---
title: Uncle Sam looks at "Cuba" holding a "Cuban Revolutionist" baby (Bartholomew cartoon, April 1898)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/startled-uncle-sam-cuban-revolutionist-baby-bartholomew-1898/
description: A startled Uncle Sam on the left looks at a woman labelled 'Cuba' holding a crying baby marked 'Cuban Revolutionist'.
section: Collection
---

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[![Uncle Sam looks at "Cuba" holding a "Cuban, 1898 US cartoon: A startled Uncle Sam on the left looks at a woman labelled](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/startled-uncle-sam-cuban-revolutionist-baby-bartholomew-1898.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/startled-uncle-sam-cuban-revolutionist-baby-bartholomew-1898.jpg)

# Uncle Sam looks at "Cuba" holding a "Cuban Revolutionist" baby (Bartholomew cartoon, April 1898)

A startled Uncle Sam on the left looks at a woman labelled 'Cuba' holding a crying baby marked 'Cuban Revolutionist'. The tell: the infant stands for a young cause and the woman for the island, so a debate over recognising a government is staged as a household decision.

Cartoonist Charles L. Bartholomew drew this American cartoon in April 1898, the month Congress authorised force against Spain, though the publication is not recorded. A startled Uncle Sam looks at a woman labelled "Cuba" who holds a crying baby marked "Cuban Revolutionist". The catalogue notes suggest it concerns whether the United States would recognise the Cuban revolutionary government, but the cartoon does not say so itself. Turning a question of state recognition into a household scene invites sympathy for the child and the mother, which is the appeal to emotion, in place of an argument about the political question.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Appeal to emotion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/appeal-to-emotion/)

## Full record

Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights

[← New York World, front page, 17 February 1898 (Maine explosion 'caused by bomb or torpedo')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ny-world-maine-bomb-or-torpedo-1898/) ["'War is Hell.' Sherman, \[but\] Peace in Cuba under Spanish Rule Is Worse than Hell" (Judge, 30 April 1898) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-is-hell-sherman-peace-in-cuba-judge-1898/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- ["General Antonio Maceo, the Hero of Peralejo" (Sahm & Co., New York, 1898)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/general-antonio-maceo-hero-of-peralejo-sahm-1898/) (United States · 1898 · Appeal to emotion)
- ["Handicapped!" (Artists' Suffrage League poster, London, 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/handicapped-artists-suffrage-league-1909/) (United Kingdom · 1909 · Appeal to emotion)
- ["Justice Demands the Vote" (Brighton & Hove Women's Franchise Society, 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/justice-demands-the-vote-brighton-hove-1909/) (United Kingdom · 1909 · Appeal to emotion, Transfer)
- ["Shall Women Vote?" (Puck centerfold, 31 March 1909)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/shall-women-vote-puck-1909/) (United States · Mar 31, 1909 · Appeal to emotion, Card stacking)
- ["In Belgium and yet when she wanted the vote they told her a woman's place was in the home" (cartoon, 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/in-belgium-and-yet-woman-wanted-the-vote-1914/) (United States · 1914 · Appeal to emotion, Whataboutism)
- ["Votes for Mothers!" (The Suffragist, cover, 13 June 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/votes-for-mothers-suffragist-1914/) (United States · Jun 13, 1914 · Appeal to emotion)
- [Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/daddy-what-did-you-do-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Fear appeal, Appeal to emotion)
- [Enlist](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/enlist-lusitania-1915/) (United States · 1915 · Fear appeal, Appeal to emotion). Content note: A mother and infant drowning in the Lusitania sinking.