Political Cartoons in

the Philippines during

American Colonization

ENOC, KENNETH C.
BSTM - 1C
MR. JONATHAN NACUA
 SCOPE

In the Philippines, the alliance between U.S. forces and Filipino revolutionaries led
by Emilio Aguinaldo brought about Spain’s defeat. Aguinaldo boldly declared the
independence of the Philippines on June 12, 1898. He called a constitutional
convention and on January 1, 1899, was named the president of the new Philippine
Republic. The United States would not recognize his leadership, however.
Hostilities began between Aguinaldo’s forces and the U.S. military on February 4,
1899. Conventional fighting turned to guerrilla warfare. With Aguinaldo’s capture in
1901 his supporters lacked a leader, yet the fighting dragged on.

Theodore Roosevelt, who had fought in Cuba in the Spanish-American War,

assumed the U.S. presidency on September 14, 1901. He agreed with his
predecessor that the Filipinos were not capable of self-governance. He also believed
in the importance of the Philippine Islands as refueling stations for the navy. Yet he
sought an end to a war that was characterized by brutalities on both sides. He
proclaimed a general amnesty and a ceasefire on July 4, 1902.
William Howard Taft served as the first governor general of the Philippines, and with
his wife, Helen Herron Taft, instituted reforms designed to instill democracy. The
Philippines remained under U.S. protection and oversight until 1946.

DEVELOPE SEARCH TERM

● Political cartoons during American colonization of the Philippines

● Philippine political cartoons under American rule
● Ways political cartoons depicted American colonization in the Philippines
 VISIT DIGITAL AND LIBRARIES

Introduction

I am going to be analyzing three political cartoons and how they contribute to our
learning in World History 102. These cartoons all give a mental image that sum up
everything we go over in class in one single image. Pictures or photos itself can
"portray a thousand + words" so I think these are all very powerful images once you
know the background story and you can put them into your own words. It is an
especially interesting topic overall about the American Imperialism or Colonialism
over the Philippines in particular.

1st Political Cartoon:

This specific cartoon of someone wearing the colors red, white, and blue with stars
representing the flag of America but as a man teaching different islands in the Caribbean
about what is best for their countries. Because of how strong and powerful the United States
was getting from industrialization they were looking to colonize more and more areas to
become the most powerful of all. An important quote used very frequently in our power-point
and lecture notes by Albert Beverage is:

"It is a glorious history our God has bestowed upon his chosen people; a history heroic with
faith in our mission and our future... Hawaii is ours, Porto Rico is to be ours; at the prayer of
her people Cuba will finally be ours... The Opposition tells us that we ought not to govern a
people without their consent. I answer, The rule of liberty that all just gov. derives its
authority from the consent of the governed, applies only to those who are capable of
self-government. We govern the Indians without their consent, we govern our territories
without their consent, we govern our children without their consent. How do they know what
our government could be without their consent? Would not the people of the Philippines
prefer the just, humane, civilizing government of this Republic to the savage, bloody rule of
pillage and extortion from which we have rescued them?"
This is pretty lengthy but I believe that it is important to know the thoughts of an American
citizen during this time era because it gives some insight on why they did the things they did.
To sum it up in my own words, America believed they should intervene with small islands
nearby, and take over these places without given consent because they were not seen as a
place which could be independent just yet.
In the 18th and 19th century, the places with more advanced industrialization methods were
considered more rich and powerful than the places that did not. Because America was and
the Philippines were not, we looked to take them over and teach them the “American” ways.
Some things that pointed this out in the cartoon was size and power. You can see that the
man representing America is much taller and bigger than everyone else in the room which
were smaller states and countries as little kids. Another thing is that the Caribbean island
kids are sitting all the way in the front so the teacher can see them clearly and that is usually
where the teacher puts the baddest kids in regular elementary classrooms so they can listen
better. These same kids also look unhappy to be there or maybe even scared because of all
the newness they now must adapt to without giving their consent in the first place.
In the back, you can also see what symbolizes an indigenous person by the door trying to
read a book that is upside down to show that they are not as smart as the other kids who are
already industrialized. Not only that, the book is an alphabet book meaning that they are
starting from square one. Another thing in the back looks like an African little boy wiping the
window who is also not a part of the class but is being used by the US to do other things that
could possibly symbolize slavery and hard labor. One thing that irked me personally about
this photo was how in a lot of these cartoons, they don’t spell Puerto Rico right. As a Puerto
Rican, I know that Puerto Rico translates to ‘rich port’ in English because of their natural
wealthy resources but the artists of these images were ignorant towards the fact and
Americanized even their name.
2nd Political Cartoon:

In this photo, a man representing America is chasing a small and skinny person that is
representing the Filipinos. At this time the US was very wealthy and powerful on the West
side of the world which is why the man is bigger and taller than the Filipino on the left-hand
side. What the artist intended is that the US is trying to expand its land even more to impress
other countries to prove themselves worthy to be one of the highest powerful countries. On
the other hand, Europe is already up there while the US is giving them a show and trying to
impress Europe. At this time, they were more interested in other places for their resources.
According to ‘The Earth and its Peoples’ it mentions,

"…the British, like other Europeans, were drawn to Africa and southern Asia by a desire to
obtain new materials”.

This picture is effective at portraying what it was like when the US was on the come up trying
to be like Europe at the time. You can see all the different parts of Europe in the distance
watching the US chase after the Filipino like it is an audition or something like that to get
their attention. The fact that the Filipino is running away from the US is another point of view
that shows they do not want to be governed by the US, but they will try and do it anyway.
Another thing is that the Filipino is holding a gun, something America does not have yet but it
shows if they get the Filipino, they will have guns and other industrial advantages.
3rd Political Cartoon:

This image here is trying to show how the Americans were trying to win over the Philippines
by giving them gifts and by gifts it was new technology to industrialize. The US also was
going to give them American education. There was also a lot of similar images with the same
main message of the US trying to get the Philippines but what is different about this one is
the authors or artists perspective with little details that we can see.
The artist of this image to me, sees the US as unwelcome or as if they should not be trying
to take over the Philippines. One of the details that portray this artist’s perspective is that the
US is Santa Claus, but he is in a different environment and looks different from everyone
else. Santa is known to only come around in the winter when it is cold and here it is
scorching hot with the sun in the corner, he is sweating way more than the Filipinos, and he
has his coat off on his arm on the side. Another thing I noticed is that Santa representing the
US is holding and keeping what looks like something to do with Chinese culture to himself.
He is giving the Filipinos all these things but is keeping the thing they actually want, which is
China for themselves. This photo to me can send many different messages which is why I
find it effective in having a lot to say that is going on in this time period.

Conclusion:
Overall, the United States is very wealthy and powerful in this time era because of
industrialization alongside with the European countries. Most Americans believed that they
should have the right to govern other places without their consent because these places like
the Philippines and the other Carribean islands were not worthy to govern themselves.
Because the US started to expand its power after Europe, they tried to get up to their level
and impress them by taking over the Philippines especially. Although some Americans
believed they should not intervene over everything and everyone, they still did not win in this
scenario.

https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/War-and-
Military-Affairs/Philippine-American-Conflict

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ff70e2d6c9714148b8ec21223124a4db