William Howard Taft Quotes
an infernal ass
Taft had been the Governor General of the Philippines and was greatly loved for his demeanor and policies including those that stimulated growth and economic development, However, Brandegee and some others were so protectionist that they wanted to keep the Filipinos out of the American domestic market. See {640518}.
William Howard Taft, 1857-1930, 27th President of the United States (Republican, OH), Characterization of Senator Frank B. Brandegee, Letter, January 29, 1906
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
It was a classic economic protectionist practice to for an imperial nation to sell manufactured goods to its colonies, but not to allow the colonies to sell high labor value goods back to the mother country. The early American colonies were victims of this, and Brandgee was the leader of the protectionist wing of the Republican party. See {640519} for William Howard Taft’s opinion of him.
At the time, most Muslims and Jews of Andalusia lived together very amicably. Ibn Hazm was a brilliant scholar of philosophy, law, theology, and science and the leading Islamic intellectual of Andalusia. However, he had one major rival, a Jew named Samuel ibn Naghrela who was just as brilliant a scholar, but also one of the best military leaders, and physicians of the kingdom. (See {623786} & {623774}) Ibn Hazm was very jealous and tried to turn the Muslim Berber King Habbus al-Muzaffar against ibn Naghrela and other Jews. The king however made Samuel ibn Naghrela his hajib (prime minister / vizier) of Grenada in 1037. He was also made military commander and excelled at both areas while continuing his scholarly activity. Samuel ibn Naghrela held his political and military positions for 17 years and both these intellectuals wrote brilliant books in several field which added to the reputation of this era as the Golden Age of Islamic Spain.
The nation was engaged in a great debate over the ratification of The Constitution that had been drafted the previous year. Virginia was one of the 4 major states. Madison and Jefferson were leaders of the pro-ratification forces in Virginia. However the leader of the anti ratification forces was Patrick Henry and he seemed to be winning. Jefferson was writing about further refinement of their efforts. His statement in this letter was in jest, but there was a little bit of wishful thinking.
That particular Congress was the worst in American history in terms of passing legislation. Mainly there was philosophical gridlock between conservatives and liberals and worse between Tea Party Conservatives and mainstream conservatives. The Iraqi legislature was gridlocked religiously between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
Van Cleave was rabidly opposed to any anti-trust government “interference” with business and he was also virulently opposed to labor unions. See {638616}, {638615}, {638614}, and {638613}.
- Born: September 15, 1857
- Died: March 8, 1930
- Nationality: American
- Profession: President
William Howard Taft was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected president in 1908, the chosen successor of Theodore Roosevelt, but was defeated for reelection by Woodrow Wilson in 1912 after Roosevelt split the Republican vote by running as a third-party candidate. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft to be chief justice, a position he held until a month before his death.
