Purchase of Alaska

Declined With Thanks

The issue that this political cartoon is about is the Purchase of Alaska. The cartoonist’s message is that Uncle Sam is getting fatter because of all the states and territories that he has acquired. In the political cartoon, Uncle Sam is being fitted for new clothes by President McKinley from cloth marked Enlightened Foreign Policy, and Rational Expansion. The men are offering “medicine” from bottles of anti-expansion policy. Others might see this cartoon and think that Uncle Sam was just being greedy by taking these territories. The techniques that the cartoonist used to make it persuasive are labeling, and exaggeration. The cartoon shows labeling because the stripes on his pants have the name of a state or territory, and it shows exaggeration because Uncle Sam is so fat. The cartoon supports my position on American Imperialism because Uncle Sam just keeps feeding on these new territories and getting fatter.

"Declined with Thanks." Declined with Thanks. Library of Congress. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010651326/>.