Uncle Sam (Symbolic character)

Uncle Sam wears a coat labeled “The Constitution” and looks at Secretary of State Elihu Root. On the ground are books labeled “Jefferson Doctrine” and “The Federalist by A. Hamilton” as well as a club labeled “Big Stick” lying on top of the Declaration of Independence.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon by Jack H. Smith, today a justly neglected cartoonist, displays an awkward caricature of Secretary of State Elihu Root, and a rather obscure point. Evidently the cartoon charges Root with trampling on the Constitution and founding documents, yet if any charges were to be leveled at the Administration — and such charges were not uncommon — President Roosevelt would have been the more logical recipient. In fact the Administration — in this year, 1906, of reforms and calls for even more radical reforms — floated ideas of an income tax and forms of municipal ownership, that some observers regarded as proto-Socialistic.

A man labeled “California” and a man labeled “Jap” fight over a picnic basket full of food labeled “Public Schools,” threatening to capsize their boat. Uncle Sam looks on, holding a fishing pole that has three fish on it, says, “Quit it! Quit it!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Anti-Japanese prejudice in California was so rife at this time, that the state attempted to exclude Japanese immigrants from public schools. It was a public and ugly controversy, spearheaded by, among others, San Francisco publisher William Randolph Hearst. He fanned the flames of prejudice through cartoons — more effective with his readers than printed editorials — once showing a Japanese schoolboy hiding plans to invade the West Coast in his textbook.

Uncle Sam sits in a chair smoking a pipe as a man labeled “California” and “States Rights” pleads with him. On a map of the United States in the background, an explosion appears over California; and newspapers in the foreground display headlines like “President’s Message Stirs Up Storm in San Francisco” and “California Dissatisfied.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The year 1906 was possibly the busiest of President Roosevelt’s presidency. It was the high-water mark of the Muckrakers, the journalists, authors, and reformers who explosively attacked corruption in American business and finance. Congress passed many reform laws, and the administration promulgated many regulations, in many areas of American life from conservation to corporate affairs. The president engaged himself in battles with trust moguls like Edward Henry Harriman (whom the president called an unfit citizen); and other magnates like John D. Rockefeller had to defend themselves in lawsuits. Roosevelt’s own affairs included the Simplified Spelling and “Nature Fakir” crusades; and the controversy over dismissed Black soldiers in Brownsville, Texas, occupied his attention.

Uncle Sam reads a book entitled, “The Nu Spelling by A. Karnegy.” The back matter reads, “Litl wurdz for [beginners].”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-27

A “Washington” woman gives President Roosevelt a big hug while Uncle Sam, who is standing by a vase of “welcome” flowers, watches. There is a sign on the wall that reads, “There’s no place like [home].”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-02

A “Republican steam shovel” with the face of President Roosevelt takes out several rocks: “Democratic opposition,” “political criticism,” and “rail-road obstructionists.” Several men watch, including Panama Governor Charles E. Magoon, John F. Stevens, Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission Theodore P. Shonts, Joseph Bucklin Bishop, and Uncle Sam.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09

Uncle Sam opens a “meat packing report” pot and holds his nose. President Roosevelt looks on and says, “It’s up to you, Uncle.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-06

President Roosevelt holds a “Roosevelt rail-road rate ideas” bag and a “rail-road rate bill U.S. Senate” gold brick. Uncle Sam puts his hand on Roosevelt’s shoulder and points to the brick. The United States Capitol building is in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-02

President Roosevelt shows Uncle Sam a “quilting bee in aid of the suffering public.” Rhode Island Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Wisconsin Senator John C. Spooner, Iowa Senator William B. Allison, and Texas Senator Joseph W. Bailey sit at a table stitching amendments on a “rate bill” quilt. Spanish Treaty Claims Commissioner William E. Chandler looks through a window and holds a paper that reads, “I’m no liar.” There is a portrait of George Washington on the wall.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-15

Uncle Sam and President Roosevelt stand at a “law” fence and watch a “Standard Oil monopoly” pig eat from a “rebates” trough, thanks to Roosevelt “Garfield report” light. In the trough are several papers: “semi secret rates,” “discrimination R.R. rates,” “private tank cars,” “secret rates,” “secret state rates,” and “unfair interstate rates.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04

President Roosevelt rides on an elephant and leads a Saint Patrick’s Day parade featuring the “G.O.P. band,” which includes Secretary of War William H. Taft, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox, Secretary of State Elihu Root, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, and Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw. The parade has a banner with a three-leaf clover that has words in each leaf: “anti-rail-road rebate,” “Philippine tariff moderation,” and “Panama Canal—no grafting.” Roosevelt holds a “Spanish-American War” sword.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03

A “rate bill” man with a locomotive head leaps over a Republican elephant and a donkey ridden by South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman, dressed as a circus clown. President Roosevelt stands in front of a pillow while Uncle Sam looks on.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-04

President Roosevelt drives Uncle Sam and a patriotic lady in a car. A “red tape” rooster and “old fogyism” pig run away. An old man labeled “United States Senate” tries to wave him down. Caption: The decrepit Senate shouts a warning in behalf of the coddled pets of its establishment.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-27

President Roosevelt sits at his desk and looks at three papers: “Panama Canal,” “Philippine Tariff,” and “Railroad Rate Legislation.” There is a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall. Uncle Sam directs several men, including a “R. R. trust” and a “obstructionist,” away.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-11

President Roosevelt holds his “big stick” as he is trapped below the “feathered bed of private life.” Meanwhile, Uncle Sam sits on him and holds up a “candidacy lightning rod” with multiple prongs on it: “peace of Portsmouth,” “rate legislation,” “Panama Canal,” “beef trust,” “post office cleansing,” “coal strike,” “railroad merger,” “New Orleans,” and “departmental investigations.” Lightning from the “Republican nomination 1908” storm cloud hits this rod. Three other men—Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, and Leslie M. Shaw—hold up much smaller lightning rods with no success.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905

Uncle Sam holds back “customs officers” and points Alice Roosevelt to “the open door” at the “U.S. Custom House.” An attendant brings gifts from the “Emperor of Korea,” the “Emperor of Japan,” “Philippine friends,” and the “Dowager Empress of China.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-22

President Roosevelt holds a “football reforms” ball as he looks toward a “college coach.” A “goal” is in the background as Uncle Sam watches and says, “Rah! Rah! Rah!” President Roosevelt: “Now for a good, clean game.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-10

Uncle Sam and “Columbia” greet President Roosevelt and William Loeb as they return home.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-01

A “trusts” man with a “R.R. Rebates interests” paper in his back pocket rides Uncle Sam. President Roosevelt throws a “legislation” lasso toward the man.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-25

In the upper left cartoon, President Roosevelt jumps off the “Brooklyn Bridge.” In the upper right, Roosevelt rides in a barrel at Niagara Falls. In the bottom left, Roosevelt drives a “1000 horsepower ‘smasher car'” in the “International Automobile Contest.” In the bottom right, Roosevelt rides in an “air ships” with a “gasoline tank.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09