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Benjamin Messler, a recent alumnus of the Model School, extends his gratitude to the Thencanic Society for electing him an Honorary Member. He name-drops several notable military and political figures of the time who have also received this honor: the U.S. Navy commanders Charles Sigsbee, W. S. Schley, and George Dewey, all heroes of the Spanish-American War, as well as the Qing Dynasty statesman Li Hongzhang. For an unknown reason, the text of this letter is identical to the one sent by R. Earle Anderson on the same date (see related materials). Transcription included.

Captain Charles Sigsbee, commander of the U.S.S. Maine at the time of its explosion in Havana Harbor in February 1898, thanks the Thencanic Society for electing him an honorary member. The Thencanic admitted to the membership several notable figures from the Spanish-American War. Transcription included.

R. Earle Anderson, a recent alumnus of the Model School, extends his gratitude to the Thencanic Society for electing him an Honorary Member. He name-drops several notable military and political figures of the time who have also received this honor: the U.S. Navy commanders Charles Sigsbee, W. S. Schley, and George Dewey, all heroes of the Spanish-American War, as well as the Qing Dynasty statesman Li Hongzhang. For an unknown reason, the text of this letter is identical to the one sent by Benjamin Messler on the same date (see related materials). Transcription included.

Content note: This document contains racist and white supremacist language.

As part of his oration at a meeting of the Thencanic Society, Joseph Bodine prepared these remarks on future U.S. foreign policy. Just months after the end of hostilities between Spain and the United States (and before a peace treaty had been signed!), Bodine takes the "anti-imperialist" tack, although he couches his position in racist and white supremacist ideas about the supposed inability for self-government of the peoples in the U.S.'s new colonies. His perspective aligned with many of the so-called anti-imperialists following the Spanish-American War, in that he opposed U.S. expansion but did so on the grounds that such conquered peoples were unfit to live under the U.S. Constitution. In all, this provides an interesting snapshot of one political stance in the immediate aftermath of the war. Transcription included.