Political Cartoon 5

This political cartoon is about the purchase of Alaska. The cartoonist’s message is that America just bought a huge hunk of ice for 7.3 million dollars. Seward is wheeling off his hunk of ice and the British are taking the 7.3 million dollars with them. The counter argument to this would be that it was good for us to buy Alaska because there is so much potential to the vast Alaska land. Alaska has resources that could help us financially.

Symbolism and exaggeration are used for persuasion in this cartoon. Symbolism used in this cartoon because the cartoonist is showing that he thinks that Alaska is just a worthless piece of ice. Also, the cartoonist uses exaggeration to make the men’s heads very big. It is as though they are too selfish to realize they just spend so much money on some ice. This cartoon supports my view that America should not have bought Alaska, and that we were acting too imperialistically by spending so much money on something that would be of no value to us.

"Political Cartoon - Alaska 1867." Political Cartoon - Alaska 1867. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <https://sites.google.com/site/alaska1867turnup/olitical-cartoon-3>.