This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/27/2026
Theodore Roosevelt handwritten draft manuscript from his landmark series ''The Winning of the West'', with the draft containing his controversial handwritten words, ''white conquest'' and ''white flood'' regarding the Native American population. New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1900. In four volumes, this is #66 of 200 in the Daniel Boone limited edition, each containing a handwritten draft manuscript by Roosevelt laid-into volume 1.
The draft contained in this set is perhaps the most controversial of the whole series, with Roosevelt writing that while many tribes delayed the so-called ''white flood'', they could not avert it. Found in Chapter 1, ''The Spread of the English-Speaking Peoples'', the phrase was frequently referenced in reviews of the book. Manuscript draft, which differs slightly from the printed edition, reads in full,
''...United States, with the Indians, that the settlers of northwestern Canada had their main difficulties.
The United States. In what now forms the United States, taking the country as a whole, the foes who had to be met and overcome were very much more formidable. The ground had to be not only settled but conquered, sometimes at the expense of the natives [Indians crossed out], often at the expense of rival European races. The Indians themselves formed one of the main factors in deciding the fate of the continent. They were never able in the end to avert the white conquest, but they could often delay its advance for a long spell of years. The Iroquois, for instance, held their own against all comers for two centuries. Many other tribes stayed for a time, the oncoming white flood, or even drove it back; thus in Maine the settlers were for a hundred years confined to a narrow strip of seacoast. Against the Spaniards, there were even here and there Indian nations who definitely recovered the ground they had lost. When the whites first landed...''
Manuscript page measures 8'' x 11.5'' on ruled paper, penned in black fountain pen with one edit in pencil. Some fingerprint smudging to manuscript, likely done by Roosevelt, overall near fine condition. Books each measure 7'' x 10.25'', bound in publisher's original morocco leather with tooled gilt floral design and titling. Top edges gilt. Front board detached from volumes 1 and 4, some leather loss to spine of volumes 3 and 4. Overall very good condition.