"That Others Might Be Free”: Pride, Prejudice, and Paternalism in the Imperial Period

The goddess of wisdom and war models intellect without complacency, valor without rashness. Claiming this duality—a civilized militancy—from their patron goddess Athena, an ancient Athenian citizenry could rationalize imperial conquest as democratic goodwill. Millennia later, the United States, seeking subtle proclamation of classical succession, crafted their national personification Columbia from the mold of Athena. Amidst the politics of territorial expansion in the aftermath of the 1898 Spanish-American War, the Americans called on Columbia to symbolically marshal and disguise their own imperial ascent. This paper explores the American adaptation of Greco-Roman rhetoric through the mediums of cartoons, sculptures, and paintings in order to reveal the ancient roots beneath the American paradox of liberty and empire, and the timeless appeal of the rational war goddess as patron of such political dualism. Through the wise and warlike Columbia, Americans employed the imperial ideology of their Athenian and Roman predecessors: intervention was protective, expansion was civilized, and national exceptionalism—rooted in naval success—necessitated grand display.