Slavery

Three biographies–of Holt Collier, Theodore Roosevelt, and Gifford Pinchot–come under scrutiny in the “Reviews” section along with a play and documentary about Roosevelt. Tweed Roosevelt finds the biography of Holt Collier, who led Theodore Roosevelt’s famous 1902 bear hunt, notable for its descriptions of slavery in antebellum Mississippi, but he finds its coverage of Roosevelt flawed. Gregory A. Wynn recommends Kathleen Dalton’s biography Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life for its coverage of Roosevelt’s life after the presidency, its recognition of the important influence women had on his life, and for making Roosevelt “a hero for liberals.” The section also contains an excerpt of a review of Dalton’s work from Kirkus Reviews. 

Gary A. Clinton admires Laurence Luckinbill’s play Teddy Tonight for capturing the spirit of Roosevelt in his own words, and he finds that it resonates in a nation reeling from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A review of The History Channel’s documentary TR: An American Lion lists the “talking head” historians who appear in the film along with members of the Roosevelt family. The review highlights the negative coverage given Roosevelt’s attitudes on race and imperialism, and it praises the actors who provide the film’s narration and voice of Roosevelt. The section concludes with excerpts from four positive reviews of Char Miller’s biography of Gifford Pinchot.

In an essay written shortly before his death in October 2002, historian Stephen E. Ambrose compares and contrasts Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, and he discusses the most important issues faced by each president as well as the lasting legacies of each. Ambrose highlights Jefferson’s writing of the Declaration of Independence, his promotion of religious toleration, and his expansion of the nation, and he asserts that Jefferson failed to adequately deal with the problem of slavery and the treatment of Native Americans. Ambrose writes that Roosevelt made his mark foremost with conservation, but that he also dealt with the need to reform the military and the inequalities brought about by industrialization. Ambrose notes that Roosevelt, more than any other president, made a distinction between right and wrong. 

Photographs of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Ambrose, and Roosevelt supplement the text. 

In response to recent criticism of a speech he gave, William H. Fleming submits two letters from former Governor of Georgia Allen D. Candler and former Supreme Court Justice Henry Billings Brown, in which the two distinguished figures support his views.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-17

The article states that Richard Robert Wright has sent Theodore Roosevelt an invitation to address the ex-slaves of Georgia during the colored state fair in Macon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-09

Using Biblical parallels, George U. Young discusses the experiment of democratic government as a progressive expression of the minorities’ desires. He especially highlights the importance of having leaders who endeavor to stay on paths of “virtue and manliness.” He believes the Arizona Constitution is the most prominent expression of this experiment.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-14

Justice Norcross outlines the history of Nevada, starting with Secretary of War Charles A. Dana’s account of President Abraham Lincoln’s fight to make it a state so that it could support a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. Norcross goes on to describe the rich mineral resources of the state, its contributions to the country, and the current troubles it faces, especially regarding transportation and railroad rates.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-11

On the left side of the cartoon, President Abraham Lincoln takes off the shackles of an African American man and holds the “Declaration of Independence.” On the right side, President Roosevelt gestures to the “U.S. Govt Printing” office to a man who is kneeling at his feet. Roosevelt holds a portion of one of his letters that reads, “In the employment and dismissal of men in the government service I can no more recognize the fact that a man does or does not belong to a union as being for or against him than I can recognize the fact he is a Protestant or Catholic, a Jew or a Gentile, as being for or against him.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11

Representative McKinney argues to the Tennessee Constitutional Convention of 1834 that free black people are worse off than slaves because they neither have social and political equality with white people, nor have any sort of social safety net or people to care for them. He alleges that abolishing slavery in Tennessee would simply result in the slaves being taken out of Tennessee to other Southern states where they would still be enslaved and would be in worse conditions than if they had stayed in Tennessee. If, on the other hand, they contrived a law to free slaves and make sure they stayed in Tennessee to be freed, McKinney sees a world where the now-free black people would rise up to free slaves in other states by violent force. McKinney prefers instead to work towards ending slavery by returning black people to Africa.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1834

Sheet music for “Three More John Browns” written by William Cosgrove. The lyrics compare the activities of labor movements with John Brown’s actions against slavery. A portion of the proceeds will go to support the wives of Big Bill Haywood, George A. Pettibone, and Charles H. Moyer.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907

Theodore Roosevelt describes what it means to be a good citizen by drawing on the lessons of the American Civil War. Roosevelt closes by praising the army in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-08-28

In a theatrical production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson stands over Simon Legree, whom he has knocked to the stage with one punch. Caption: Uncle Tom (to Simon Legree) — Did ah heah yo’ say, White Man, dat yo’ done own Me, body an’ soul? Huh?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-06-22

Aboard a ship carrying cotton are several people – a man labeled “McAdoo,” also identified as “St. Clair,” a young girl labeled “Miss Columbia,” also identified as “Little Eva,” the figure of a man with a large coin for a head, labeled “National Currency,” also identified as “Uncle Tom,” and a large man labeled “Wall Street Banking Interests,” also identified as “Slave-driver Haley,” holding a whip labeled “Credit” and the chain labeled “Control” that binds to servitude the “National Currency.” Caption: Little Eva — Oh, Papa, won’t you buy him for me?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

In this article, published in Ladies Home Journal, June 1917, Theodore Roosevelt compares the constitutions put forth during the French Revolution to the constitution developed by the founding fathers of the United States of America. Roosevelt observes that the American constitution succeeded because it did not attempt too much and because the men who wrote it also put it into practice, and they possessed both education and practical knowledge of government. He argues that “the vital element in the success of any plan for social, civic, or political or industrial betterment is the actual application of it in practice, the testing of it by work and by results.” He decries the many programs for social uplift which are written about in pamphlets and other publications but never put into practice. At the end of the article, he asserts that the same principles apply in achieving individual success. That is, one should profit by the advice of others, testing it by putting it into practice.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1917

An Asian, possibly Chinese, soldier offers scissors labeled “Enlightenment” to Uncle Sam so that he can cut off his long braid labeled “Partisan Politics.” The soldier’s own severed braid labeled “Servitude” lies on the ground at his feet.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-01-31

Regis Henri Post sends his impressions of Puerto Rico. He describes Governor Hunt as a “splendid fellow” and believes the administration is a “pretty good lot.” Post would like to be consulted if the Danish West Indies comes under American control. He believes that Charles Hartzell would make an excellent successor to Hunt and has heard that Judge Sulzbacher wants to leave for a job back in the U.S.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-31

Cecil Andrew Lyon claims that Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna’s slave pension bill is an effort to control the vote of the Southern delegation and asks George B. Cortelyou to bring this fact to President Roosevelt’s attention. Lyon also believes that he should make the recommendations for the appointments, claiming he only has the good of the president in mind.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-06

Albert Whyte reports on the state of affairs in Hawaii. He says that the greed of sugar plantation owners has led Hawaii to be “overrun by the scum of creation.” Members of the Planters’ Association lament the lack of desirable labor, but Whyte believes they have not sincerely tried because they cannot get “white labor” as cheaply as workers of other ethnicities. He reports that the labor conditions on the plantations are practically like slavery and extremely degrading.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-11-18

Transcript of a letter in which Thomas Jefferson explains that he supports the abolition of slavery but protests that he is not the one to lead the effort.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1814-08-25