Historical Significance

In 1898, the American Anti-Imperialist League organized to protest the annexation of the Philippines. Around 1900, Puck satirized American political and social issues through political cartoons on the magazine's front cover. Anti-imperialists such as these opposed imperialism for economic, legal, and moral reasons. Samuel Gompers was against imperialism out of a fear that the "hordes of Chinese and the semi-savage races" would become part of the United States, take away jobs, and affect the wages of American workers.