Annexation

Cartoon shows Theodore Roosevelt and Republican House Majority Leader Sereno Elisha Payne tightening a knot in a cord “Tariff Law 1897 [paragraph] 209 16 Dutch” around the waist of a man “Cuba” holding a “cane knife.” On the right, the cord is cut into money by the head of the American Sugar Refining Company, Henry O. Havemeyer. The money falls into bags labeled “Sugar Trust Profits.” On the left, the head of American Crystal Sugar Company, Henry Thomas Oxnard pulls on Roosevelt’s coat tails. A sugar beet protrudes from the back of Oxnard. A legend at the bottom provides quotes concerning the Roosevelt administration, sugar growing and refining interests, Congress and Cuban industrialists related to reciprocity, Cuban annexation and trade.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902

Cartoon shows a bicycle messenger rushing from the White House to the Capitol with a roll of papers. As he speeds along papers labeled “Remove 16 Dutch veto,” “Must not hurt sugar trust,” and “Annexation is the policy Feb. 17, 1902” blow away. Cartoon implies that Theodore Roosevelt is sending a message to Congress regarding tariffs, the annexation of Cuba and protection of the sugar trust.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902

Cartoon shows an unidentified man, possibly Attorney General Philander Knox, on the left holding sheet “Remove Dutch standard technicality 209 Tariff Law 1897” and H. T. Oxnard on the right holding a sheet “Remove 12 1/2 [cent] per. 100 lbs. on refined.” They stand on either side of a billboard, “57th Congress. Solutions wanted. Reward offered. Prevent Cuba’s annexation? Protect American beet sugars? Protect Louisiana cane sugars? Break sugar refiner monopolies? Preserve Republican harmony? Help Cuban sugar planters? Protect Puerto Rico sugars? Explanation 209 Tariff Law 1897. April 18, ’02.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903

Cartoon shows Republican House Majority Leader Sereno Elisha Payne standing on two documents, “Tariff Law 1897 [subsection mark] 209, 16 Dutch % reduction enrich sugar trust,” and “Annexation policy, assist Cuba, do not hurt the sugar trust.” The cartoon refers to Payne’s political positions on the US annexation of Cuba, tariffs and support for the sugar trust.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902

Cartoon shows man “Sugar Refining Trust” pushing a wheelbarrow full of bags of money labeled “For Cuban Investment.” A child “Philippino” rides atop the money.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903

Cartoon shows Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma sitting in a chair “Ejecutivo” (Executive). He holds a sheet of paper “Bliss-Palma Protocolo Anexionista Art. IV, Art. VIII.” referring to portions of a proposed treaty between the United States and Cuba. Behind the chair Cuban ambassador to the United States Gonzalo de Quesado lurks. Behind Palma looms Salvador Cisneros y Betancourt, a Cuban politician who warned against U.S. imperialism in Cuba.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903

Cartoon shows Special Envoy to Cuba Tasker Howard Bliss wearing a sword “Reciprocity” showing a man “Cuba” a board with calculations showing that 20% for Cuba equals 70% for the United States. A vulture labeled “Anexion” (Annexation) sits atop the board. Cuba carries a sugar knife labeled “Industria” (Industry).

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902

Cartoon shows President Tomas Estrada Palma patting the head of Cuban Minister to the U.S. Gonzalo de Quesada while showing him a large piece of paper, “Recuerda que las proposiciones incorrectas para un tratado de reciprocidad comercial conducirán a la pronta anexion de nuestra patria al pais de nuestros buenos amigos” (Remember that incorrect propositions for a treaty of commercial reciprocity soon lead to the annexation of our country to the country of our good friends).

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902

Cartoon shows a bicycle messenger rushing from the White House to the Capitol with a roll of papers. As he speeds along papers labeled “Remove 16 Dutch veto,” “Must not hurt sugar trust,” and “Annexation is the policy Feb. 17, 1902” blow away. Cartoon implies that Theodore Roosevelt is sending a message to Congress regarding tariffs, the annexation of Cuba and protection of the sugar trust.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902

William Penn Nixon details Mary H. Krout’s career as a member of the Inter-Ocean editorial staff, including her time as a correspondent in the Pacific and London. He attests her work is accurate, and she is “a forcible and brilliant speaker.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-04-25

Uncle Sam holds “Guam,” “Philippines,” “Hawaii,” and “Porto Rico” in his arms as he reaches for “Panama.” “Mexico,” “Central America,” and “Colombia” are hidden in the foliage.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-20

A man labeled “Cuba” looks at a fence, “Annexation,” in front of grass labeled “Prosperity.” Caption: “A tempting crop.”

Comments and Context

The one-panel cartoons of “H” were deceptively simple, yet routinely addressed and explained well issues of the day, generously aided by news-summary captions that most political cartoons neglected to employ.

The cartoon depicts the dilemma of both Cuba and the unseen Uncle Sam as the dust of the Spanish-American War settled. Of the new possessions won from Spain, Cuba had the most sophisticated society and a relatively mature economy (followed by the Philippines among the possessions).

Secretary of War Taft updates President Roosevelt on the political situation in Cuba, which may necessitate intervention by the United States. Taft has been in communication with Cuban Secretary Rafael Montalvo. Taft includes the text of a telegram from President Roosevelt to Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma, as modified by Taft, and Estrada Palma’s response, insisting that he cannot remain at the head of the government on the foundation proposed by Taft and Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-26

“The United Order of Jingoes,” comprised of newspaper editors and legislators identified as “Dana, Pulitzer, Reed, Frye, Reid, Lodge, Allison, Boutelle, [and] Hoar,” sits outside the White House on a winter’s night, in the snow. President Cleveland, visible through a window, reads from a paper labeled “Cleveland’s Hawaiian Policy.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-02-20

Uncle Sam lies asleep in a chair with a large eagle perched on a stand next to him. He is dreaming of conquests and annexations, asserting his “Monroe Doctrine” rights, becoming master of the seas, putting John Bull in his place, and building “formidable and invulnerable coast defenses.” On the floor by the chair are jingoistic and yellow journalism newspapers.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-11-13

A shotgun wedding between Uncle Sam and Hawaii is being presided over by a minister labeled “McKinley” who is reading from the “Annexation Policy.” A former Confederate general labeled “Sen. Morgan” with a “Jingo” feather in his hat stands behind them holding a shotgun labeled “Bluster.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-12-01

Uncle Sam and Columbia stand at the entrance to the “U.S. Foundling Asylum” as a basket of crying children labeled “Puerto Rico, Cuba, Hawaii, [and] Philippine” is presented to them by arms labeled “Manifest Destiny.” Within the walls of the asylum are four children labeled “Texas, New Mexico, Cal. [and] Alaska” playing together. Caption: Uncle Sam–Gosh! I wish they wouldn’t come quite so many in a bunch; but, if I’ve got to take them, I guess I can do as well by them as I’ve done by the others!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-08-03

George F. Hoar is in the “Senatorial Nursery” as an oversized infant strapped into a chair, watching a young boy, a Senate “Page,” manipulate a jumping jack toy that is labeled “Queen Lil,” the deposed Queen of Hawaii, Liliuokalani.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-02-28

Uncle Sam helps four little girls labeled “Philippines, Ladrones, Porto Rico, [and] Cuba” onto a wagon filled with many other young children, including “Hawaii.” Two horses harnessed to the wagon are labeled “Liberty” and “Union.” An old man, wearing a hat labeled “Monroe Doctrine,” sits on a log nearby and asks Sam if the wagon isn’t getting too full.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-09-28

Sanford B. Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaii, conducts a land auction, selling property that he probably does not own, and contributing to the Americanization of Hawaii. Caption: The annexation hustlers in Hawaii will start a genuine American real estate boom, and reap all the profits there are in it.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-01-27