Senator George F. Hoar of Massachusetts opposed American imperialistic expansion in the Philippines, believing it to be the most serious danger to America since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. He argued that the principle of the equality of all people under the law was a legacy endangered by U.S. resistance to the emerging Philippine independence moment.
In this cartoon the Senator is shown desperately trying to hold back the boulder of territorial expansion from triggering a landslide. The debate over the future status of the Philippines spanned the months between the defeat of Spain in July 1898 and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in December 1898. Signing the treaty, however, did not resolve the underlying debate about the relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines.
This cartoon is featured in America and the World: Foreign Affairs in Political Cartoons, 1898–1940, a free PDF book from the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives.
United States Lines - Comfort, Courtesy, Safety, Speed
The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
