Edward Atkinson (February 10, 1827 - 1905) was a founder of the Anti-Imperialist League February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1827 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The American Anti-Imperialist League was formed on June 15, 1898 to fight U.S. annexation of the Philippines and other U.S. insular areas on economic, legal, moral, and even racial grounds. ...

Cartoon of Erving Winslow and Edward Atkinson of the Anti-Imperialist League mourning Aguinaldo's capture. By the imperilist paper, New York Tribune, reprinted Literary Digest, 22 (April 13, 1901).

He was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the decade before the Civil War, Atkinson was a successful entrepreneur as an executive of some of the leading cotton mills of New England. Later he was head of the Boston insurance company. The New York Tribune was established by Horace Greeley in 1841 and was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States. ... The Literary Digest was an influential general-interest magazine in the early 20th century United States. ... 13 April is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ... 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Brookline is the name of several places in the United States of America: Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline, New Hampshire There is also Brooklin, Maine and a number of places named Brooklyn. ...

He also fought against slavery by supporting the Free-Soil Party and a Boston committee to aid escaped slaves. Growing weary of compromise, he soon began raising money to pay for rifles and ammunition to support the insurgent guerrilla force of John Brown. John Brown is a common name shared by numerous individuals. ...

Atkinson was a leading proponent for free trade, publishing his support for free trade widely. He was against the inflationist ideas of William Jennings Bryan. But favored the total denationalization (privatization) of money. William Jennings Bryan, 1907 William Jennings Bryan, (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) born in Salem, Illinois, was a gifted orator and three-time United States Democratic nominee for President. ...

He campaigned for Grover Cleveland and was a founder of the Clevelandite National (gold) Democratic Party third party in 1896. Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was the 22nd (1885–1889) and 24th (1893–1897) President of the United States, and the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms. ...

Edward Atkinson wrote to the War Department for a list of soldiers serving in the Philippines so that he might send them his privately published pamplets. Failing to receive a reply, Atkinson announced to the press that he was sending copies to General's Lawton, Miller, and Otis, Admiral Dewey, the correspondent J. F. Bass, and to Schurman and Dean Worcestrer on the Philippine Commission.

On February 17, 1899, Edward Atkinson sent three pamplets entitled: February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

• "The Cost of a National Crime," detailing the American military oppression of the Filipinos and the spiraling cost of the war to American taxpayers.
• "The Hell of War and Its Penalties,"
• "Criminal Aggression: By Whom Committed?"

...in order to test the right of citizens of the United States to the free use of the mail."

Postmaster General Charles Emory Smith foolishly took the bait and ordered that the pamphlets be seized in San Francisco, declaring the pamphlets "seditious". The attorney general hinted that he would charge him with treason and sedition. In the end, officials decided that charging Atkinson with sedition would only make the seventy-two year old into a martyr. Charles Emory Smith (February 18, 1842 _ January 19, 1908), American journalist and political leader, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut. ...

The press called Atkinson a "latter-day cooperhead". Atkinson seemed to enjoy the infamy. Atkinson effusively and sacrastically thanked the Administration for calling national attention to his essays and increasing their demand in every state in the union.^[1]

Footnotes

1. ^  *Miller, Stuart Creighton (1982). "Benevolent Assimilation" The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903, Yale Universty Press. ISBN 0300026978., page 107; Boston Herald, 22 April, 23, 24, 1899; New York Times, 23 April 1899; San Francisco Call, 24 April 1899

April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (114th in leap years). ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... April 24 is the 114th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (115th in leap years). ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

External links

• Extensive Biography on Edward Atkinson
• Anti-Imperialist Essays, Speeches and Pamphlets, including two speeches by Edward Atkinson