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Uncle Sam is a cartoon character that was designed sometime in the early 1800s to personify the United States. His origins come from the army base in Troy, New York. The men would recieve boxes of meat stamped with the initials U.S. (for United States). The soldiers jokingly refered to it as the base leader's, Uncle Samual Wilson, initials. He was first used in a political cartoon, drawn by the famous Thomas Nast.
Most earlier representative figures of the United States such as " Brother Jonathan" were overtaken by Uncle Sam somewhere around the time of the US Civil War. The female personification " Columbia" has seldom been seen since the 1920s. Today, with the possible exception of the Statue of Liberty, the character of Uncle Sam is probably the most easily recognizable personification of the United States.
The term "Uncle Sam" can also be used as a synonym for the United States of America, especially the United States government. Phrases like "Uncle Sam needs ... " are often used by critics and satirists to create the image of the United States as a human being, with human wants and desires.
Uncle Sam is usually drawn as a tall, elderly man with a Stars and Stripes top hat, red white and blue morning coat, and striped pants. This style was originally popularized by cartoonist Thomas Nast and is now the "universal" image of the character. In recent years some cartoonists have drawn a more "modernized" youthful version of Uncle Sam, although the distinctive top hat always remains.
The Uncle Sam character is often used in editorial cartoons as a physical representation of America. To American cartoonists he is largely considered an honorable figure, and is usually treated with respect, often representing the nation's conscience.
In some other countries, especially those that the United States is hostile toward, Uncle Sam is often portrayed as a much less respectable figure, and the personification of American arrogance or imperialism.
J. M. Flagg's Uncle Sam recruited soldiers for World War I.
During World War I a very famous recruitment poster that depicted Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer with the words "I want YOU!" appearing below, created by artist James Montgomery Flagg in 1917, painting a modified version of his own face for Uncle Sam. The poster was inspired by a similar WWI poster issued in the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly, picturing Lord KitchenerHoratio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum (born June 24, 1850; died June 5, 1916) was a British Field Marshal and statesman. Kitchener was born in County Kerry, Ireland. Educated in Switzerland and at the Royal Military Academy, he offered in a similar pose. Flagg's poster was revived and reprinted for recruitment during World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough. The poster has been repeatedly parodied, with many different variations on the simple slogan.
In the Golden Age of Comic BooksThe Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of the American comic book industry primarily the 1940s during which the industry enjoyed a major surge of reader popularity. The golden age is popularly considered to have begun in 1938 with the d of the 1940sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the, creator Will EisnerWill Eisner (born March 3, 1917) is an acclaimed American comics artist who is considered one of the most important contributors to the medium. Beginning with the unique format of The Spirit in 1940, he went on to virtually define the budding genre of the created a superheroA superhero is a fictional character who is noted for feats of courage and nobility and who usually has a colorful name and costume, and abilities beyond those of normal human beings. Superheroes spend much of their time battling monsters, natural disaste version of Uncle Sam for Quality Comics. In that version, Sam was a mystical being who was the spirit of a slain patriotic soldier of the American Revolutionary War, but now appeared in the world whenever his country needed him. The character was used for a few years from 1940 to 1943 when it was discontinued. DC Comics acquired the character as part of its acquisition of the Quality characters and now occasionally appears as a supporting character, leader of the Freedom Fighters.
His origin was rewritten somewhat in The Spectre, where he was the third Uncle Sam, the first having been created in 1870, when the Spirit of America resurrected a political cartoonist who had been killed by Boss Tweed, and the second having fought in World War I. The new origin also states that, before this the Spirit of America had taken human form as the Minuteman, Brother Jonathan and, during the American Civil War, had been split in two as Johnny Reb and Billy Yank . It was also stated he had disappeared at the end of World War II, invalidating any previous appearances since then (although most of them had already been invalidated by the Crisis on Infinite Earths).
In The Spectre the Spirit was resurrected in a new form, called the Patriot, but has since reverted to Uncle Sam.
DC Comics published a graphic novel called Uncle Sam, however this is not set in the DC Universe, and features a very different version of the character. This Uncle Sam is a ragged old man who is tormented by visions of visiting historical episodes and modern aspects of the United States at its worst. In particular, the bloody crushing of Shay's Rebellion is considered a particularly disillusioning moment for the character which suggested for him that the USA's professed ideals were never seriously respected since the nation's beginning
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