On the magazines cover for August 8, 1900, the familiar feminized and godlike personification of the West points at a slavering dragon, labeled Boxer, crawling over the wall of the capital city. The caption quotes one of the presidents speeches: Teaching them the truth of the common fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and showing that if we are not our brothers keepers we can be our brothers helpers. Following its victory over China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, Japan had the heady experience of being welcomed into the imperialist circle. In Kiplings often-quoted phrase, this noble mission required willingness to engage in savage wars of peace.. The turn of the century also witnessed emergence of articulate anti-imperialist voices worldwideand this movement had its own powerful wing of incisive graphic artists. The white mans burden was an example of a justified imperialism argument to liberate the countries that lagged in economic, social, and political development in the 19 th century. Around 1904 or 1905in another impassioned response to the American war in the Philippines (which officially ended in 1902 but in practice dragged on for many years thereafter)Twain penned a short essay titled The War Prayer. The essay is now regarded as an exemplary indictment of blind patriotism coupled with religious fanaticism. Hanna was a wealthy businessman with investments in coal and iron who financed McKinleys 1896 election campaign with record-breaking fundraising that led to the defeat of opponent William Jennings Bryan. Source: Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscripts, Yale University. Take up the White Mans burden Ye dare not stoop to less Nor call The silent, sullen peoples Shall weigh your Gods and you. Analysis The men selected for the task must do it efficiently. That dragon must be killed before our troubles can be adjusted. Historical perspective. Anti-imperialists condemned this view and felt that it was racist and condescending toward people from other countries. Given the rhetoric of civilizing uplift used to justify expansion, training was expected as part of the incorporation of new territories into the U.S. When a Chinese coolie strikes a French soldier the result is a public cry of Barbarity! But when a French soldier strikes a coolie, its a necessary blow for civilization. Ren Georges Hermann-Paul,Le Cri de Paris, July 10, 1899. Now there are thirteen on this one street! Europeans, this reads, Pour the Blessings of Their Culture over the Globe.. ), Is This Imperialism?: the Boxer Uprising. It is just to use every legitimate means for the enlargement of American trade; but we seek no advantages in the Orient which are not common to all. There, membership in militant secret societies swelled, most prominently in the Yi He Quan (Society of the Righteous Fist), a sect known to Westerners as the Boxers. Here the Auto-Truck of Civilization and Trade shines a headlight upon a raging dragon and sword-wielding Chinese Boxer whose banner reads 400 Million Barbarians. In the imagery of the civilizing mission, China is portrayed as both backward and savage. In a strikingJudgegraphic, an Auto-Truck of Civilization and Trade lights a pathway through the darkness, leading with a gun and the message: Force if Necessary. Overladen with manufactured goods and modern technology, the vehicle is driven by a resolute Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam breaks up a fight between students identified as Cuban Ex-Patriot and Guerilla in his New Class in the Art of Self-Government. The famous white-haired general, Mximo Gmez, a master of insurgency tactics in the Cuban Independence War (18951898) reads a book with his name on it. It was written in support of Americas attempt to annex the Philippines. Columbia Studies in the Social Sciences (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955). From the high to the low, by 1901 the collaboration between the two Anglo nations held a different fate for the globe. In this French cartoon from a special issue titled, La Guerre (War), a missionary and a Red Cross representative lament the violent and un-Christian behavior of Westerners overseas. The Origins of the Boxer War: A Multinational Study(London, New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003). [Read Online]. Foreign buildings and churches were torched and the Beijing-Tianjin railway and telegraph lines were dismantled, cutting communication with the capital. On Chinas side, the Boxers were absorbed into the Qing government forces to fight the invaders. Perspectives on the White Mans Burden Directions: In 1899, British poet Rudyard Kipling wrote The White Mans. Prisoners will not be taken! Miller, Bonnie M. The Image-Makers Arsenal in an Age of War and Empire, 1898 1899: A Cartoon Essay, Featuring the Work of Charles Bartholomew (of theMinneapolis Journal)and Albert Wilbur Steele (of theDenver Post). Journal of American Studies, 45, pp 53-75 (Cambridge University Press). The "white man's burden" refers to the duty of Westerners to the rest of the world. Source: Widener Library, Harvard University. Source:The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. Additional images from the issue depict barbaric behavior by the multinational force that intervened in China during the Boxer Uprising. An elaboratePuckgraphic from early in 1899 called School Begins incorporates all the players in a classroom scene to illustrate the legitimacy of governing without consent. Ships for American commerce a speciality., Right: Uncle Sam proudly displays his new steamship and a sign that reads, Uncle Sam the ship builder re-established with great success in 1893. Periodicals likeLifein the U.S. (predecessor to the later famous weekly of the same title), as well as French and German publications, printed both poignant and outraged visual arguments against the imperialist tide, often with acute sensitivity to its racist underpinnings. Violence in the Name of Peace and Civilization. The White Mans Burden was used by both pro- and anti-imperialist factions. So, if we do our duty aright in the Philippines, we will add to that national renown which is the highest and finest part of national life, will greatly benefit the people of the Philippine Islands, and, above all, we will play our part well in the great work of uplifting mankind. Historical perspective. The French caption mocks British hypocrisy in officially praising the humanitarian behavior of their armed forces. Although protested by some commanders, no single approach prevailed among these competitive armies thrown together in a loose coalition. Newly conquered populations, described in the opening stanza as your new-caught, sullen peoples, half-devil and half-child would need sustained commitments to serve your captives needs.. Vultures hover above the procession, and the artifacts of past civilization are trampled underfoot at the rear. BritanniaDaughter! '. In the U.S., pro-imperialist graphics created the image of robotic, unstoppable American soldiers stomping on foreign lands and towering over barefoot savages. In The Pigtail Has Got to Go, a white-robed goddess wears a star that radiates over a Chinese mandarin. Comment on Global Research Articles on our Facebook page, Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). 167-165, The American Peace Society, Boston, (December, 1989). Militarily beneath notice by the major European powers, and able to resolve conflicts with Britain in the Western Hemisphere diplomatically, there was little pressure for a strong military in the U.S. With minimal military expenditures, the U.S. economy grew rapidly. Seated around them (left to right) are a feminized Russia, Turkey, Italy, Austria, Spain, and France. Weber, Mark. However, brutally repressive policies followed that included accusations of genocide. The message suggests that the indigenous man will be brought out of ignorance through the inescapable march of progress in the form of Western civilization. Geopolitics, Vol. A band of tribal defenders, whose leader rides a white charger and wields the flag of Barbarism, fades in the face of Civilizations advance. Even the language of Lifes caption is subversive, for it picks up a famous pro-imperialist speech by Theodore Roosevelt titled The Strenuous Life. Delivered on April 10, 1899, two years before Roosevelt became president, the most famous lines of the speech were these: I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger . Feng, Yongping, The Peaceful Transition of Power from the UK to the US.ChineseJournal of International Politics1 (1) pp. Le Silence (Concentration Camps in the Transvaal. To criticise or hold under too deep a scrutiny is to be accused of being an agent of a new type of colonialism. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938). Americas recent subjugated populations are savage, unruly, and rebelliousliterally visually half devil and half child, as Kipling would have it. In The Harvest in the Philippines, Uncle Sam stands, armed to the hilt, gazing at the viewer with a field of Filipino corpses lined up in rows behind him and stretching back as far as the eye can see. The Laureate of Empire.Raritan: A Quarterly Review. Imperialism in the Asia-Pacific,published originally inPeace Review10:3, pp. Asking only the open door for ourselves, we are ready to accord the open door to others. Matthews, Roy T. Britannia and John Bull: From Birth to Maturity.The Historian,Vol. Esherick, Joseph. As the caption indicates, this cover illustration dismisses charges of imperialism that critics directed against American expansion at the turn of the century.Harpers Weekly took pride in billing itself as A Journal of Civilization. The barbarians depicted here are Chinese Boxers who committed atrocities against Christian missionaries. The blackboard contains the lessons learned from Great Britain on how to govern a colony and bring them into the civilized world, stating, By not waiting for their consent she has greatly advanced the worlds civilization. In Library of Congress notes on this image, the seated figure on the left is identified as Minervathe Roman goddess of wisdom, arts, and commerce. The regular army was dissolved after the war and the ironclad warships gradually fell into disrepair. Most viewers will probably agree that there is nothing really comparable in the contemporary world of political cartooning to the drafting skill and flamboyance of these single-panel graphics, which appeared in such popular periodicals as Puck and Judge. Published in April 27, 1898, the first cartoon calls the monumental warship The Sphinx of the Period: an unknown quantity in modern warfare. About a month later, a June 1 graphic picks up on the Sphinx metaphor and declares The American Battle-Ship is No Longer an Unknown Quantity. A pugnacious sailor and sweeping U.S. flag have replaced the inscrutable sphinx; guns are smoking, the Spanish fleet lies sunken below. In contradiction to the western white mans burden narrative, both Bush and Blair presided over torture programs victimising Muslim people-of-colour. The cause of the explosion is still undetermined. The White Man's Burden Today: Good Governance and Corruption The presentation of White Man's Burden and the figure of Oystein Tveter along with the presence of such a distinguished In the United StatesPuck,Judge, and the first version of a pictorial magazine titledLife; in FranceLAssiette au Beurre; and in Germany the acerbicSimplicissimuspublished masterful illustrations that ranged in opinion and style from partisan to thoughtful to gruesome. Who, they asked, was the real barbarian? The laudatory rhetoric and imagery of a white mans burden and civilizing mission received a sharp rejoinder in a cartoon published byLifein April, 1901 under the title March of the Strenuous Civilization. In this sardonic rendering of the realities of imperialist expansion, a missionary leads the charge holding a Missionary Ledger. Immediately behind him march a sword-brandishing sailor carrying loot and a rifle-bearing soldier carrying booty. Science comes next, clutching lyddite, a high explosive first used by the British in the Boer War. Tough the Process Be Costly, The Road of Progress Must Be Cut. Udo Keppler,Puck, December 10, 1902. ColumbiaMother! Louis Dalrymple,Puck, June 15, 1898. First Lessons in Self Government. The paper on desk reads: The New Class. Despite public neutrality, the U.S. and Britain covertly supported each other. Hawaii and Porto Rico are model female students. Lifepublished many graphics that showed the humanitarian costs inflicted by war and political aggressiondespoliation, looting, concentration camps, torture, and genocideoften awkwardly interspersed amongst humorous sketches and domestic scenes. Phillips, Richard and Jones, Rhys. The image exhibits a racist hierarchy that places a dominant white American male in the center, and on the fringes, an African-American washing the windows and Native-American reading a primer upside down. He says, Take up the White Mans burden, Send forth the best ye breed In September 1901, the French artist Jean Veber used the pages ofLAssiette au Beurreto call attention to one of the often-forgotten ironies of the mystique of the white mans burden. His cartoon, depicting a vast field of flat stone grave markers, carried the simple caption United Kingdom (Le Royaume-Uni). The meaning of white man's burden is a duty formerly asserted by white people to manage the affairs of nonwhite people whom they believed to be less developed. Cartoons endorsing imperialist expansion depicted a beneficent West as father, teacher, even Santa Clausbearing the gifts of progress to benefit poor, backward, and childlike nations destined to become profitable new markets. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [emailprotected]. as early as 2000, in blowback: the costs and consequences of american empire, johnson predicted that the american empire was going to face considerable resistance around the globe in the form of terrorism and social unrest. The poem acknowledged the thanklessness of a task rewarded with The blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard and sentimentalized the savage wars of peace as self-sacrificial crusades undertaken for the greater good. The feminine representations of imperial nations pictured here include Russia, Turkey, Italy, Austria, Spain, and France. Udo Keppler, a Puck cartoonist who was still in his twenties at the time, was more benign in his rendering of the great rapprochement. W. H. P. Signs of Promise., Jones, Toby Craig. Lucky Filipinos: the Philippine-American War. French artists, on the other hand, leveled charges of barbarism against Great Britain and other imperial powers, including their own country, in vivid graphics. Partnership with Great Britain brought the advantage of shared technology to the U.S., but the new American-made ships represented competition for the British shipbuilding industry. Vaughan, Christopher. Western leaders eagerly embraced the doctrine of the white man's burden because it was a convenient justification for their expansionist policies. The full sardonic irony of the rendering, however, resides in the dead occupants of the graves. America in the China Relief Expedition(Kansas City: Hudson-Kimberly publishing company, 1903). Embracing Technologies of Domination: The Rise of Popular Imperialism in the U.S., 1898-1904. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Dresden International Congress Centre, Dresden, Germany, Jun 16, 2006. A Rival Who Has Come to Stay: Naval Power. Source:Library of Congress, This rueful cartoon places Confucius and Jesus side-by-side and laments the failure of all parties to practice what they preach. In the final years of the Civil War, U.S. naval power was second only to the great seafaring empire of Great Britain. 19th Century Editorial Cartoons and the Business of Race., Thompson, Roger R. Reporting the Taiyuan Massacre from, Tuffnell, Stephen. [p. 199], The Way We Get the War News. Model students Hawaii and Porto Rico appear as docile girls learning their lessons. 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