St. Louis’s object lesson to anti-expansionists
Subject(s): Adams, Charles Francis, 1835-1915, Atkinson, Edward, 1827-1905, Exhibition buildings, Hoar, George Frisbie, 1826-1904, Imperialism, Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Missouri, Missouri--Saint Louis, Schurz, Carl, 1829-1906, Statues
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A statue labeled “Thomas Jefferson The Father of Expansion” stands at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis, Missouri, with Puck directing the attention of George Frisbie Hoar and other anti-expansionists Edward Atkinson, Carl Schurz, and Charles Francis Adams, who look on in disbelief.
Comments and Context
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition was planned for 1904 to commemorate the centennial of President Jefferson’s acceptance of Napoleon’s offer to sell vast Western lands — actually French claims to lands — on the American continent. It was planned for St. Louis, the “Gateway To the West,” then one of the largest cities in the United States.
As historian Clay Jenkinson has said, “The Louisiana Purchase is in a sense the making moment of American history, because… [Jefferson] doubled the size of the country with a single stroke of the pen. It was unprecedented in human history to buy an empire… [and] by buying this territory, he essentially removed Britain, France, Russia, and Spain from serious contention on this continent, and that meant that this was going to be an Anglo-European American experiment and not a kind of Balkanization of European colonial powers.”
It was an excellent moment to rebuke the dwindling number of ant-expansionists on the public scene, figures whose opposition to acquisition (by several means) of lands won from Spain in the 1898 war was losing effect. facing them now was a national celebration of the grand Louisiana Purchase.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1903-04-15
Creator(s)
Period
U.S. President – 1st Term (September 1901-February 1905)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
St. Louis’s object lesson to anti-expansionists. [April 15, 1903]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277255. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. St. Louis’s object lesson to anti-expansionists. [15 Apr. 1903]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277255.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1903, April 15]. St. Louis’s object lesson to anti-expansionists.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277255.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
