Uncle Sam

A national patriotic symbol created by a series of cartoonists, Uncle Sam became a highly popular representation of masculinity—defined in terms of republican independence, patriotic commitment, whiteness, national vigor, and morality. First appearing in 1832, Uncle Sam was designed to serve as a more serious and manly representation of America than the then common images of the callow youth Brother Jonathan (also known as Yankee Doodle) and the Native American woman Columbia.

Uncle Sam's origin is usually traced to Samuel Wilson, a meatpacker from Troy, New York. The barrels of meat that he supplied to the army during the War of 1812 were stamped “U.S.” to indicate that they were the property of the United States. This identification is said to have led to widespread use of Uncle Sam to refer to the federal government. The first recorded use of the term appeared in 1813 in Wilson's hometown newspaper, the Troy Post, which referred to war losses that weighed “upon Uncle Sam's shoulders.”A 1961 Congressional resolution recognized Wilson as Uncle Sam's namesake.

The first drawing of Uncle Sam, an unsigned 1832 lithograph entitled Uncle Sam in Danger conveys bitterness over Andrew Jackson's effort to destroy the Second Bank of the United States. This Uncle Sam reflects the contemporary artisan archetype of manhood—young, white, muscular, honest, and hard working—to which Jackson's enemies sought to appeal. By the mid-nineteenth century, as the nation expanded westward, the market economy grew, and an emergent middle class rose to cultural prominence, artists' depictions of Uncle Sam shifted to reflect these societal changes. His body became less muscular to reflect a new ideal thin physique, his frame grew taller to suggest national strength and heroism, and his hair turned white to suggest national maturity. These versions remained frozen in 1830s dress: top hat, vest, striped trousers, and swallow-tailed coat.

During and after the Civil War, Uncle Sam increasingly began to resemble President Abraham Lincoln, perceived in the North as a defender of national unity. To northerners, Uncle Sam, like Lincoln, came to represent manly resolve, courage, power, and a lack of cultivated refinement, (Confederate cartoonists never drew Uncle Sam). During the 1870s, the best-known cartoonist of the day, Thomas Nast of Harper's Weekly, widely popularized Sam as a lanky Lincoln look-alike. Another physical change in Uncle Sam, the sporting of a beard, reflected a broader trend in the decades following the Civil War, during which middle-class American men resisted the perceived feminizing influences of urban, industrial civilization by accentuating their physical distinctiveness from women.

James Montgomery Flagg's well-known 1917 U.S. Army recruiting poster featuring Uncle Sam powerfully illustrates the American cultural association between masculinity, nationalism, patriotic service, and—into the early twentieth century—whiteness. (© Swim Ink/Corbis)

During World War I, Uncle Sam's reputation as an American symbol of national unity, citizenship, and courage received another boost. In 1917, James Montgomery Flagg created the best-known version of the icon for a U.S. Army recruitment poster, which depicts Uncle Sam pointing out at the public while stating “I Want You.” By urging patriotic self-sacrifice and encouraging heroism among men, this poster became a classic that was used again for recruitment purposes during World War II.

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