17.3 (above) - This is a colorful visual of how diverse Chicago was in 1895. I do wonder what kinds of people fall under the "colored" category. If you're not listed as a color/ethnicity, do you just fall under the colored category? Or are we supposed to assume they are African-American?

17.4 (below) - I thought this was interesting because I never would have pictured streets to look this horrible. There is literally junk everywhere and seems like this horse and cart can barely even get through.

Source: Keene, Cornell, and O’Donnell, Visions of America: A History of the United States

16.7 (above) - This is a visual representation of how big businesses run the Senate instead of the senators. They are huge and obviously over power the room. Their uniforms are similar to that of money bags and represent that they are filled with money and therefore wield power.

16.5 (below) - The octopus represents a monopolistic railroad industry as a giant octopus who is strangling its competition in order to gain profit for itself and itself only. This includes (as shown): wheat export, stage lines, lumber dealers, fruit growers, farmers, miners, wine, and mussel slough. Take note of the tombstone in the bottom left corner reading: Killed by the railroad monster. Competition is being killed by the octopus that is the railroad monopoly, written on its back.

Source: Keene, Cornell, and O’Donnell, Visions of America: A History of the United States

The image on the left is a pro-expansionist political cartoon portraying Uncle Sam (America) holding the baby (young/new Filipinos) and feeding it civilization and education, insinuating that America will take care of the Philippines. However, the unkempt Filipino figure decorated in derogatory/negatively connotated words is unhappy with what is in front of her. She represents Filipino protesters. Finally,Senator Hoar is the anti-imperialist who believes Filipinos can take care of themselves and don't need America to help them.

The image on the right is depicts what America looks like now that it has possession of the Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. They are seen seated at the front and colored darkly suggesting white supremacy and isolation due to differences in culture and color. Their faces also indicate that they do not want to be there. Uncle Sam portrays America as he is large and is leaning over the children, again suggesting superiority as he forces the class to learn. The students in the back are White and studious, depicting a "picture-perfect" image of what the American peoples should look and act like. The Indian reading a book upside down indicates inferiority and stupidity. The Chinese kid at the door alludes to the Chinese Exclusion Act which is why he is not inside. Meanwhile, the African-American is shown as performing the laborious act of washing windows in the classroom, foreshadowing the existence of slavery even if "freed".

While several groups sought out to expand westward, a group referred to as exodusters who were former slaves that "hoped to secure new lives as independent farmers, free of poverty and violence in the South" (Keene). The image compares and contrasts the migration of "old style" vs. "new". On the left shows the "old style" in which a unkempt slave is shown hiding as a steamboat is passing by. On the right, newly freed slaves are dressed fairly well as they arrive at their destination via steamboat. The ad on the left is promotion of the "Exodus of 1879", convincing further westward expansion.