Christmas on the Isthmus
Subject(s): Central America, Children, Christmas, Christmas trees, Gifts, International relations, Panama, Santa Claus, Santa Claus (Fictitious character), Uncle Sam (Symbolic character), United States
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Uncle Sam, as Santa Claus with his bag of toys, hands a bag of money labeled “$10,000,000” to a little boy wearing a hat labeled “Panama” and holding a huge ship, some books, one labeled “Ledger,” and towing a model train. A railing on the right divides the space into an area with a Christmas tree and an area without. Hanging on the railing, looking in, are five boys labeled “Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, [and] San Domingo” who are depressed and possibly angered that Santa Claus/Uncle Sam has nothing for them.
Comments and Context
Only a month before this cartoon was drawn, on November 18, 1903, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was ratified between the United States and the very new Republic of Panama. It followed the declaration of Panama’s independence from Colombia in such short time that Secretary of State John Hay proposed and signed the treaty with Panama’s appointed representative, Philippe Bunau-Varilla in a New York hotel room; the “Minister” had not yet been to Panama.
Under the terms of the agreement, the United States was to pay the $10-million directly to the new government — one of Santa’s “goodies” in the cartoon. America also guaranteed an annual annuity of $250,000; permanent defense of the canal and strip of land known as the Canal Zone, and military protection as requested by Panama. It also assumed debts of the original French interests in the failed and corruption-laden earlier canal project; and various other assurances.
In Keppler’s cartoon we see other Latin American nations that are hungry or jealous. Prominent are Nicaragua, whose possible site for a transoceanic canal had been debated for years, and Colombia, whose intransigence (as seen by many) resulted in their loss of a geographic region, and a Wonder of the World.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1903-12-23
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:
Christmas on the Isthmus. [December 23, 1903]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277682. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. Christmas on the Isthmus. [23 Dec. 1903]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 5, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277682.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1903, December 23]. Christmas on the Isthmus.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277682.
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. March 5, 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.
