Life — March 2, 1911 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1911 Life magazine cartoon satirizes the **Stamp Act** controversy (labeled "1775—STAMP ACT—1911"). The image depicts cherubs/allegorical figures struggling with a large stamp bearing a profile (likely a British monarch), labeled with "REVENUE" and "MAGAZINE TAX." The caption reads: "HOW OUR FOREFATHERS WOULD HAVE DEALT WITH IT." **The satire**: Americans in 1911 faced new magazine taxation they resented. The cartoonist compares this to the hated British Stamp Act of 1765, which sparked American Revolutionary anger. By showing cherubs violently rejecting the stamp, the artist suggests that founding fathers would have fiercely opposed such taxation—implying modern Americans should do likewise. The joke targets both contemporary tax policy and invokes patriotic Revolutionary nostalgia to criticize government revenue measures on publishers and magazines.