The Spanish American War

This political cartoon is about how the Philippines are now a part of the United States after the Spanish American War.  The message the cartoonist was trying to say about the cartoon is that the Philippines will be able to obtain many of the “gifts” and benefits for being a part of the United States instead of being a separate country. It also looks like the cartoonist is also showing what the United States has to offer to the Philippines. Other people such as the Filipinos and the people from the Anti-Imperialist League would believe that the Philippines being a part of the United States is not what they truly want for Christmas. They would want to be a free and independence nation, not be a part of the United States even though there are all of those types of benefits they might get. The Anti-Imperialist League people would think that this would not be fair for the Philippines whatsoever because all they have ever wanted was independence, not the presents that they could get if they were a U.S. colony. That would not be fair at all for the United States to do that to the Philippines. The techniques used in the cartoon to make it persuasive would be the labeling and symbolism. The labeling technique is shown on the cartoon are the bags of presents that are all for the Philippines to have for Christmas. Each of the labeled bags from Santa represent a benefit that the Philippines will have as gifts from the United States because they are a U.S. colony. The bags are labeled from the words, justice, education, honest government, liberty, and prosperity. The flag that is on Santa’s sleigh says, “For the Philippines,” That shows that all of the labeled bags are ALL for the Philippines from the United States. There is symbolism in the cartoon because of Uncle Sam and Santa being there. First of all, Uncle Sam represents the United States and it shows that the U.S. is being portrayed in a good manner because Uncle Sam is helping Santa “pass” out presents to the Philippines. Santa is usually represented because he is the spirit of Christmas and gives out some kind of sign that it is a time where everybody gets to celebrate and be happy. This cartoon definitely supports my anti-imperialism position because it shows that even though there are gifts from the United States that the Philippines might get, but in the spirit of Santa and Christmas, what the Philippines truly want to celebrate is their independence. That makes this cartoon powerful and it will support my position.

Granger. "Cartoon: Philippines, 1898 by Granger." Fine Art America. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. <http://fineartamerica.com/featured/cartoon-philippines-1898-granger.html>.