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Bulletin of &.he Louia A. Wurren Lincoln l..ibrnry und Museum. Mark E. N~ly, Jr .. Jo:dilor. May, 1980 Mary Jane Hubler, Editorial A~tsiatont. Publh1hed each month by the Number 1707 Lincoln Na&iona1 Uf(lln.suranceCompnny, Fort Wayne, 46801.

A Progressive Admiration: Th eodore Roosevelt and The PtOKressive Era was a great period for American party, a penchant for trying to help the common mao, and a historical writing. The two most learned Presidents since keen inteftst in Abraham Lincoln. Jefferson, and Woodrow Wilson, occupied Roosevelt's view of Uncoln changed wilh time. Before the !he White HouM in !his age of reform. Bolh men were tum of!he century, his admiration of!he Sixteenth President histonans. The historical discipline was becoming more was conventional for a budding Republican politician with a professionalized •very day. With &.be deaths of the Mnse of history. ROO$evelt considered slavery "o grossly contemporary writers who knew Abraham Lincoln anachronistic: and un-American form of evil;' and he personally- William H. Herndon, .lsaac noturally admired the man who ended it.. He hal

men·a names an public uueranees~ He referred always to not the master or America. and he legitamited his radical ..the two greateat statesmen thi.s country bas ever had.'' Ht doctrine by quoting from Lincoln'• first annual message to never smd pubhcly that he preferred the one or the other. Like ConlfTCSS: his friend . Roosevelt was also a great Labor is prior to. and independent of, capital. Capital is admaru of Alexnnder Hamilton, but H81Dilton was for too only the fruitoflabor, nod could never have existed iflabor anti-democratic in political sentiment to be very quotable by had not fust existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and an active politician. Roosevell-t however. professed t.o see a lot deserves much the higher consideration. of Hamiltonian Federnlisim in Lincoln: At the Lincoln birthday bonqutt of the Republican Club of HeiLancoln) seized- half unwittingly- all that was New York in 19ti,Rooseveltspokeon "Abr&ham Lincoln and best and wisest in the tradition of Federalism; he was the Progressive Democracy." He wos no longer Cf:lebrating the true successor of the Federalist leaders; but he grafted on moderate President. Lincoln, who hod mediated between the their syst~m a profound belief that the great heart of the extremists during the Civil War. Now he hailed Lincoln for nation bent for truth, honor, and liberty. meeting "the problems of the present, not by refusing to use Roosevelt despised . He thought "the other methods than thosethothod oolved the problems of the worship of Jefferson a discredit" to his country, and the more post, but by using the new method• nocessary in order that he studied Jefferson, the more profoundly be distTui!ted him. the old principles could be applied to the new needs." This He wae .. the most incapable executive that ever fiHed the progressivism, Roosevelt in&i8ted. mode Lincoln "the real presidential chuar," but he "did thoroughly beheve an the heir of George Washington.'' people, just os Abraham Lincoln did." For n man who Roosevelt still could not mu8Ut ony enthusiasm for detested Jefferson. Lincoln was a crucial link to America'• Thomas Jefferson, who inspired other liberal reformers in libeml tmdilion. The more liberal and reform·mindtd this era. Roosevelt grew. the more interested he became in Lincoln. The founders ofour Government. the men who made the Neither the conservative Hamilton nor the bland Washangton Constitution and who signed the Declaration of could supply that vital impulse. Independence, tended to divide into two groups, those As early as 1885. Roosevelt critized a Supreme Court under Hamilton, who believed in n strong and efficient decision which favored conservative interests by refemng to government. but who distrusted the people; and those Lincoln's critique of the Ored Scott decision. Most often, under Jefferson. who did not believe in a strong or efficient however. it was Lincoln's practicality and moderation which government, but who in a certain sense did trust the people appeuled to Roosevelt. In 1900 he told a correspondent that. - although it was really distrust of them to keep the even though Lincoln was one of the two greatest Americans. government weak. And therefore for decodes we oscillated he hod mode mistakes. Appointing Simon Cameron 08 between the two tendencies. a nd could not develop the Secretary of Wor ond making General Ambrose E. Burnside genuine strength that o democracy should have until commonder of the Army of the Potomac were big mistakes, Abraham Lincoln arose. until he nnd the men with him but t.incoln hod to work with the materials at band to achieve founded the Republican party on the union ofthe two ideas his goals. He could not. for example, accomplish anything by of combining efficient govemmento.l force with genuine ignoring Cameron's innuence in Pennsylvanja ...1( Lincoln ond whole-hearted trust in the people. had not consistently combined the ideal and the practicable," Roosevelt supported increaoingly libeml reform ideas, Roosevelt concluded ...the war for the union would have including the recall of judicial decis•ons. In criticizing the failed. and we would now be split in half a dozen confeder­ Supreme Court. the ex·Preaident lnvoked Lincoln·s acies." denunciation of the Supreme Court of Roger B. Taney and the When. as President of the . Roosevelt faced a Dred Scott decision. Roosevelt repeatedly linked his New serious anthracite coal strike in 1902. he recalled resdin11 Nationalism and his third·party candidocy for the Nicolay and Hay's histOry of the Lincoln administmtion and Presidency on the Progressive ticket with the heritage of took inopiration from their depiction of the Sixteenth Abraham Lincoln. President no o resolute man badgered by contradictory advice All this was too much for the living link to the Sixteenth from extremists on both sides. What Roosevelt liked best Prei!ident, , to swallow. Though he rarely about Lincoln in this period of his life was hi s strong enl(aged in public disputes over the meaning of his father's conception of the Presidential office. Roosevelt hod "a life, Robert, a Taft Republican. felt thut he had to answer definite philo110phy about the Presidency," he told llenry Theodore Roosevelt. The resulting public letterfrom Lincoln's Cabot Lodge in 1908. "I think it should be a very powerful son is a remarkable document. which testifies to the changes oflice. and I think the President should be a very strong mon in the Lincoln family's political belief& over the years. who ust8 without hesitation every pOwer that the position The Government under which my father lived was, as it. is yields." In fact, hecalltd this the "Jackson·Lincoln theory of now. a republic. or representative democrocy, checked by the presidency," and he conlnlsted it with "the Buchanon the Constitution which can be changed by the people, but principle of striving to find some constitutional rea80n for only when acting by methods which compel delibemtion inaction." A1 he neored the end of his second term in t908, and exclude so far as 1)088ible the efftct of passionate and Roosevelt pointed to Washington and Lincoln as strong shon,.sighted impulse. A Government in which the checks Presidents who acted in a disinterested way as the peoplt'a of an established Constitution are actually, or practically Presidents. He still mentioned Washington with Lincoln. but omitted- one in whlch the people oct in a mess directly on Lincoln waa the really important. figure in justifying aU questions and not through their chosen representatives Roosevelt's active conception of the Presidency. He had said - is an unchecked democracy. a form of Government so years earlier that Lincoln uwas the first who showed how a full of danger. as shown by hastory, thnt it has ceased to strong people might have a st.rong government and yet exist except in communities small and concentrated as to remain the freest on earth." space. A New England town meeting may be good, but Willinm lloword Taft was Roosevelt's handpicked s uch a Government in a large City or State, would be successor, but his conception of the Presidential office woe for chaos. different from Roosevelt's. The restless ex·President quickly As I understand it, the essence of Mr. Roosevelt's moved into ahorp opposition to Taft's brand of proposals is that we shall ndopt the Iotter form of Republicanism. Roosevelt's view of Lincoln moved with him Government in place or the existing form. This, in simple steadily to the left. At Ossawatomie, Kansas, in 1910, words, is a proposed revolution, peaceful perhaps, but a Roosevelt declared that property should be the servant and revolution. LINCOLN LORE 3

Robert thought that such a church I would stop and revolution would "surely . .• have an hour's talk with lead to attempted dictator· Hay. We would go over ships." foreign affairs and public business generally, and Robert not only disagreed then I would usually get him politically with the form of to talk to me about Lincoln government he lhought - for as you know. Lincoln Roosevelt was promoting but has always meant more to also believed that Roosevelt me than any other of our was in error in asserting that public men, even Wash· there were Abraham Lincoln ington. texts which supported such That same year, Hay had sent doctrine. "President Lincoln," Roosevelt a ring to wear at his said his son, "wrote many inauguration as President of letters, made rna ny public the United States. addresses and was the author DEAR THEODORE: of many documents. l do not The hair in this ring is know of the existence in any of from the head of President them of a word of censure, or of Lincoln. Dr. Taft cut it off complaint of our Government, the night of the assassi­ or of the methods by which it nation and J got. it from his was carried on." Roosevelt's son - a brief pedigree. proposal for the recall of judi­ Please wear it tomorrow; cial decisions brought a ~pecific you are one of the men who response: most thoroughly under· His ILincoln'sl attitude stand and appreciate toward the Dred Scott Lincoln. decision is urged as in 1 have had your mono· support of the pernicious gram and Lincoln's project for the recall by engraved on the ring. popular vote, of judges and Longas. 0 uitinam. bone of judicial decisions. He dux. ferias Praestes thought it an erroneous Hesperiae decision. but his chief point Yours affectionately in reference to it was not its JOHN HAY error. but that. it indicated a In Roosevelt's Autobiography. scheme. and was a part of it., Prom t Jw IAmM A. Warr..n written in 1913 at the height. of for the nationalization or Lmooln J., brory nnd Mu.~.. um his Progressivism, he recalled human slavery. He never FICUHE 2. Hobert Todd .Lincoln. Hay's gift: suggested a change in our John Hay was one of the government under which the judges who made itshould be most delightful of companions, one of of mostcharmingof rocalled, but said that he would resist it politically by aJJ men of cuJtivation and action. Our views on foreign voting. if in his power. for an act prohibiting slavery in affairs coincided absolutely: but, as was natural enough, Unit.ed States territories, and then endeavor to have the in domestic matters he felt much more conservative than act sustained in a new proceeding, by the same court he did in the days when as a young man he was private reversing itself. secretary to the great radical democratic leader of the '60's, Finally, Robert interpreted the Gettysburg Addross for Abraham Lincoln. ... When 1 was inaugurated on March Roosevelt by asserting that, when Lincoln "prayed (if I may 4. l905. I wore a ring he sent me the evening before, use the word) that 'Government of the people, by the people, containing the hair of Abraham Lincoln. The ring was on for the people. shall not perish from the earth.' he meant. and my finger when t.he Chief Justice administered to me the could only mean, that government under which he lived, a oath of allegiance to the United States; I often ~hereafter representative government of balanced ex«utive,lcgislative told John Hay that when I wore such a ring on such an and judicial parts. and not something entirely different.- an occasion 1 bound myself more than ever to treat the unchecked democracy.'' Constitution. after the manner of Abraham Lincoln, as a The groat irony, if not tragedy. of this misunderstanding document which put human rights above property rights between Robert T. Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt was that when the two conflicted. both men sincerely revered Abraham Lincoln's legacy and Shortly before he gave his address on Lincoln in Hodgenville, that both were quite knowledgeable about him. To be sure, Kentucky, on the hundredth anniversary of Lincoln's birth, Roosevelt said always that Lincoln and Washington were the Roosevelt told his son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., "Lincoln is greatest men our republic had produced. Even when he spoke my great hero, as you know. and I have just put my heart into at the dedication of Gutzon Borglum•s Lincoln statue in this speech." Newark in 1912. Roosevelt complimented the people of Theodore Roosevelt did much to keep Lincoln in the public Newark for commemorating "in fit form one of t.he two eye. As Roosevelt changed over time, so did his image of the greatest statesmen that this country has ever had." It seems Sixteenth President. At first he celebrated the practical as though it. was almost a political effort always t.o mention moderate who injected popularity into the party of strong Lincoln and Washington together. Sectionalism may have government. Later, Roosevelt invoked the image of a radical be-eo strong enough and Lincoln's image partisan enough democrat who kept. t.he country's vital principles alive by still to necessitate paying homage to a Virginia hero as welL inventive applications of them to a changed political Lincoln grew more ·•progressive" over the years in environment. Through it all, Roosevelt's degree of interest. in Roosevelt's view, and he apparently grew progressively more Lincoln grew in intensity. Even though publicly he was important for Roosevelt. In private utterances. Roosevelt careful to tout Lincoln and Washington togetherasAmerica·s seemed less reluctant to mention Lincoln without at the same two greatest heroes, in private he admitted, "For some reason time recalling Washington's memory. Close association with or other be (Lincoln] is to me infinitely lhe most real of the John Hay, who served as Secretary ofState under Roosevelt, dead Presidents." Washington gained only a sort of certainly increased his interest in Lincoln. Arter Hay's death obtigatory fealty from Roosevelt. He never engaged in 1905, Roosevelt told Lyman Abbot: Roosevelt's rhetorical attention as Lincoln did. Theodore John Hay's house was the only house in Washington whero Roosevelt admired Washington as a statue, but he admired I continually stopped. Every Sunday on the way back from Lincoln as a man. 4 LINCOLN LORE CUMULATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY 1979-80 by Mo.ry Jane Hubler

SdK'tiOnll o.ppro,·ed by a Ribliogn..phy Comm1tu-t totlliat[nft of the !ollowinR Hubler, Editorial Assistant. Published each month by me-mbt-n: Or. Kenneth A. Bern~ard , 50 Chatham Road, H:uwieh Cenm. MaaB.: the/Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Fort Wayne, Arnold Cote., m Ne• ' Hyde P~trk Rd., Gardt.n City, N. 'I'.; Carl Haverlin, 8619 Loui8e A\'tnue, Norlhridae. C.(llifomin;JamellT. Hickey, lllinoit~ State HtiC.Orieal lnctiana 46801./Number 1697, July 1979 to Number 1702, Ubnlry, Old Stau Capitol, $pringfield. Hlinoi~~; to:. a. {Petel l.ong, 607 S. 15 th St., December 1979. Lantn.ie. Wyomintr. Ralph 0. Newman. 175 E fXlaW11re Plnce, 5112, Chkago, Fold;•r, pi* per, II" x Sv,•,.fpp., illu.i. Nu.rnberl69'7, The ~brnh~:tm lincoln AMOCi· llllnoall; Hon. Fred SehwengeJ. 200 Maryland A'-•tnu.e. N.E.. Wathini(lon, O.C.: Dr. ation,July l9i'9; Numbe-r 1698, Jack Tar And Abe Lincoln: HowTheSiliiOryVot.ed Wl*yne C. Temple. I 121 S.

OwighVSteward/ William Morrow And Company, Inc./New Pamphl~. nexible board•. 9 IS/16" X 71/<1", 99-ll9 pp.. itltlt. • prk~. 254'. York 1979 [Copyright !979 by Barbara Steward and Dwight Steward. All rights reserved. First edition.] LINCOLN NATIONAL LIFE ft.c:,ok, cloch, 8'h" x 5W". 251 CH pp .. price-. S8.9S. iNSURANCE COMPANY (1980)-4 A Guide to/ Starting a/ Lincoln Library/ (Caption title)/ LOUIS A. WARREN LINCOLN LIBRARY [Published in (1980) by the Lincoln National Life Insurance ANO MUSEUM, THE 1979-27 Company, Fort Wayne, India na 46801.) Lincoln Lore/ Bulletin of the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Pamphlt-t. popeT, 6 3116" x 3 5/16". 021 pp .• eo'ored illu•tr111tlun• (one on anaide Library and Museum. Mark E. Neely, Jr., Editor./Mary Jane bade eover&. Jo'orm 16426.