What Were Labor Arguments Against Going to War With Spain
"Expansion: The Water-Cure method of extorting from Uncle Sam the confession that an Empire is improve than a Republic."
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| "Expansion" The Public (January 31, 1902) |
Source
The Public (January 31, 1902), Chicago, edited by Louis Freeland Post.
Description
This cartoon appeared in the January 31, 1902 edition of the Chicago mag The Public which was edited by Louis Freeland Post (1849-1928). In the Spanish-American War of 1898 the U.S. defeated Spain and acquired its colonies in the Pilippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. This policy was opposed by members of the Anti-Imperialist League and by liberals such as Mail service on the grounds that it violated the principles of Thomas Jefferson (The Proclamation of Independence), George Washington (his Farewell Address), and Abraham Lincoln. Post was trained as a lawyer and had go interested in the complimentary trade and unmarried tax ideas of Henry George which he promoted in the magazines he edited and the books he published. The Anti-Imperialism League began in June 1898 in opposition to the war confronting Spain and included an impressive listing of establishment politicians, academics, and authors such as Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Jane Addams, Edward Atkinson, Ambrose Bierce, Andrew Carnegie, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Grover Cleveland, John Dewey, Edwin Lawrence Godkin, Samuel Gompers, William Dean Howells, Henry James, William James, David Starr Jordan, Carl Schurz, William Graham Sumner, and Oswald Garrison Villard.The Platform of the Anti-Impeialism League from October 1899 is shown beneath.
The cartoon shows the figure of Uncle Sam who has been pinned to the basis by members of Theodore Roosevelt's administration who are dressed like picayune devils (some are named: Taft, Spooner, Lodge) who have around their necks a medallion which says "IMP". They are using the Philippino "h2o torture" to force Uncle Sam (the Firm & the Senate) to confess that an Empire is ameliorate than a Republic. Theordore Roosevelt is the figure standing by the spigot administering the water torture to Uncle Sam. Above his head is a version of the American flag on which is written "Slavery & Polygamy Protected. Sultan of Sulu per Roosevelt" which is a refernce to the islamic Sultanate of Sulu which was a number of islands in the Sulu Body of water in the southern part of the Philippines which as well came nether American command. Uncle Sam can be seen clutching a copy of the Declaration of Independence and 1 of the devils is kick his lid which spills out papers which have the names of some of the key intellectuals who provided the League with its ideas on opposing Empire: Adams, Washington, Hancock, (William Graham) Sumner, Franklin, Lincoln, Madison, ect. The h2o barrel is chosen "Roosevelt'southward Platform" and has written on it "Regal Measure administered past the Administration: Repeal of the Declaration of Independence. Perversion of Monroe Doctrine. Military machine Despotism. Violation of Rules of State of war. Government by Injunction. AUTOCRACY, ARISTOCRACY, PLUTOCRACY, FEUDALISM." In the foreground at the foot of one of the devils is a document which says "Act of Congress giving President despotic control of Puerto Rico & Philippines" and some other which says "Regular army Bill giving President despotic command of troops." The championship of the cartoon is "Expansion" which refers to both the territorial expansion of the U.Southward. after 1898 and the expansion of Uncle Sam'southward belly as large quantities of water are forced into his tum as part of the "water cure" he is forced to endure.
One reaction to the war against Spain by a leading member of the Anti-Imperialist League was the lecture given past the sociologist William Graham Sumner "The Conquest of the United states by Spain" in 1898. Sumner is one of the names mentioned in the cartoon ("Sumner's Teachings") equally providing the intellectual basis for the League's opposition to imperialism. Here are some cardinal pasages from that lecture:
During the last year the public has been familiarized with descriptions of Spain and of Spanish methods of doing things until the name of Espana has become a symbol for a certain well-defined set up of notions and policies. On the other hand, the name of the United States has always been, for all of us, a symbol for a country of things, a set of ideas and traditions, a group of views about social and political affairs. Espana was the first, for a long time the greatest, of the modern imperialistic states. The United States, past its historical origin, its traditions, and its principles, is the chief representative of the revolt and reaction against that kind of a state. I intend to show that, by the line of action now proposed to us, which we telephone call expansion and imperialism, we are throwing away some of the most important elements of the American symbol and are adopting some of the most important elements of the Spanish symbol. We have beaten Spain in a military machine conflict, but we are submitting to be conquered by her on the field of ideas and policies. Expansionism and imperialism are nothing merely the old philosophies of national prosperity which have brought Spain to where she now is. Those philosophies appeal to national vanity and national cupidity. They are seductive, especially upon the first view and the most superficial judgment, and therefore it cannot be denied that they are very strong for pop upshot. They are delusions, and they will lead united states to ruin unless nosotros are hard-headed plenty to resist them. In any case the year 1898 is a slap-up landmark in the history of the United States. The consequences will not be all good or all bad, for such is non the nature of societal influences. They are ever mixed of good and sick, and and so it will be in this example. Fifty years from at present the historian, looking back to 1898, will no doubt see, in the course which things will accept taken, consequences of the proceedings of that year and of this present 1 which volition non all be bad, but you volition observe that that is not a justification for a happy-go-lucky policy; that does not affect our duty to-day in all that we do to seek wisdom and prudence and to decide our actions by the best judgment which we can class....
... The laws of nature and of human nature are just equally valid for Americans equally for anybody else, and if nosotros commit acts we shall take to take consequences, just like other people. Therefore prudence demands that we look ahead to see what we are about to exercise, and that we gauge the ways at our disposal, if we do not want to bring calamity on ourselves and our children. We meet that the peculiarities of our system of government fix limitations on us. We cannot practice things which a great centralized monarchy could do. The very blessings and special advantages which we bask, as compared with others, bring disabilities with them. That is the peachy fundamental cause of what I accept tried to testify throughout this lecture, that we cannot govern dependencies consistently with our political organization, and that, if we try information technology, the State which our fathers founded will suffer a reaction which will transform it into another empire just subsequently the fashion of all the quondam ones. That is what imperialism means. That is what information technology will be; and the democratic republic, which has been, will stand in history, like the colonial organization of earlier days, as a mere transition form.
Online Resource
- Thomas Jefferson, The Annunciation of Independence (1776)
- Georege Washington, Good day Address 1796()
- William Graham Sumner (1840-1910)
- Field of study: War and Peace
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| Platform of the Anti-Impeialism League (Oct 1899) |
Source: https://oll.libertyfund.org/page/images-of-liberty-and-power-spanish-american-war-anti-imperialism-league
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