On this day in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a stirring speech to the New York City Republican Club.
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Roosevelt had just won his second reelection, and in this speech, he discussed the country’s current state of race relations and his plan for improving them. In 1905, many white Americans’ attitude of superiority to other races still lingered. Much bitterness still existed between North and South and, in addition, Roosevelt’s tenure in office had seen an influx of Asian immigrants in the West, which contributed to new racial tensions. In his argument for racial equality, Roosevelt used the rising tide raises all ships metaphor, stating that if morality and thrift among the colored men can be raised then those same virtues among whites, already assumed to be more advanced, would rise to an even higher degree. At the same time, he warned that the debasement of the blacks will in the end carry with it [the] debasement of the whites.
Roosevelt’s solution to the race problem in 1905 was to proceed slowly toward social and economic equality. He cautioned against imposing radical changes in government policy and instead suggested a gradual adjustment in the attitudes of whites toward ethnic minorities. He referred to white Americans as the forward race, whose responsibility it was to raise the status of minorities through training the backward race[s] in industrial efficiency, political capacity and domestic morality. Thus, he claimed whites bore the burden of preserving the high civilization wrought out by its forefathers.
While Roosevelt firmly believed in the words of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, his administration took only a passive, long-term approach to improving civil rights. His successors in the 20th century would take the same route–it was not until Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 that government efforts to correct racial bias would be encoded into law.
Attitudes about the Asians have changed significantly over the past hundred years yet attitudes about the Negro’s haven’t.
Wonder why?
FWIW, how many Asians -real ones like Chinese or Japanese- have you ever known that make their living off of welfare and spend their time clamoring for more of it? Then there’s the crime thing to consider as well?
And the same question about the other races in America?
TR is my favorite president (I’m hoping that will change). The one thing he did that I know I don’t like is forced education.
Read Judge Andrew Napolitano’s great book “Theodore and Woodrow – How two American Presidents Destroyed Constitutional Freedom.” That will fix your misguided view of Teddy Roosevelt.
Wip, do you like any of this?
*Theodore Roosevelt was the man who, in 1906, encouraged progressives to promote a federal income tax after it was struck down by the Supreme Court and given up for dead.
* TR was a passionate believer in big government – actually the first president to promote it since the Civil War. He said, “I believe in power…I did greatly broaden the use of executive power…The biggest matters I managed without consultation with anyone, for when a matter is of capital importance, it is well to have it handled by one man only …I don’t think that any harm comes from the concentration of power in one man’s hands.”
*One of TR’s mistakes was anecdotal reasoning. He was quick to form impressions that didn’t accurately represent what was going on. He saw big businesses develop and concluded they must be monopolies. He had the impression that the American economy was swarming with monopolies and that a powerful government was needed to stop them.
*TR’s taking of the Panama Canal Zone, which involved covert support for the crony capitalists backing a Panamanian revolution against Colombia, and of his “Roosevelt Corollary,” which asserted a blank check for American intervention in the western hemisphere wherever “chronic wrongdoing” occurred.
All men are created equal – but that doesn’t mean they have equal abilities, nor equal IQ. Everyone is free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. That doesn’t mean a government handout, or quotas, etc.
Don’t know .I think there’s more differences between some races then most of us are aware of .Especially when some races are in groups sittings. .Blacks change alot when they are around other Blacks . Is it genetics or Culture ?Just an observation.
I have certainly experienced what you just said. There is a black guy at my company who I have know for 20 years. For the most part he is a very good person. Dresses better than needed. Customers (white customers) ask for him by name. All his kids graduated from college. Married a white woman. Clean cut. Talks very well. Etc. A few years ago, at a company picnic, a black couple was in attendance. I watched the two black guys compete playing some kind of lawn game. The both of them devolved right before my eyes. It took me by surprise. I felt like the guy I knew for 20 years had been lying to me the whole time about who is really was. It was weird. Btw, both of these black guys were over 40 and dressed nicely. Weird things man.
Equal before the law is the only equality a government owes its citizens. The notion that ‘God’ made all men equal is a theological concept that cannot be proven. It maybe comforting to believe but there is no evidence in nature to support it. Did not ‘God’ create 3 foot tall proto humans hundreds of thousands of years ago and from these proto humans modern humans evolved.
Those ‘proto humans’ are todays North Korean’s.