Read Online The Everything Theodore Roosevelt Book by Arthur G. Sharp - Free Book Online
Authors: Arthur G. Sharp
Tags: United States, General, History, Biography & Autobiography, Americas (North; Central; South; West Indies)
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Republican Party in 1884. He was accused of graft and corruption in the granting of railroad charters in the late 1800s, which earned him nicknames like “The Continental Liar from the State of Maine” and “Slippery Jim.” He won the nomination but lost the election.
A faction pushed for the party to back the Democrat candidate, Grover Cleveland. TR refused their entreaties to join them. As much as he had enjoyed working with Cleveland in New York, he could not break from his party. The incident shook his idealism in the political process.
Disillusionment with Politics
The prescient Curtis had this to say about the young Theodore Roosevelt:
Later the nation will be criticizing or praising him. While respectful to the gray hairs and experience of his elders, none of them can move him an iota from convictions as to men and measures once formed and rooted. He has integrity, courage, fair scholarship, a love for public life, a comfortable amount of money, honorable descent, the good word of the honest. He will not truckle nor cringe, he seems to court opposition to the point of being somewhat pugnacious. His political life will probably be a turbulent one, but he will be a figure, not a figurehead, in future development—or, if not, it will be because he gives up politics altogether .
Curtis was right on all points. Despite his success as an assemblyman, TR grew disillusioned with politics and changed career paths, albeit temporarily. It was another two years before he ran for office again. The choice to step aside was not of his own making.
TR’s decision to take some time off from politics was not due entirely to his experiences in the Legislature or at Chicago. His self-imposed respite was hastened by a personal tragedy: the death of his wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, on February 14, 1884.
QUIZ
4-1 TR admired Alexander Hamilton because they both:
A. lived in New York at one time.
B. believed in a strong central government.
C. enjoyed Beethoven symphonies.
D. fought duels with men named Burr.
4-2 A ward boss in New York City:
A. ran the emergency ward at Bellevue Hospital.
B. was in charge of children at the city’s orphanage.
C. warded off the evil spirits often found at City Hall.
D. gathered votes and handed out patronage positions in the city’s voting districts.
4-3 A “boodle” is a:
A. child’s stocking
B. breed of dog
C. Dutch word for bribe money
D. slang term to describe a proposed law
4-4 Labor unions were strongly in favor of TR during his three terms as a New York state assemblyman:
A. True
B. False
4-5 An assemblyman in the New York Legislature in the 1880s was allowed to vote only for bills that affected his district:
A. True
B. False
4-6 TR represented the Twenty-First District of New York City. Which of the following statements is not true about the district:
A. It was the richest district in New York City.
B. It was called the “brownstone district.”
C. It had a maximum age restriction on elected state representatives.
D. TR was the youngest assemblyman ever elected from the Twenty-First District.
4-7 Samuel Gompers was born in which country:
A. England
B. Ireland
C. United States
D. Hungary
4-8 Tammany Hall was:
A. a political organization.
B. a nightclub singer in New York City.
C. a building where the New York assemblymen met in the 1870s.
D. the mayor of Peekskill, New York, when TR was police commissioner.
ANSWERS
4-1. B
4-2. D
4-3. C: The term was applied often in New York City in the 1800s, most often to the 1884 Board of Aldermen, which was particularly susceptible to bribes.
4-4. True: According to a union report, he voted for twenty important labor issues as an assemblyman.
4-5. False: They could vote on every bill that was presented.
4-6. C: There was no maximum age limit in any district of the city.
4-7. A: Gompers was born in London, England, on January 27, 1850.
4-8. A: The Tammany Society began as a patriotic and charitable organization in New York City in 1789. In
A faction pushed for the party to back the Democrat candidate, Grover Cleveland. TR refused their entreaties to join them. As much as he had enjoyed working with Cleveland in New York, he could not break from his party. The incident shook his idealism in the political process.
Disillusionment with Politics
The prescient Curtis had this to say about the young Theodore Roosevelt:
Later the nation will be criticizing or praising him. While respectful to the gray hairs and experience of his elders, none of them can move him an iota from convictions as to men and measures once formed and rooted. He has integrity, courage, fair scholarship, a love for public life, a comfortable amount of money, honorable descent, the good word of the honest. He will not truckle nor cringe, he seems to court opposition to the point of being somewhat pugnacious. His political life will probably be a turbulent one, but he will be a figure, not a figurehead, in future development—or, if not, it will be because he gives up politics altogether .
Curtis was right on all points. Despite his success as an assemblyman, TR grew disillusioned with politics and changed career paths, albeit temporarily. It was another two years before he ran for office again. The choice to step aside was not of his own making.
TR’s decision to take some time off from politics was not due entirely to his experiences in the Legislature or at Chicago. His self-imposed respite was hastened by a personal tragedy: the death of his wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, on February 14, 1884.
QUIZ
4-1 TR admired Alexander Hamilton because they both:
A. lived in New York at one time.
B. believed in a strong central government.
C. enjoyed Beethoven symphonies.
D. fought duels with men named Burr.
4-2 A ward boss in New York City:
A. ran the emergency ward at Bellevue Hospital.
B. was in charge of children at the city’s orphanage.
C. warded off the evil spirits often found at City Hall.
D. gathered votes and handed out patronage positions in the city’s voting districts.
4-3 A “boodle” is a:
A. child’s stocking
B. breed of dog
C. Dutch word for bribe money
D. slang term to describe a proposed law
4-4 Labor unions were strongly in favor of TR during his three terms as a New York state assemblyman:
A. True
B. False
4-5 An assemblyman in the New York Legislature in the 1880s was allowed to vote only for bills that affected his district:
A. True
B. False
4-6 TR represented the Twenty-First District of New York City. Which of the following statements is not true about the district:
A. It was the richest district in New York City.
B. It was called the “brownstone district.”
C. It had a maximum age restriction on elected state representatives.
D. TR was the youngest assemblyman ever elected from the Twenty-First District.
4-7 Samuel Gompers was born in which country:
A. England
B. Ireland
C. United States
D. Hungary
4-8 Tammany Hall was:
A. a political organization.
B. a nightclub singer in New York City.
C. a building where the New York assemblymen met in the 1870s.
D. the mayor of Peekskill, New York, when TR was police commissioner.
ANSWERS
4-1. B
4-2. D
4-3. C: The term was applied often in New York City in the 1800s, most often to the 1884 Board of Aldermen, which was particularly susceptible to bribes.
4-4. True: According to a union report, he voted for twenty important labor issues as an assemblyman.
4-5. False: They could vote on every bill that was presented.
4-6. C: There was no maximum age limit in any district of the city.
4-7. A: Gompers was born in London, England, on January 27, 1850.
4-8. A: The Tammany Society began as a patriotic and charitable organization in New York City in 1789. In
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