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Frederick B. Fetherstonhaugh asks Theodore Roosevelt to speak to the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto, possibly on the subject of world problems and solutions through the eyes of John Bull and Uncle Sam. The club is affiliated with the Royal Colonial Institute and has many prestigious members.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-16
The symbolic character John Bull gestures to President Roosevelt to come over to him. He stands beside a sign with a lion at the bottom that reads, “Precedent no. 1: ‘Once an Englishman always an Englishman.'” Roosevelt, on the other hand, stands on an area labeled U.S. with a tag that reads, “T.R. Champion Precedent Breaker.” On the left side stands Jamaican Governor James Alexander Swettenham who thinks, “Anything personal, I wonder?”
Sir James Alexander Swettenham was a member of Great Britain’s vast colonial diplomatic corps, in the days when the sun never set on the British Empire. He held posts in Ceylon, Cyprus, and Singapore, before being named Governor of British Guiana from 1901 to 1904 and Governor of Jamaica from 1904 until the time of this cartoon, 1907.
President Roosevelt wears a “world’s champion peacemakers medal” as he looks over the globe and asks, “Any more peace needed down there, neighbors?” He holds olive branches and a dove in one hand and a “long distance peace telescope” in the other. “France” and John Bull hung each other on one side while “Spain” says, “He let me in on the peace ground floor.” A man in Africa holds a paper that reads, “all quiet across the Congo,” and says, “I’ll wire this to Teddy!” Meanwhile, Russian Emperor Nicholas II and Japanese Emperor Meiji bow toward one another. German Emperor William II puts his finger to his hand and says, “Well, I’ve got to keep quiet or Roosevelt will be after me.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-31
President Roosevelt watches as Russian Emperor Nicholas II and Japanese Emperor Meiji shake hands. Nicholas II says, “Oh joyski,” while Meiji says, “Banzai.” In the background, “France,” John Bull, Russian General N. P. Linevich, and Japanese Field Marshal Iwao Ōyama cheer. Linevich says, “Have a vodka with me, my dear Ōyama,” while Ōyama says, “No, this is on me, general.” Roosevelt says, “Bless you, my peaceful children, de-lighted,” as a large Roosevelt face eclipses the “war” sun.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-30
President Roosevelt skates in the shape of “statesmanship” while Uncle Sam, John Bull, and three British politicians look on: Joseph Chamberlain, Leader of the House of Lords Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice Lansdowne, and Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour. Caption: (“If any other feeling is mingled with our admiration of the President’s clear thinking and straight-forward utterance of thought, it is a feeling of regret that these ideas have not animated all our own statesmen.”—London Post.)
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-25
In a rowdy classroom at the “Pan-American School,” Uncle Sam is the teacher admonishing Cipriano Castro, President of Venezuela, who holds a slingshot, planning a prank. Four other adults are present, “Holland, France, England, [and] Germany.” Three native children are sitting at desks. One is shooting a spitball that hits “Holland” in the face. Caption: In the Pan-American school.
This cartoon by J. S. Pughe in a Puck centerspread might cause present-day readers to wonder whether Uncle Sam has always had difficulties with Latin American leaders named Castro, or with the country of Venezuela. Leaders were different in 1905, but challenges were similar.
A drunken Russian man holds a jug of vodka and wildly swings a bloody sword at a wasp representing Japan. John Bull and Uncle Sam sit in the background.
The context of this cartoon is the Russo-Japanese War, a conflict whose logic, or lack of same as with many wars, is represented by the flailing Cossack and the tiny insect. But the relative strengths of the opposing powers is not depicted accurately by cartoonist Keppler.
John Bull crouches as a bulldog labeled “England” on a narrow bridge spanning a river. He has a large bone labeled “Free Trade” in his mouth and is looking over the side. In his reflection in the water, the bone is labeled “Protection.”
Cartoonist Pughe, in this cover cartoon, encapsulates the issues surrounding the Free Trade debate in Great Britain. The country was considering a radical adjustment to its policy of international trade, the resolution of which would have great consequences for the United States and the rest of the world. As far as spheres of influence and commerce, “the sun never set” on the Empire when trade was concerned.
In a classroom, the rulers of several countries are the students. Most are identified by country and showing the attributes of their leaders, including, in the back row, “Russia” (Nicholas II), “Germany” (William II), and England (John Bull), and in the front row, “Austria” (Franz Joseph I), “France” (Emile Loubet), Uncle Sam, Japan (Meiji, Emperor of Japan), and Italy (Victor Emmanuel III). On the far left, sitting on a stool, is “Turkey” wearing a “Dunce” cap. The teacher labeled “Diplomacy,” at the front of the room, points to a blackboard on which is written “If the Boer War cost Great Britain $825,000,000 what would a world’s war cost?” While most of the leaders ponder this question, Russia and Japan glare at each other. There are three wastebaskets filled with weapons.
“Coming Events Cast Their Shadows Before.”
Thomas Johnstone Lipton beats a hand-drum labeled “American Progress,” trying to wake John Bull who is sound asleep in a chair. Caption: “There is no more loyal Britisher than myself; but I can’t close my eyes to one thing, and that is we are a decaying nation, commercially, as compared to your country, and the United States is the greatest country on the face of the earth to-day.”–Speech of Sir Thomas Lipton.
The jovial entrepreneur Sir Thomas Lipton was a Scots-Irish celebrity famous for his lines of teas, his chains of grocery stores, and his love of yachting. He regularly entered his yachts in the America’s Cup contests — never winning — but even in defeat his admiration of and affection for the United States was evident to all.
A larger-than-life “Spirit of Civilization” points with contempt to a man on a pedestal labeled “Russia.” Standing around the pedestal are John Bull, Uncle Sam, and symbolic representatives of other nations.
Czarist Russia, so recently applauded by the world for land reforms, abolition of religious restrictions and other measures announced in a Ukase issued by Nicholas II, attracted universal condemnation for immediate reversals and counter-measures, especially pogroms against the Jews in his domain.
Uncle Sam, John Bull (cartoon figure of Great Britain) and William II, Emperor of Germany, stand before Mars, the god of war, who is lying on the ground, asleep. Caption: “Sh-h-h! ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.'”
In the years preceding World War I, nations of the world formed alliances by open or secret treaties, ostensibly to secure peace, but often to establish spheres of influence or buy time for other goals. The “Dreibund,” a German term for three-part alliance, never happened, at least with Great Britain who seriously mistrusted Germany (and vice-versa), not the United States, especially vis a vis Germany. The size and latent awful strength of Mars, suggested by Keppler’s cartoon, was unleashed a dozen years later on the European continent.
A bruised John Bull offers a “Tonic” of “Financial Help” and “Liberal Treatment” to an injured and battered Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic, following the end of the fighting in South Africa.
Puck consistently had taken the side of Great Britain through the Boer War in its editorials and cartoons. In similar fashion, as the South African nationalists under “Oom Paul” finally were defeated in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, cartoonist Pughe almost immediately depicted the terms of surrender in the most generous light. After negotiations, some of them contentious, a treaty was signed, stipulating that the “Republic of South Africa” and the Orange Free State would be formal colonies of Great Britain, with promised timetables for increased rights and eventual independence.
Uncle Sam hugs a youthful John Bull, with firecrackers on both sides and a remarque below showing a Revolutionary War soldier sending the British and the British Lion back to England.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1902-07-02
John Bull, representing “England,” and a line of European rulers with the attributes of Nicholas II “Russia,” William II “Germany,” Franz Joseph I “Austria,” Emile Loubet “France,” Victor Emmanuel III “Italy,” and Alfonso XIII “Spain,” each with a broom, stand on a beach trying to sweep back the wave of “American Commerce” about to crash on their shores.
This cartoon seems to depict old ladies duplicating the futile resolution of legendary King Canute, who attempted to command ocean waves to recede. In fact the women, representing leaders of world trade, with their brooms and mops, were familiar as “Mrs Partingtons” to readers in 1902. Lost in obscurity today, Mrs. Partington was a comic figure in text humor created by Benjamin Penshallow Shillaber of the Boston Post, and in reprint books. Allegedly his character was inspired by an invented character of the British critic Sydney Smith about a self-absorbed busybody who attempted to mop the Atlantic Ocean from her door during a storm. In Shillaber’s hands, Mrs. Partington became known for silly aphorisms, malaprops, and semi-logical pronouncements. When Shillaber died in 1890, his very famous character died with him, but eulogists declared they would live forever in American culture. The necessity of this explanation suggests the contrary. The main point of Pughe’s cartoon is that by 1902 the United States has become the world’s largest trading nation.
Prince Henry offers bouquets of flowers labeled “Visit of Prince Henry,” “Christening by Miss Roosevelt,” and “Yacht built in America,” to Columbia who is holding a paper that states “British Canal Concessions.” In the background, on the left, John Bull is watching from a small, rocky island.
In 1902, and especially growing from military and commercial lessons learned from the recent Spanish-American War, public sentiment grew in the United States to build a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The two likely routes through the years were considered to be through either Nicaragua or the Panama region of Colombia. As America drew closer to playing a role in an Isthmian canal, it purchased concessions granted by each of those countries to England and France. Britain expected some courtesies in return, but as Keppler’s cartoon shows, the nascent German Empire (embodied by Kaiser Wilhelm) worked hard to seduce the United States, evidenced by the labels of the bouquets. John Bull, symbol of Great Britain, stands on his tiny home base, jealous and suspicious. In short order it was the French, and her old construction companions, unable to duplicate their previous Suez Canal success, who turned over greater concessions and rights to the Americans.
Uncle Sam, John Bull, and “Japan” as dogs stand in an open doorway, the door labeled “China Trade.” Caption: The way to keep the door open is not to let it be closed.
The situation depicted in this cartoon uncharacteristically does not reflect reality, as many contemporary political cartoons do. As the Boxer Rebellion ended, the eight Colonial powers alternately saved face and withdrew from China, but also committed harsh atrocities and imposed punitive penalties and reparations on the Chinese. There were no actual guarantors of the peace, or aftermath, although Russia and Japan, largely due to propinquity, assumed dominant status in certain regions, thus inviting friction that erupted into the Russo-Japanese War a few years subsequent. Some nations received lands and ports as part of reparations, such as Great Britain with Hong Kong. Under Theodore Roosevelt, the United States claimed no land, and the scheduled reparation payments paid by the Chinese Dynasty were transferred in full to Chinese students studying in the United States, and who intended to return to China.
Uncle Sam, labeled “Trade Balance,” carries a large tray with many food products that constitute American agricultural exports. Seated around an L-shaped table are representatives from nations around the world, including “China, Asia, Africa, Russia, Germany, England, Spain, France, Austria, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Servia, [and] Norway.” Each is demanding food. A sign on the wall states “Cafe Yankee – If you don’t see what you want call for it.” John Bull, representing “England,” sits at the head of the table, holding a long list labeled “Bill of Fare – U.S. Restaurant.”
The “McKinley Prosperity” included several years of bumper crops, the expansion of manufacturing, mining, and a population base (including record immigration that fed employment needs), and placed the United States in the forefront of world trade, commerce, and exports. Puck celebrated this moment in American history.
John Bull stands up to his knees in a morass labeled “Boer War £16,000,000 yearly,” and Uncle Sam steps through a similar morass labeled “Philippine War $80,000,000 yearly.”
Cartoonist Dalrymple strangely drew Uncle Sam and Joan Bull with smiles, but in fact these foreign-policy challenges were more than just financial drains. Moral challenges, fatalities, and seemingly hopeless solutions faced the two nations. From 1899 to 1902, when the Boers ultimately surrendered, and the Transvaal and Orange Free State were merged as constituents of the British Empire, the Boers (farmers) waged strong guerrilla campaigns, and the British accelerated their brutal responses. It was Britain’s longest war, lasting between 1815 and 1914, sustaining 22,000 deaths; and almost 50,000 casualties on the South African side, 15,000 of them were black. The United States’ suppression of the Filipino insurrection was nominally ended in 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed an amnesty, but pockets of resistance and sometimes brutal American responses festered almost behind the scenes for years.
Uncle Sam leads John Bull and a group of other world leaders down the center aisle between an exhibition of suffragettes and feminists on pedestals. Among the figures are “Mrs. Faith Healer,” “Woman Evangelist,” “Mrs. Lease” holding a large rake, and an elderly woman wearing a crown labeled “Queen of Holland Dames,” as well as one woman labeled “D.A.R.” Those identified are: “Dr. Mary Walker,” “Belva Lockwood,” “Susan B. Anthony,” “E. Cady Stanton,” “Mrs. Eddy Christian Scientist,” and “Carrie Nation of Kansas” holding a large ax.
In this drawing, cartoonist Dalrymple takes aim at early feminists, temperance crusaders, and suffragettes, using the upcoming World Exposition at Buffalo as a setting. Five months later at this expo, President William McKinley was assassinated.