Political questions and judicial power

Frank Harper sends instructions to Senator Joseph Dixon regarding logistics for Theodore Roosevelt’s speeches and transportation during his planned campaign tour. Roosevelt dictated a conversation about the ineffectiveness of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law as enacted by President William Howard Taft’s administration. Roosevelt also takes issue with Taft’s inaction over the tariff and wants a commission established to revise it so that it benefits farmers and laborers. He believes in the people’s right to initiative and referendum, not as a replacement for representative government but as a means of ensuring it. President Taft feels that when the people elected him, “their voice was next to the voice of God,” but that in regard to passing judgment on their own laws they are not “entitled to rule.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-03

Creator(s)

Harper, Frank, 1882-1971

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary encloses a speech that Roosevelt delivered in St. Louis to a large group of businessmen, lawyers, and judges. The speech should help William L. Raymond explain to people Roosevelt’s reasoning for supporting review by the public of judicial decisions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-05-25

Creator(s)

Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary suggests that John E. Burkheimer look to The Outlook for Roosevelt’s thoughts on the recall of judges and judicial decisions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-05-23

Creator(s)

Secretary of Theodore Roosevelt

Thomas Goode Jones requests that President Roosevelt reads Jones’s paper to the Alabama Bar Association regarding the power of the United States to punish mobs who take prisoners from officers of justice and murder them to prevent trial at court.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-08

Creator(s)

Jones, Thomas Goode, 1844-1914