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A story chronicling American history from the Revolutionary War to the end of the 19th century. The main characters are personifications of Columbia and Uncle Sam.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-03-07
Henry E. Huck argues that the world’s “discontented populations” show gross ingratitude by repaying their kind acceptance by the United States and England with constant provocations against each other. Such provocations will end in a global war. He proposes the two countries join forces through a court of arbitration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-03
David B. Hill wears a “I don’t know my president’s opinions. He’ll telegraph” feather as he offers “peanut politics statesmanship” to “John Bull,” “France,” and “Germany.” Hill has a “gold brick” in his pocket. Caption: “Have a Peanut with me?”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08
President Roosevelt sleeps as he is surrounded by a number of dreams about reelection, the Panama Canal, Tammany Hall, business and labor, and trusts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12
Uncle Sam holds up binoculars and a magnifying glass that are pointed toward a “Panama Republic” flag to John Bull. Caption: Uncle Sam to John Bull: “Can’t you recognize it?”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-15
This collection of cartoons addresses presidential candidates for the 1904 election season, Cuban reciprocity, industrial trusts, and the Post Office scandal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-06
At a poker table, Uncle Sam holds a hand of “Roosevelt prosperity” cards and a large stack of chips. John Bull, “Germany,” and “France” have smaller stacks.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-14
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 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 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 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
Print shows Uncle Sam as an American farmer trying to sell his products labeled “Pork, Wheat, Butter, Beef, Oats,” and corn overseas where there is stiff “Open Competition” at the “Market of the World” represented by John Bull labeled “England” and “Germany, Russia, South America, [and] Australia.” In a vignette, Uncle Sam is shown at “The McKinley Home Market and High Prices” looking at the merchandise for sale, where all the items that he needs have been “Marked Up” 35% to 45%; McKinley offers him a new coat that has been marked Up 35%.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1894-08-15
John Bull and Uncle Sam appear, both bent under the weight of the governing bodies that they are carrying on their backs with papers labeled “Hereditary Right to Obstruct Legislation” and “Senatorial Rules for Obstructing Legislation.” A sign behind John Bull states, “Commons come, Commons go, but the Lords go on forever,” and a sign behind Uncle Sam states, “Notice – the 53rd Congress goes, but the Senate still remains.” Caption: Uncle Sam–I’m sorry for you, John; that’s a terrible load you’ve got to carry! John Bull–Shake ‘ands, old chap; you seem to be ‘avin’ a pretty ‘ard time, yourself!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1895-02-27
Puck’s stereotyped Irish man labeled “Ireland” is pictured as a military general, sitting on a rocking horse labeled “Home Rule,” holding papers that state “Muster-Roll of the Anti-English Army,” and addressing a ragged group of soldiers labeled “Germany, Russia, Venezuela, Japan, Transvaal, [and] Ashantee.” Uncle Sam is standing among the soldiers. John Bull, in a state of shock, is standing on a small island just offshore. On the ground next to the rocking horse is a box labeled “Servant Girls Home Rule Contributions.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-02-12
Uncle Sam and John Bull are about to come to blows, possibly over the Venezuela boundary dispute, but are tied together in ribbons that are labeled “Financial Ties, Mutual Needs, Property Interests, International Marriages, Trade Interests, Mutual Commercial Benefits, Ties of Kinship, [and] Social Ties.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-01-15
Uncle Sam and Puck offer a toast to the New Year and Peace, with several heavily armed representatives of nations labeled “France, J. Bull, Turkey, Russia, Germania, [and] Italy” sitting around a table.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-01-01
Uncle Sam, with a feather in his hat labeled “Victory,” holds America’s Cup labeled “Yachting Champion,” a cricket bat labeled “Cricket Champion,” and a medal labeled “Athletic Champion.” Other awards labeled “Chess Champion, Bicycle Champion, [and] Boxing Champion” are pinned to his coat, and a paper extends from his pocket labeled “Fastest R.R. Time.” He is standing on a beach next to a dejected John Bull who is holding a doll labeled “Dunraven,” a reference to the 4th Earl of Dunraven, Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, a co-owner of the Valkyrie II and Valkyrie III yachts that competed for the America’s Cup. Caption: Uncle Sam–Say, John, is there any game you can beat me at? – If there is, trot it out!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1895-10-09
John Bull, standing with one foot on England and the other on Ireland, holds strings attached to many warships which encircle the United Kingdom, while overhead fly menacing armed aircraft. Caption: “Britannia needs no bulwarks, no towers along the steep; / Her march is o’er the mountain wave, her home is on the deep.”
This cover design, commencing the period when Puck routinely incorporated its logo into cover artwork, proved remarkably prescient.
Cartoonist Frank A. Nankivell, in the first week of 1909, offered an observation on the proliferation of airships, lighter-than-air planes, and speculation about military uses. Paris at this time hosted magnificent international Air Shows, at which inventors, manufacturers, and countries displayed their newest productions and prototypes. Of course passenger and commercial “aeroplanes” were showcased, but military applications were stressed.
Uncle Sam, John Bull, and figures representing Germany, Italy, France, and Russia listen as a town crier labeled “Sagasta” reads a proclamation. “Blanco” plays a drum. The proclamation states that Spain’s war with Cuba will end “next Thursday afternoon at half past four,” or in “two weeks,” or “we shall positively end it sometime or other.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-11-24
John Bull sits in a chair, confronted by a swarm of mosquitos labeled “Afridis, Transvaal Republic, Grecian Question, Russia, France, Sudan Troubles, [and] Germany.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-10-06