Uncle Sam - He Wants Me to Bring Him In

The sly Uncle Sam in this cartoon suggests the general division in public opinion about annexing Hawaii to the United States between 1890 and 1898. An 1878 tariff triggered a boom in the Hawaiian sugar economy dominated by American-born planters.

Although only a fraction of the population, Americans controlled the Hawaiian government and granted the U.S. a naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1887. Three years later, when a change in U.S. trade policy hurt the Hawaiian sugar industry, native Hawaiians restored the monarchy.
The planters regained control of Hawaii’s government in 1892, and proposed joining the territory to the U.S. The initiative stalled in Washington, but the election of Republican William McKinley to the Presidency in 1896 reignited the drive. In July, 1898, McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution adding Hawaii to the United States as a territory.

This cartoon was drawn by Clifford Berryman, one of Washington, DC's best-known cartoonists in the early to mid-1900s. Berryman drew for the Washington Post and Evening Star newspapers. His cartoons touched on a variety of subjects including politics, elections, and both World Wars.

This cartoon is featured in America and the World: Foreign Affairs in Political Cartoons, 1898–1940, a free PDF book from the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives.