4th of July (or Independence Day) [07.04.2025]

Today’s the 4th of July, and while many of you celebrate your freedoms- remember that your Republic is also an Empire with both internal and overseas colonies.

This cartoon was published in January of 1899, a month after the Spanish-American War ended. The U.S. was still debating whether it could annex new territories without extending the Constitution or citizenship. Uncle Sam is shown teaching his new “class” of colonized students lessons in self-government. The day's lesson? British colonialism- governing without consent in the name of “civilization.” The cartoon suggests that the U.S. should follow the British example and accept its Manifest Destiny. The Civil War offers a valuable lesson: the Confederacy had to be forced to remain within the Union against their will. Porto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, and Cuba, drawn as unassimilated Black and Brown children, sit in the front row. They are visibly unhappy for they haven’t agreed to be governed. Texas and California sit at their own desks—“model students” who were granted statehood. Arizona, New Mexico, and Alaska sit behind them- still learning the ropes but on the path towards statehood. Their clothing marks them as either Democrats or Republicans. A Chinese child is refused entry into the classroom, a nod to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned them from citizenship. An Indigenous student sits in the back, reading his ABCs upside down—included, but clearly marginalized. A symbol of forced assimilation. A minstrel caricature of a Black man cleans the windows- ignored by Uncle Sam, and the Republicans, who have turned their backs on Reconstruction era politics. So, while you eat your hotdogs and celebrate your independence, remember that your freedom has come at the expense of others. 127 years later, and school is still in session.