Historic

Theodore Roosevelt's Third State of the Union Address

Since 1903

The 1903 State of the Union Address was submitted on Monday, December 7, 1903, by the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, to both houses of the 58th United States Congress. Concerning immigration to the United States, Roosevelt commented, "We can not have too much immigration of the right kind, and we should have none at all of the wrong kind." Discussing the problem of public corruption, Roosevelt wrote, "There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law." Roosevelt described the October 1903 resolution of the Alaska boundary dispute as "satisfactory in every way." Referring approvingly to the submission of the issues of the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903 to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Roosevelt wrote, "There seems good ground for the belief that there has been a real growth among the civilized nations of a sentiment which will permit a gradual substitution of other methods than the method of war in the settlement of disputes." Of the District of Alaska, Roosevelt wrote, "Alaska is situated in the far north; but so are Norway and Sweden and Finland; and Alaska can prosper and play its part in the New World just as those nations have prospered and played their parts in the Old World." Roosevelt also stated, "I recommend that an appropriation be made for building light-houses in Hawaii, and taking possession of those already built.

Source: Wikipedia / Wikidata