Imperialism

Britannia, carrying a large white flag labeled “Civilization” with British soldiers and colonists behind her, advances on a horde of natives, one carrying a flag labeled “Barbarism.” Caption: Though the process be costly, the road to progress must be cut.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon is a virtual poster, or an emblem, of the colonialist mentality of the day. Africa is the setting. The British had just subdued the Dutch-descended Boers, in southern Africa. In the rest of the continent, the Belgians brutally dealt with uprisings in the Congo; and the German government gobbled up what practically was the last “free” land for colonials in southwest Africa. Almost exactly eight years subsequent to this cartoon’s publication, former president Theodore Roosevelt emerged from a long safari in Africa and, invited to speak in Cairo, Egypt, lectured the British about proper colonial administration — “or leave Egypt.”

George F. Hoar sits on the U.S. Capitol dome using a telegraph to send a “wireless” message “Keep it up! We are with you!” across a body of water to the insurgent forces fighting against American troops in the Philippines. At the base of the Capitol are several men waving “Anti-Expansion” banners.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Republican Senator George Frisbie Hoar of Massachusetts was the most prominent sitting politician in the small but influential band of anti-Imperialists following the Spanish-American War. Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan, and a number of prominent newspaper editors were loudly opposed to expansion. This cartoon by Pughe was published at a time when American troops were dying in American efforts to pacify the Philippines, and suggested that aid and comfort were being telegraphed to the rebels. “Wireless telegraphy” was a recent innovation, so the cartoonist included a popular topic in that regard.

Uncle Sam, as a large rooster, stands among several small free-ranging chicks labeled “Argentine Republic, Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Salvador, Peru, [and] Hayti [sic].” Confined to a “European Coop” labeled “Monroe Doctrine” are five roosters labeled “Russia, England, France, Germany, [and] Italy.” Caption: Europe — You’re not the only rooster in South America! Uncle Sam — I was aware of that when I cooped you up!

comments and context

Comments and Context

The ancient Monroe Doctrine was articulated in 1823, in President James Monroe’s Annual Message. Actually formulated and written by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, it warned world powers to cease imperialist meddling in the Western hemisphere, while promising no interference from the United States in existing European colonies. President Roosevelt, in his own Annual Message of 1904, added teeth in what came to be called the “Roosevelt Corollary To the Monroe Doctrine.” Fresh on the heels of Great Britain and Germany attempting to collect debts from Venezuela by military threats, Roosevelt asserted that when necessary, the United States would act as a stern middleman, for instance, forcing South American countries to live up to international obligations, but it would not allow foreign powers to seek colonial advantages in such disputes.

Yale professor and university president Arthur Twining Hadley looks through a huge magnifying glass trained on a laborer labeled “Trust Employee.” However, what Hadley sees through the lens is a “Trust Slave” linked by a ball and chain to “Trusts.” On the ground, at Hadley’s feet, is a piece of paper stating “Dangers of trusts and imperialism. Prof. Hadley.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Many journals of opinion, editorialists, and political cartoonists between the 1880s and early ‘teens decried the rise of trusts and the increasing stranglehold of monopolies on American business. Many powerful cartoon statements were published. However, there was an ambiguity when deference was paid to the prosperity, booming world trade, low prices, and high wages in many industries, brought about by industrial combinations known as Trusts. In a widely-noted speech in 1901, President Hadley of Yale attacked the ills sustained by the living standard of the working class. This was one area, in Puck‘s view, where Trusts had a beneficial effect.

Columbia is adjusting her bonnet, which is a battleship labeled “World Power” with two guns labeled “Army” and “Navy.” It is spewing thick black smoke labeled “Expansion.” She is inserting a tiny sword as a hatpin to hold it in place.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-04-06

Independence Day fireworks spell out the word “Freedom” above an eagle forming the great seal of the United States hovering over a bird nest with four chicks labeled “Philippines, Cuba, Hawaii, [and] Porto Rico.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-07-03

William Jennings Bryan uses the hot air from his “Speeches” to inflate a large balloon labeled “Imperialism,” of President William McKinley dressed as the “Emperor of USA,” holding a scepter in one hand and a sword in the other. On the ground nearby is a burst balloon labeled “Goldbugism.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Goldbugism” refers to the main thrust of William Jennings Bryan’s 1896 campaign, linking the Republicans to the gold standard and predatory monopolies. Bryan lost heavily in the Electoral College that year, and cartoonist Keppler predicted that the imperialism issue would have the same fate in the 1900 elections. It did.

William Jennings Bryan is a large spider labeled “Free Silver” with three flies labeled “White, Schurz, [and] Godkin” caught in his web labeled “16 to 1,” “Anti-expansion,” “Chicago Platform,” and “Bryanism.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The radical economic policies and agrarian roots of William Jennings Bryan kept many Eastern, aristocratic liberals from making alliance with his Populist-based campaigns. The old-line liberal reformers Horace White, Carl Schurz, and Edwin Godkin — all on the staffs of the New York Post and The Nation magazine — were tempted to support Bryan in his presidential candidacy of 1900 on the issues of Expansionism and anti-Imperialist views. The cartoon’s layout and labels indicate that cartoonist Pughe saw Imperialism as an issue that would lead to their doom.

William Jennings Bryan stands in the stirrups of his mount, a donkey labeled “Democracy,” directing the honor guard led by Adlai E. Stevenson, and including Henry R. Towne, Joseph Pulitzer, and Carl Schurz carrying a large flag with a portrait of Emilio Aguinaldo under the heading “The George Washington of the Philippines.” Also included are Oswald Ottendorfer, Edwin Lawrence Godkin, William Bourke Cockran, John Peter Altgeld, and William Sulzer.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary campaigns for Filipino independence from Spain began in the 1890s, variously as a guerilla and conventional armed insurrection, through the Spanish-American War, ultimately with and against the victorious American liberators. As a rebel leader his forces sustained and committed atrocities. He was captured and then released by President Theodore Roosevelt as part of the United States’ general amnesty, a putative end of hostilities. Aguinaldo became a hero to his countrymen and a symbol for the cause of American anti-imperialists. Of William Jennings Bryan’s ragtag “army” on this political issue, their professions provide a hint of the American movement’s constituents: Stevenson was Bryan’s running mate, committed to the Democrat party plank; Pulitzer, Schurz, Ottendorfer, and Godkin were editors and publishers; Towne was an industrialst (Yale locks); Bouke Cochran a politician and orator of unorthodox consistency; Altgeld the radical Governor of Illinois (famous for partiality to the Haymarket bombers); Sulzer a New York politcian who eventually became Governor, only to be impeached. Cartoonist Pughe clearly considered the leadership of Bryan (on an undersized donkey) and the number and prowess of the “guard” to be targets of ridicule.

William Jennings Bryan holds a large bellows labeled “Bryanism,” which he is using to fan the flames of a small campfire labeled “Imperialism.” On the left side of the fire is Carl Schurz and on the right, kneeling on the ground, is Adlai E. Stevenson. They blow on the fire as well, to no effect.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Published days before the 1900 presidential election, this cartoon depicts the frustration of Democratic candidate Bryan, his running mate Adlai Stevenson, and the prominent German-American reformer Carl Schurz. At first glance, per the label, they might be thought to attempt a revival of imperialism, but imperialism fails to catch fire as a hot issue. In fact the opposition to the new territorial possessions of the United States, after the Spanish-American War, was the only important new plank in Bryan’s platform since 1896. And the public proved either indifferent to the objections… or quite in favor of America’s new place in the world.

William Jennings Bryan attempts to tear down American flags in Cuba and the Philippines. The spirit of General Henry Ware Lawton, who was killed in the Philippines, orders Bryan to “Halt!” The stripes on the American flag in the Philippines are labeled “Honor, Patriotism, Commercial Progress, National Dignity, Glory, Duty to Humanity, [and] National Self-Respect.” A headstone on the bottom right reads, “The American Soldier, who died for his country after planting this flag.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon that was dated after the presidential election of 1900, but drawn and printed beforehand. Cartoonist Louis Dalrymple was obliged to draw a general-theme commentary on a major theme of William Jennings Bryan’s campaign: anti-Imperialism. Puck had been a proponent of the war, and supported American expansionism.

Uncle Sam and Columbia dance in a line with figures representing “Cuba, Porto Rico, Labor, Capital, Farmer, Philippines, [and] Hawaii” at the entrance to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, visible in the background. Puck is at center in the foreground.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The meaning of this cartoon is found in its date: the first issue that Puck‘s cartoonists and editorial writers could absorb the results of the 1900 presidential election, and share reactions with readers. Without exulting in the election of any particular candidates, Puck simply celebrated the fact that another contentious campaign was ended. For the first time in the history of the United States, icons besides Uncle Sam and Columbia, capital and labor, were joined by the (rather awkwardly depicted) symbols of new territories from around the world. 

A bulldog labeled “Jingoism” stands in a ditch labeled “Nicaragua Canal” confronting animals representing European countries: the British Lion holding a pick labeled “England,” a boar labeled “Germany,” the Russian Bear leaning on a shovel, a donkey labeled “Spain,” a rooster labeled “France,” and a monkey labeled “Italy.” Each wants a piece of the construction of the canal.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon represents a rare editorial stance for Puck magazine, ascribing American proprietary attitudes toward a trans-oceanic canal not to the Monroe Doctrine of commercial advantages, but to Jingoism — overheated nationalistic patriotism. While United States advocates of a canal debated Nicaragua and the Panamanian region of Colombia as likely sites, world powers desired their own participation.

Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany, sits in a throne, sword across his lap, and reads by candlelight papers labeled “Plans for German colonization in South America.” The ghost of Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, looms above him as “a hint from history.” On the floor are scattered papers labeled “South American mortgages” and “South American investments.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

By the time that Germany became a unified country in 1871, and in subsequent decades, most of the world had been figuratively carved up by European colonial powers. Germany’s imperial dreams were confined to southeast Africa, meddling in China (so late as to offend other Colonial powers and adding to the opposition manifested in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion), and joining the French, Spanish, and English participation in Mexico. Those nations saw a weak and fractious land in the New World as ripe for plunder — a type of adventurism that Theodore Roosevelt later forestalled in his Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. France invited Maximilian, its Austrian ally (of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine; in turn an ally of the Bavarian court) to serve as Emperor of Mexico. The Europeans’ plans to establish a foothold in the Americas failed under the inept Maximilian, whose three-year reign ended with his execution in 1867. Keppler’s cartoon shows the shade of Maximilian and his failures warning the Kaiser against South American colonial ambitions.

Uncle Sam stands at center, gesturing to the left toward American soldiers boarding ships to return to America after defeating the Spanish in the Philippines, and gesturing to the right toward a group of matronly women, one labeled “Daughters of the Revolution,” who have just arrived to educate the peoples of the Philippines. Caption: Uncle Sam–You have seen what my sons can do in war – now see what my daughters can do in peace.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Ehrhart’s cartoon perfectly illustrates the United States’ stated intention toward the Philippine Islands after Spain’s surrender in the Spanish-American War, moreover, President McKinley’s goal of “Christianizing” the natives. He declared this goal after he was reluctantly persuaded to declare war and the post-war reality was different, as rebels led by Emilio Aguinaldo fiercely resisted the American occupiers in what would be several years of bloody guerrilla battles. The cartoon intended to portray noble intentions, yet was somewhat patronizing — among the women uplifters is a domestic servant with a carpet-beater, implying that natives lacked basic customs of cleanliness. 

John Bull, the symbol of Great Britain, shovels British soldiers into the “British Empire Shute.” They end on the shoulders of “Oom” Paul Kruger who sits on a rock with a rifle across his lap, on soil labeled “Dutch Republic.” Overwhelmed by the soldiers, he has dropped his copy of the Bible that he was reading.

comments and context

Comments and Context

By 1900 the notable failures of the British Empire to defeat the “Farmers” (Boers) in South Africa were reckoned to result in British defeat or an outright campaign of attrition. The latter strategy, recorded by Winston Churchill and others, was adopted with reasonable success despite much of world opinion on the side of the longtime Dutch settlers. Oom Paul was a beloved leader who rallied his followers in the South African Republic and the neighboring Orange Free State. Their language and identity was “Afrikaans,” closely related to Dutch. Paul Kruger and his followers were quite religious, and had support around the world from Christian and missionary groups, hence the Bible falling from his lap in this symbol-laden cartoon.

Illustration showing President William McKinley as a chicken labeled “Republican Party” cackling at a duck labeled “Expansion” swimming in a pond labeled “Free Trade.” The caption reads, “No use cackling – ducks will swim.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

President McKinley’s name was synonymous with high tariffs after the 1890 McKinley Tariff substantially raised rates. This cartoon illustrates his opposition to any new American territories and possessions receiving free-trade benefits in the wake of the Spanish-American War. Some of them eventually did enjoy such economic favors, but Puck, traditionally a free-trade journal, posted warning signals such as this cartoon. It was published soon after a Presidential position paper was delivered on the subject.

Uncle Sam buries the Statue of Liberty in a cemetery which has graves for Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Hawaii, as a man representing Cuba looks on. Item is regarding United States imperialism and how it treats those in newly acquired lands.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-11-01

Edward VII, King of Great Britain, thanks President Roosevelt for the letter, delivered by Ambassador Whitelaw Reid. He has been following the progress of the Great White Fleet in the Pacific, and admires the undertaking. Edward VII agrees that “the interests of the English speaking peoples are alike in the Atlantic & the Pacific,” and empathizes with the questions of immigration and emigration with which Roosevelt has to deal.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-05

Theodore Roosevelt has been informed that land in the Philippines has been given to capitalists to use for sugar, which should not have been done. Roosevelt requests information from Representative Curry on this matter. The previous year Curry stated that the Philippines should be independent. Roosevelt thinks that the Philippines should be independent eventually but are not fit for independence at present. Roosevelt trusts Curry and wishes to know what Curry’s views are on the matter of Philippine independence, so that Roosevelt can take them into account when evaluating his own views.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-08-02