A Map of the United States May Look Like This After the Annexation of Canada.
- Title:
- A Map of the United States May Look Like This After the Annexation of Canada.
- Alternate Title:
- United States After the Annexation of Canada
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Leslie
- Date:
- 1888
- Posted Date:
- 2017-04-14
- ID Number:
- 2021.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2021_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1870 - 1899
- Subject:
- Politics & Government
Imperialism - Measurement:
- 20 x 18 on page 53 x 44 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This large map showing the hypothetical annexation of Canada appeared in the New York World in the middle of a heated fisheries dispute between the U.S. and Canada. Note that while some of the proposed new states and territories preserve the names of traditional Canadian provinces (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan), others are distinctly U.S. (Cleveland, Harrison, Franklin) and still others are whimsical (Airweather, Moose). The article allows that "The partition of an empire is an agreeable task that does not frequently fall to the lot of newspaper writers, but it is an entertaining amusement," and invites any dissatisfied reader to "take out his pencil and make and unmake States to suit himself."
In the spring of 1886, Canada asserted its right under changing treaty developments to deny American fishing vessels entry to its ports. This fisheries dispute (the latest of many) quickly intensified. In March 1887, amid calls for the U.S. to terminate all commercial relations with Canada, the Congress authorized the President to retaliate against Canadian fishing vessels in kind. Finally, in February 1888, the U.S., Canada and Great Britain (which still controlled Canadian foreign affairs) entered into a treaty resolving the issues. The treaty was sent to the Senate for ratification - and the Senate rejected it on August 21.
The following month, President Cleveland proposed that Congress enact a far more sweeping retaliation measure. On September 18, John Cooper, Republican of Ohio, gave a long speech on the Senate floor in which he attacked the President's proposed legislation on a number of counts. Near the end of his speech, "taking a broader view," Cooper urged instead that "all the considerations that entered into the acquisition of Florida, Louisiana, and the Pacific Coast and Texas apply to Canada, greatly strengthened by the changed condition of commercial relations and matters of transportation. These intensify not only the propriety, but the absolute necessity of both a commercial and a political union between Canada and the United States." Cooper 1888, 16-17. He proposed "the admission of Canada into the United States divided into states and territories upon the basis of our Federal system." Ibid. 18.
Cooper's speech was entitled "Relations with Canada - Annexation," but he made clear his intention to achieve union by "friendly" means, to "tender freedom in trade and intercourse . . . in such a fraternal way that it shall be an overture to the Canadian people to become part of this Republic." Ibid. Nevertheless, Cooper's speech focused a more aggressive discussion of annexation than had occurred from time to time in the past, intensified by the anger of the ongoing, unresolved dispute. The World had editorialized in favor of annexation as early as June 1887, and expressed its view in this article: "Nobody doubts that when the United States wants Canada she can have it."
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- New York World, Weekly Edition, December 5, 1888.
- Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.