Imperialism

President William McKinley stands on a road leading to the White House, in the background. He is delivering a speech, with a group of newspaper editors and congressmen, to the left and right, who have broken into small groups, talking amongst themselves. In the right foreground, William Jennings Bryan is inflating his “Anti-Annexation Issue for 1900.” American flags are on islands beyond the White House. The flags and/or islands are labeled “Porto Rico, Ladrone Islds., Cuba, Hawaii, [and] Philippine Islds.” At McKinley’s feet is an excerpt from his “Speech at Banquet of Board of Trade and Associated Citizens” in Savannah, December 17, 1898.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-01-11

Whitelaw Reid addresses the Republican Club about the responsibility of governing island nations such as Cuba and the Philippines. He argues that once the United States takes military action they have a duty to protect the new territories.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901

William Jennings Bryan carries a “Cross of Gold,” a “Crown of Thorns,” and a carpetbag labeled “W.J.B. Speeches” as he walks along railroad tracks headed in the opposite direction of Washington, D.C. Walking with him are newspaper editors Edwin Lawrence Godkin carrying papers labeled “Anti-American Editorials,” Joseph Pulitzer, Edward Atkinson, Carl Schurz carrying a drum on his back labeled “Anti-Expansion Band,” and Oswald Ottendorfer carrying a small bag labeled “Staats Zeitung.” In the background, William McKinley is riding on a railroad car labeled “Expansion Train” that is racing along railroad tracks, headed for Washington, D.C.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-12-20

Print shows William Jennings Bryan as the Democratic Donkey with the bit end of a bridle in his mouth, trying to climb out of a hole constructed of blocks labeled “Aguinaldoism, Anti-Trust, Anti-Imperialism, Free Riots, Anti-Expansion, Free Silver, Populism, Calamity Cry, [and] Chicago Platform,” with the U.S. Capitol nearby.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-12-27

Print shows Uncle Sam and Columbia taking Christmas presents off a Christmas tree and distributing them to Native children labeled “Hawaii, Samoa, Puerto Rico, Cuba, [and] Philippine.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-12-27

Print shows John Bull attempting to reassure Uncle Sam that the storm clouds labeled “Philippine Complications” blowing in from the right will soon pass; he gestures toward a monument labeled “Civilization” carved with figures labeled “Guiana, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, India, Canada, Egypt, S. Africa, [and] W. Indies,” topped with “Britannia” seated with the British Lion.

Caption: John Bull–Don’t get discouraged, Sam! I’ve had just that sort of trouble for three hundred years, while I’ve been building this monument. It has cost many human lives and much money, but the whole world, as well as England, has benefited by it.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Print shows a large gloved fist with an American flag on it crashing down on Emilio Aguinaldo riding on a rocking horse labeled “Dictatorship” next to a large sword labeled “Aguinaldo” on the “Philippines.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-03-08

Print shows a scene in a courtroom with a Chinese man labeled “Chinese Question” sitting in a chair in front of three men identified as “France,” “Germany” (William II), and “Russia.” “Judge” John Bull is standing at the judge’s bench and is introducing Uncle Sam labeled “Protector of the Philippines” as an “Associate Judge.”

Caption: Judge John Bull–Gentlemen, let me present the new Associate Judge. The trial of this Chinese case will now proceed.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Print shows the dream of an “Anti-Expansionist” where Admiral George Dewey, General Elwell S. Otis, a sailor, and a soldier come ashore in the Philippines to offer their weapons and the American flag in surrender to Emilio Aguinaldo and a poorly armed, ragged, but haughty, group of Filipinos.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-04-19

Print shows an American soldier carrying a rifle and bag labeled “U.S.V.” walking in a tropical location. Diminutive figures labeled “Bryan, Ottendorfer, Pulitzer, Atkinson, [and] Godkin” are attempting to hold him back, while George Frisbie Hoar, left behind, stands with his right arm raised in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-05-24

Print shows William Jennings Bryan wearing a plumed hat labeled “1900” and riding on a rocking horse labeled “Presidential Aspirations,” leading a small army, among whom are William Joel Stone, James K. Jones, James Stephen Hogg (carrying a blunderbuss labeled “Anti-Expansionist”), and Benjamin R. Tillman, as well as a “Silver Republican” and a “Populist,” while others carry flags labeled “Anti-Trust” and “Free Silver.” They have emerged from a fortress labeled “16 to 1” and are following a rocky road, with some rocks labeled “1896,” toward a fortress topped with the White House. Caption: The same old cry in the same old place.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-11-15

Julius Caesar or a Roman centurion, in the background, tumbles off a pillar of stones labeled “Rome, Etruria, Britain, Asia, [and] Africa.” In the middle distance, on a bit of land labeled “France,” Napoleon I is shown tumbling off a pillar of stones labeled “Egypt, Italy, Spain, Holland, Austria, Prussia, [and] Russia” and falling toward a rocky island labeled “St. Helena.” In the foreground, John Bull is standing atop a pillar of stones labeled “Scotland, Ireland, Malta, Gibraltar, India, Australia, Cyprus, Egypt, [and] Soudan [sic]” on a bit of land labeled “England.” The stones are propped up by various types of weapons, with the top two stones supported by a steamship, though the top stone “Soudan” appears about to fall off.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-03-25

Print shows William McKinley as a circus ringmaster trying to coax a defiant Emilio Aguinaldo to jump through a hoop labeled “Peace”; standing in the background are three figures labeled “Cuba, Porto Rico, [and] Hawaii”.
Caption: Ringmaster McKinley–You’ve got to jump through, and the sooner you do it the better!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-09-20

Draft of a speech with handwritten corrections. Governor Roosevelt rebukes several statements from William Jennings Bryan regarding economic policy, bimetallism, patriotism, and imperialism.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1900-09-06

Commissioner Roosevelt appreciates Colonel Durrett’s criticisms. He agrees that Mr. Marshall and Mr. Green’s comments should be left out. Roosevelt will also incorporate some of Durrett’s language regarding the Yazoo grants. He hopes that it was made clear that he does not implicate Mr. Brown and Mr. Innes with corruption. Roosevelt agrees that a hundred years ago he would have joined Durrett on an expedition to “wrest Louisiana from the Spaniards.” He might even be willing to currently join a “general national buccaneering expedition” to remove the Spaniard from Cuba or the British from Canada. He also favors the annexation of Hawaii.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1894-04-27

A large African man is leaning against a tree, asleep. Several European countries are staking claims to portions of Africa, planting flags labeled “England, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Spain, [and] France” all around the sleeping man. Caption: Cutting a continent out from under him.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-10-25

The unnamed author disagrees with Dr. Schurman’s opinion that America’s ultimate policy in the Philippines should be a sovereign Philippine Republic. The author also disagrees with Schurman’s claim that Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt support eventual independence in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-01-26

Emory C. White is an American businessman with interests in South America. He writes to inform President Roosevelt of the hostility of Germans in South America towards the United States. The Germans are only there to make money in South America and talk against the Americans, trying to trample the Monroe Doctrine. The prevailing opinion is that German trade will continue to increase and eventually lead to colonization, even if that leads to war with the South American republics and the United States. The German situation in Venezuela, with the Germans trying to get the payment of a debt, is only a means to increase German influence in the Americas.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-12-16

Andrew Carnegie sends New Years greetings. Carnegie argues that the Cooper Union audience is the intelligent mass that sees what the general masses only see later. He argues further that the American idea will continue, not imperialism, but Americanism.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-12-21

Professor Frederick Martens warns of the dangers of “contemporary American imperialism” which was similarly commented on by Theodore Roosevelt. Martens believes colonies created by military means will require constant military power to control, unlike colonies created through the “peaceful sphere of commerce and trade.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-12-19