Representative government and representation

Letter from George von Lengerke Meyer to Theodore Roosevelt

George von Lengerke Meyer writes to President Roosevelt about troubles in Russia, including the mutiny of the battleship Potemkin and marines in Libau who rebelled. Meyer notes that as soon as Czar Nicholas II of Russia makes a move in the right direction he is countered with obstacles in the press or in bureaucracy. He is “surrounded by men who are not in sympathy with needed reform.” Meyer feels education, freedom of the press, and a representative government will raise standards for citizenship.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-01

Creator(s)

Meyer, George von Lengerke, 1858-1918

Note and comment

Frank Arthur Putnam writes a poem that depicts the American Revolution and the Civil War and states the time has come to rise against today’s despots, which are the supremely wealthy. Putnam calls for a peaceful revolution that will change the United States from representative government to full democracy and offers solutions for how to accomplish this task. Ernest McGaffey writes a letter to Putnam that states revolution will not occur in the near future because the people are not suffering enough. McGaffey includes a poem with his letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06

Creator(s)

Putnam, Frank Arthur, 1868-1949

Letter from Ernest Hamlin Abbott to Theodore Roosevelt

Ernest Hamlin Abbott writes to President Roosevelt expressing his frustration with the Congressional attitude toward the Arbitration treaties.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-07

Creator(s)

Abbott, Ernest Hamlin

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Hugh Gordon Miller

Theodore Roosevelt explains his views on the importance of representative democracy to Hugh Gordon Miller. Roosevelt writes that his proposals aim to increase representation, while the proposals of Mr. Barnes and Mr. Wadsworth increase misrepresentation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-21

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Garrott Brown

President Roosevelt saw William Garrott Brown’s letter through Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, and thanks Brown for writing. Roosevelt does not mind people being mistaken about him, so long as it is not on purpose and malicious. One reason Roosevelt had felt indignant at first was because he had read and appreciated Brown’s works, and felt that he was the sort of Southerner that he wanted to represent. Roosevelt would like to meet Brown in person, if it is possible for him to come to Washington, D.C.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-05

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Samuel J. Richards

President Roosevelt appreciated Samuel J. Richards’s letter, and feels that letters like it outweigh attacks made on him by representatives of big business ten times over. Roosevelt wishes to leave office with the feeling that ordinary Americans see him as their representative.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-02

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Fleming

President Roosevelt thanks William H. Fleming for the letter, and informs him that he took the liberty of forwarding it to Secretary of War William H. Taft so that they may discuss the matter. Regarding Fleming’s suggestion, Roosevelt is anxious to do something to help, but is more concerned with not doing anything that may hurt the matter. He discusses the issues surrounding the enforcement of laws and voting rights, with African Americans being prevented from voting, but still contributing to population numbers when determining the number of representatives those states get. Roosevelt does not feel that he can force changes, and has determined that his best course of action is to uphold men of the south who are acting correctly. He muses about inviting several men to Washington, D.C., to discuss the best course of action.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-20

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ernest Hamlin Abbott

President Roosevelt responds to an editorial in the Outlook criticizing a measure related to voting representation. He says it is a great injustice to let white people suppress the votes of black citizens and then fraudulently cast their votes as their own. This results in some states receiving more representatives without representing the entire population. There can be no moral argument for allowing this to go on. Yet moving too quickly risks making a bad situation worse. Roosevelt hopes that the Outlook might emphasize, along with its condemnation of the proposed remedy, that the injustice being practiced by leaders in the South is responsible for inciting those in the North to make legislative proposals such as this.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-16

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Joseph Gurney Cannon

President Roosevelt encloses in a letter to Speaker Cannon a letter he wrote to a Quaker to clarify his attitude towards Quakers. Roosevelt also addresses a recent New York Sun article that criticized his involvement with the laboring class. Roosevelt elaborates that the doors of the White House will “swing open as easily to wageworkers as to capitalists” and that he strives to represent all citizens.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-03

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Booker T. Washington

President Roosevelt thinks that the circular Booker T. Washington enclosed is “designed to do mischief to the Republican party.” Roosevelt points out a number of things that are false, including the account of the “Lily White convention.” Roosevelt also states that it is “preposterous” to support the same Republicans in Louisiana who have “failed to accomplish one thing for the negro in the State.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-08

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Sir Cecil Spring Rice

President Roosevelt gives Cecil Spring Rice his assessment on the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt is not concerned with the emergence of Japan as a world power and does not think that Japan will become more aggressive. Roosevelt is concerned that Russia must be contained, but insists to Spring Rice that the U.S. has no intention of intervening in the war. In a postscript, Roosevelt discusses the differences between Japanese and American culture and diplomacy, and reflects on race and culture.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-06-13

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Andrew Dickson White

President Roosevelt agrees with Andrew Dickson White’s article that the introduction of the English system of “responsible government” to the United States would be the “greatest curse one could imagine.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-30

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Adolph S. Ochs

President Roosevelt responds to Adolph S. Ochs’s letter recommending Oscar S. Straus for appointment to the Hague tribunal. Roosevelt agrees that Straus would be ideal but for the political representation on the tribunal, which would then include three Democrats and one Republican.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-12-28

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Herbert S. Hadley to Theodore Roosevelt

The House of Representatives has passed a bill providing for the basis of representation in Congress according to the 1910 census. The Democratic representatives from Missouri inserted a provision into this bill that gave the duty of redistricting to the state legislatures. Governor Hadley believes that this was done to prevent redistricting through the initiative and referendum which was recently added to the Missouri Constitution. In recent elections, the Republicans have been very successful in Missouri but the Democrats maintain undue influence through gerrymandered districts. Hadley requests Theodore Roosevelt’s help to remove the redistricting by state legislatures from the Senate version of the bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-10

Creator(s)

Hadley, Herbert S. (Herbert Spencer), 1872-1927

Telegram from James Francis Smith to Theodore Roosevelt

Governor-General Smith notifies President Roosevelt of a joint resolution passed by the Philippine Assembly and the Philippine Commission. The resolution signifies the intent of these bodies to carry out their representative duties on behalf of the Filipino people.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-19

Creator(s)

Smith, James Francis, 1859-1928

Letter from George von Lengerke Meyer to Henry Cabot Lodge

Ambassador Meyer tells Senator Lodge that St. Petersburg, Russia, has been perfectly quiet since he arrived, due to extraordinary precautions taken by Governor-General Trepov to put down any troubles. Meyer thinks the disturbances in Warsaw, Poland, were a smaller scale repetition of those in St. Petersburg on January 22, 1905, and he notes that both could have been avoided by an able police. The stories Meyer has heard about corruption in some of the departments in St. Petersburg are astounding. Meyer thinks the ukaz issued by Emperor Nicholas II giving religious liberty to practically all sects except the Jewish people, if honestly and efficiently carried out, will be beneficial to the country. Representatives of Russian zemstvos, local municipalities, met recently at Moscow and blocked out a scheme of representative government. Meyer thinks the idea of a representative government is permeating all classes of society and that reforms are sure to come about, but the Russian government is currently “in a comatose state,” awaiting the result of the naval conflict and the next battle near Harbin, Manchuria.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-06

Creator(s)

Meyer, George von Lengerke, 1858-1918

Letter from Lyman Abbott to Theodore Roosevelt

Lyman Abbott discusses the “race plank in the Republican platform.” He is glad that President Roosevelt agrees with him “as to the inexpediency” of the issue and details his opinions about the subject. Abbott further hopes that “the race issue which that plank raised may be forgotten in this campaign.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-04

Creator(s)

Abbott, Lyman, 1835-1922

Letter from Booker T. Washington to Theodore Roosevelt

Booker T. Washington sends President Roosevelt the population figures for Representative Williams’s congressional district in Mississippi.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-09

Creator(s)

Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915

Theodore Roosevelt’s confession of faith before the Progressive National Convention

This booklet includes Theodore Roosevelt’s speech before the National Convention of the Progressive Party in Chicago, as well as “Thirty-three notable achievements of the Roosevelt Administration” and eight policies “recommended by Mr. Roosevelt.”

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

1912-08-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Albert A. Small

Theodore Roosevelt informs Albert A. Small that he does not endorse primary candidates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-05-04

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919