The Panama Canal

Witte, Anne. ""Coup D'Etat" A Political Cartoon about the Panama Canal."Group 4s US Foreign Relations Blog. Wordpress, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2016. <https://history204group4.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/coup-detat-a-political-cartoon-about-the-panama-canal/>.

This political cartoon is about the Panama Canal, and uses labeling, exaggeration, and analogy. The narrow strip of land is labeled Panama, and the tiny boat in the distance has a flag labeled Columbia. The little man on Panama also has a flag that reads, “Republic of Panama” Theodore Roosevelt is exaggerated greatly, and is ten times larger than the Panamanian. He also carries a large shovel, and is laden with many knives. The analogy is comparing the Roosevelt Doctrine to a gangplank. This references the fact that we are the policeman of the western hemisphere. The cartoonist’s message is that we charged, guns a’ blazing, into Panama without consent from Columbia. Many people also believed that this was the plan B from the start, and was not done on a whim. I feel like this solidifies my position on the cruelty of American imperialism.