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University of Michigan William L. Clements Library

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Joseph R. Hawley Correspondence, March 30, 1898-April 18, 1898.

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Containers:
Box 1, Folder 32
Abstract:
Includes letters incoming to Sen. Joseph R. Hawley of Connecticut (who opposed the buildup to war) during the buildup to war with Spain from constituents and some New Yorkers. One letter, penned by an attorney Roger Welles out of Hartford (whose son Rod was entering command of the USS Tecumseh), believes that war against Spain is divinely ordained, and lamenting that no General Jackson or Grant would step up to lead the attack. Other letters, from John Nickolson of the Loyal Legion, the importer Edward Frisbie, and the estate and insurance broker Theodore E. Packer, express gratitude to Hawley for his opposition to the war; a letter from J. Cheney on March 30th goes further and says, "we do not have much in common with those yellow skinned devils on either side down in Cuba . . . Stand firm and let the heathen rage." The lawyer Albert Walker argues that war with Spain contravened the Monroe Doctrine, which held that the Doctrine only applied American protection to territories not under European control in 1823. Thomas Sims, the pastor of the Congregationalist church attended by Roger Welles, was less pro-war than Welles was--Welles took one of Sims's sermons as an argument to support the war, but Sims was content to leave the matter to McKinley (who still opposed the war at this time). USS Maine, U.S. Senate, William McKinley, pacifism, religion and the Spanish-American War. Partial geographical list: Hartford (Conn.), Washington (D.C.), South Manchester (Conn.), Mystic (Conn.), Philadelphia (Pa.), Norwich (Conn.), Willimantic (Conn.), New York.
Extent:
11 items

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