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President Roosevelt relays to Senator Lodge that the objection to Judge William B. Sheppard is his successful handling of peonage cases. Roosevelt believes the charges against Sheppard by Horatio Bisbee are not serious, and occurred several years ago.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-19
William H. Moody is sending President Roosevelt a copy of the note from Justice John Marshall Harlan to the Solicitor General dealing with the conclusion of the peonage cases.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-17
President Roosevelt sent Albert Bushnell Hart’s letter to Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte. Roosevelt has been uneasy about Special Assistant District Attorney Mary Grace Quackenbos. While she has a “genuine desire” to eradicate wrong, she has an “unsoundness of judgment that is both hysterical and sentimental.” The “outrages” perpetrated at southern plantations would warrant action if they took place elsewhere, but in the South they are part of life, and certain laws cannot be enforced.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-13
President Roosevelt thanks Dr. Abbott for making clear his point of view. As is often the case when people share a common end while differing over the means, their differences seem to be in terminology more than substance. Roosevelt agrees with Abbott’s policy and is responding to revelations of peonage in Mississippi, working through a district attorney and marshal who are “decent democrats.” Roosevelt has no idea how the election results will turn out, and though he believes he and his principles will triumph, he would not be ungrateful to the American public if he were to lose.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-08
President Roosevelt understands that the goal of Judge Jones is to prevent a form of slavery through peonage and will follow his opinion in the matter. Roosevelt would like Jones to publish his views on why action is necessary.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-31
Judge Speer encloses a list of United States judges who will likely be appointed by Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan. He explains to President Roosevelt the ramifications of having Bryan potentially nominating a large number of justices to federal courts at various levels. The Bryan judges would likely jeopardize peonage laws and the Employers Liability Act, among other things. Democrat-appointed judges would shift jurisprudence to favor states’ rights over federal authority.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-26
Attorney General Bonaparte will not be able to attend the cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday. Bonaparte reiterates that in his annual report he did not make any suggestions of anti-trust or interstate commerce law changes outside a few minor procedural changes and believes it would be outside the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice to do so. Bonaparte has also asked Mary Grace Quackenbos to prepare a report on her charges of peonage against Orlando B. Crittenden to be delivered to the Italian government.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-27
Attorney General Bonaparte returns a speech with minor suggestions to President Roosevelt, and discusses his strategy in finding a case in which the government could convict and sentence the head of an industrial trust. In North Carolina, Roosevelt could not have altered the dispute between Federal and State authorities in the railroad rate case. Bonaparte passes along some clippings related to the case against Senator William Edgar Borah of Idaho. Bonaparte relates the progress in vetting William B. Sheppard for a judgeship in Florida. In New Mexico, Bonaparte says he has examined the charges against New Mexico District Attorney William H. H. Llewellyn, and believes he must be removed from office. Bonaparte will be in Oyster Bay on Friday.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-05
On behalf of the Executive Committee of the Canal Commission, Secretary of War Taft requests that Attorney General Moody formulate rules and restrictions regarding the employment of Asian laborers in the Canal Zone. Taft is concerned that the practice of contract labor does not “bring about a condition of peonage under the authority of the United States.” Taft has already advised the Committee to ignore political considerations in the hiring of Asian laborers because it is obvious that without those laborers work on the Canal would be delayed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-15
Secretary of War Taft forwards a letter from Van Leer Polk on the suitability of using Chinese labor to build the Panama Canal. Taft adds that it is difficult to avoid peonage in Chinese labor contracts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-07
In a letter to James Ford Rhodes, President Roosevelt asserts that the South was in the wrong on every issue in the American Civil War, and argues for the buildup of the Navy to avert war. Roosevelt also believes that there exists a serious movement to reestablish slavery in the Southern states in the form of peonage, and he criticizes various politicians and intellectuals in the North for either supporting the South or being ineffective in their criticism of it.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1904-11-29
Judge Speer encloses a copy of a legal opinion he has recently issued addressing the constitutionality of U.S. statutes against peonage. If the statutes already enacted are not upheld by the Supreme Court, Speer believes new legislation is necessary, because many more people are affected than he had previously thought.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-09
U.S. Marshal Edgar S. Wilson protests to President Roosevelt on the possible appointment of Captain T. G. Dabney to the Mississippi River Commission. Wilson also reports that he has identified a possible case of peonage and will pursue it aggressively.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-04
Thomas Goode Jones argues that race conflicts have not increased since President Roosevelt took office and will continue no matter who is president. Politicians simply took advantage of Roosevelt’s support for African Americans and his interactions with William Demos Crum and Booker T. Washington. Jones would like to quote from Roosevelt’s letter regarding the peonage cases.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-03
Newspaper article supporting the guilty verdicts in the Alabama peonage cases.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-26
Collection of newspaper articles criticizing Alabama Secretary of State Heflin for his attacks on Judge Jones. Heflin found fault with Judge Jones’s instructions to the jury in the Turner peonage case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-26
The federal jury trying the peonage case found Robert N. Franklin guilty. Afterwards, Judge Jones spoke eloquently on the public controversy regarding his attitude in the peonage cases.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-26
Samuel Phillips Verner praises Theodore Roosevelt for his selection of Thomas Goode Jones as a Federal Judge in Alabama. He approves of Jones’ decisions in the peonage cases in Montgomery.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-14
Acting Attorney General Purdy summarizes recent events in the Alabama peonage cases.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-11
Newspaper article denouncing southerners for doing nothing about recently revealed African American peonage in Alabama. The article calls for the whole nation to do its duty and prevent these abuses.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06