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World of 1898: International Perspectives on the Spanish American War

Anti-Imperialist League

On June 15, 1898, the Anti-imperialist league formed to fight U.S. annexation of the Philippines, citing a variety of reasons ranging from the economic to the legal to the racial to the moral. It included among its members such notables as Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, William James, David Starr Jordan, and Samuel Gompers with George S. Boutwell, former secretary of the Treasury and Massachusetts, as its president. Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the league began to decline and eventually disappeared.


Cover of meeting held in Chicago by the American Anti-Imperialist League. The Chicago liberty meeting, held at Central music hall, April 30, 1899, cover. Download an uncompressed TIFF (.tif) version of this image.