Political Cartoons

This political cartoon depicts Uncle Sam carrying the native people of Hawaii, Cuba, Philippines, and others, up a hill to the golden statue of civilization. Through this, the artist is showing the "white man's burden" to carry these people up the metaphorical mountain of "barbarism, oppression, and ignorance." The Philippine man ready to hit Uncle Sam with a hammer shows the Philippine resistance to American control. Given that the cartoon was published in 1899, I feel that the artist is trying to express his opinion that the United States should control the Philippines rather than liberate it before the Philippine-American War. I feel that this cartoon is an accurate depiction of the "white man's burden," and that the artist does a good job of symbolizing the decision on whether to control of liberate.

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This cartoon is a literal representation of the rush for territory in Africa that took place during the early stages of new imperialism. The cartoony style used by the artist is perhaps his or her attempt to satire the situation of foreign people fighting over land that is not even theirs.  Aside from Ethiopia an Liberia, all of Africa was under European influence. I like this cartoon, and the metaphor that it creates. Specifically, I like how the artist chooses to leave Africans out of the picture, only displaying Europeans, which is obviously to show that Africans had no say in how their land was distributed.