Your TR Source
John R. Carter encloses three articles about President Roosevelt that he believes Roosevelt will find amusing. Arthur Hamilton Lee’s response to Maurice Low’s article will appeal to “fair-minded” people. Carter thanks Roosevelt for his last letter and updates him on his family’s activities over Christmas.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-12
Senator Beveridge writes to follow up on an earlier conversation with President Roosevelt about the constitutionality of the Child Labor Bill. The jurisprudence is unambiguous in demonstrating that Congress may regulate all matters relating to interstate commerce. Beveridge also notes that many initiatives by the states to solve this issue have been ineffective, citing several examples. He has also seen the popular sentiment stirred up by the long campaign against child labor, and believes this bill is an example of good governance.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-22
Paul Paquin is inspired by President Roosevelt’s “courageous application of justice” in the incident with the African American soldiers stationed near Brownsville, Texas. Paquin suggests that the country needs a thorough and unbiased investigation of the “negro problem.” He believes that education has failed to instill a “fixed moral sense” in African Americans, and he is concerned by their drop in productivity over the past forty years. Paquin has hope that African Americans can be made into “useful” citizens.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-03
Chief of Staff Bell writes to President Roosevelt about the difficulty acquiring ships for transport of troops and supplies to Cuba. Ports in the south should anticipate higher traffic of troops and supplies back and forth. Bell asks that Roosevelt speak with governors of southern states, asking them to lift their quarantine of ships returning from Cuba to expedite the process.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-25
Politician and orator William H. Fleming believes President Roosevelt wishes “to do the best thing possible for the whole country, including our Southern white people, and not excluding the negroes.” Many Georgia locals agree with outspoken men like T. W. Hardwick though the South owes no allegiance to the 14th and 15th Amendment. South Carolina politician Coleman Livingston Blease has argued against education for African Americans and called for the university in Orangeburg to be torn down. Fleming asks Roosevelt if the government can make a statement of clarity regarding the amendments to help “check the riotous tendency down here.” Fleming believes that any man not willing to commit to the Constitution and its amendments should be stripped of their seat and discusses counter efforts against the passage of disenfranchisement laws.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-24
John Lowndes McLaurin writes to Judge Pritchard regarding various political strategies and the public opinion of President Roosevelt. McLaurin mentions his hope that the President would form a white party. McLaurin also dismisses the idea of his running as an independent in South Carolina.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-23
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Darling writes to President Roosevelt to explain orders given to transfer civil engineers from a dry dock they were working on in Charleston. Leading citizens and officials in South Carolina protested this decision because they believed it was politically motivated. Darling explains that the transfer was ordered because of tension between the contractors and engineers. Rumors of the contracting company’s political influence were started by subordinates in the company and were exacerbated by a visit from Senator Lodge’s secretary, but Darling finds the rumors to be groundless.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-07
Louis T. Michener writes James Sullivan Clarkson that the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket is popular everywhere except in some financial circles, and that the Republican Party platform is popular except among southern Democrats. The Democrats object to the Republican party addressing the problem of disfranchisement of African Americans in the South.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-25
In a letter to the editor, Edward P. Moses states that the Senate Committee of Education will hear Senator John Houk’s bill providing for the collection, transcription, publication, and distribution of materials relating to Tennessee history on the following Monday. He discusses how many books on history were possible because of manuscript collections.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-23
George R. Koester, who was recently appointed Internal Revenue Collector for South Carolina, recounts how he received the position and defends himself against criticism.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-23
Newspaper article that uses George R. Koester’s own articles about three lynchings in Gaston, South Carolina, to cast doubt on Koester’s claims that he did not participate in lynchings.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-11-04
President Roosevelt remarks on the colonial history of North Carolina and North Carolinians. He emphasizes the warm reception he received in North Carolina and by representatives of North Carolina while in South Carolina. He mentions reviewing the North Carolina National Guard at the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition, which he refers to as the “Charleston Exposition.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-04-10
Print shows a southern vigilante holding a rope with a noose and a “Sheriff” holding a paper that states “2000 dollars must be paid by the county, for each lynching. Law of South Carolina.” An African American man cowers behind the sheriff. A large building labeled “Courthouse” is in the background. Caption: If motives of humanity and justice won’t stop them, may be this will.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-06-14
The marked article in the clipping is about national government assistance for road construction in South Carolina. The lead sentence reads, “Next to Panama and the canals, good roads appear to be the leading question before Congress this winter.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-25
Senator McLaurin has been “read out” of the Democratic Party after Democratic senators unanimously decided that McLaurin’s actions no longer entitled him to be called a Democrat. McLaurin will not be included in Democratic caucus meetings and will not be appointed to any committees.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-12
According to the records of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General, there is nothing that can be used to make a statement regarding President Roosevelt and the appointment of people of color to postmaster positions. Roosevelt has never made an original appointment of a minority postmaster, as Thomas S. Harris, Charles R. Jackson, Louis P. Piernas, and Thomas I. Keys were all reappointments. Roosevelt has appointed William Flemming and William Hazard, both white men, to succeed postmasters of color.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-11
William Miles Hazzard provides his opinions regarding solutions to the “negro problem” and party politics in South Carolina and other southern states. He believes that southern states could be carried for the Republican Party if they could “conceive some plan to eliminate the negro from politics.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-13
At the request of Secretary of War Elihu Root, Merritt O. Chance sends information regarding the appointments and promotions of “colored men” to positions in the Armed Forces and the War Department.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-10
At President Roosevelt’s request, Secretary of the Treasury Shaw sends information regarding the appointment of “colored men” at the Treasury Department.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-30
Joseph Bucklin Bishop sends President Roosevelt an enclosure regarding the recent murder of Narciso Gener Gonzales, a newspaper editor in South Carolina whose paper, The State, called for an end to lynching, among other progressive causes. Bishop feels this incident will be of great service to Roosevelt’s position on African American affairs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-20