Staking His Claims 1898

Clifford K. Berryman’s 1898 cartoon, “Staking His Claims,” depicts Uncle Sam, a personification of the United States, planting flags on a map representing new territories acquired after the Spanish-American War. The caricature shows the US claiming Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the Canary Islands as new territories, all while standing in a body of water. This political cartoon is a prime example of the visual satire genre and was originally published in the Washington Post.