Purchase of Alaska

Purchase of Alaska is the very subject of this political cartoon. The message in this cartoonist is portraying is that the territory America had purchased from Russia was nothing but extra weight to carry and that Alaska was just considered a block of ice. Other’s perseverance could be that Seward had made a good choice in purchasing Alaska as it was a positive for the territory they purchased could be rich in minerals, as it turned out to be.

A technique used was an analogy as they compared Alaska to a block of ice and vice versa. Another technique being used is symbolism as you have Russian America being labeled across the chunk of ice and in the back you could see what I’m assuming is a Russian man/woman carrying away bags of American currency. This cartoon is supportive of my position of American imperialism because my belief is that imperialism is a positive thing as long as both countries are content with being annex or becoming a part of the United States.

"Seward's Folly: Seward's Icebox Cartoon." Www.american-historama.org. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.american-historama.org/1866-1881-reconstruction-era/sewards-folly.htm>.