws.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-20

Creator(s)

White, Henry, 1850-1927

Shelby M. Cullom informs Theodore Roosevelt that the Committe on Foreign Relations will report the Algeciras Treaty to the Senate on December 5 and voting for ratification will take place on December 12. Cullom also reports that the Committee ratified the convention providing for an International Institute of Agriculture.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-27

Creator(s)

Cullom, Shelby M. (Shelby Moore), 1829-1914

Before President Roosevelt gives his planned “The Man with the Muckrake” speech, Frank Putnam of National Magazine asks him to read an article which he believes demonstrates that there is genuine, widespread resentment about economic oppression throughout the country. Putnam admires Roosevelt and believes that he could play a role in the “Third Revolution,” which will free people from “industrial bondage.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-11

Creator(s)

Putnam, Frank Arthur, 1868-1949

President Roosevelt rails against the United States Senate generally and six senators individually in a letter to Joseph Bucklin Bishop. Roosevelt expresses his frustration with the Senate for failing to ratify a treaty with the Dominican Republic. Roosevelt aims his wrath equally at three Democratic and three Republican senators for desiring to play a part in foreign affairs and then neglecting to shoulder their responsibilities.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1905-03-23

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

John M. Thompson examines the domestic political dimensions of the United States’ efforts to secure a canal zone in Central America. Thompson identifies those who favored canal routes in Nicaragua or Panama, and he looks closely at the Congressional reaction to the revolt in Panama and the United States’ quick recognition of the new nation. Thompson lays out the opposition to the subsequent canal treaty from Democrats and anti-imperialists, and he details the publicity campaign waged by President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration to justify its course of action and win Senate approval of the treaty. Thompson highlights the role of Southern Democrats who supported the treaty because they saw the canal as aiding their region’s economy and because Democrats did not want to be seen as opposing a popular policy of constructing a canal. Thompson concludes his article by examining the various aspects of domestic politics that Roosevelt had to consider when making foreign policy decisions. 

Ten photographs and five political cartoons populate the article.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal