Uncle Sam 🇺🇸

Uncle Sam

Hi friends, I hope you're fine?

I guess you've heard of Uncle Sam before, but do you really know who he is?
Where does this expression "in the land of Uncle Sam" come from?

Uncle Sam is actually an iconic character, he is the symbol of the United States.

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History

The term Uncle Sam is often used as a synonym for the United States but it also refers more specifically to the US government.

He is often portrayed as a tall, relatively old white man, with long white hair and a goatee. Wearing a top hat in the colors of the stars and stripes, wearing a red bowtie, a blue tail and red and white striped pants, all recalling the flag of the United States.

The origin of Uncle Sam dates back to the War of 1812 and comes from Samuel Wilson who was a meat supplier based in New York and in 1961. He was a very friendly, jovial, honest and devoted man to his country.

Samuel Wilson left the family home at the age of 14 to join the ranks of the army. At the age of 23, with no money in his pocket, he set up a meat packing business in Troy, New York. Recognized soon for his professional skills, he became responsible for supplying the military to the states of New York and New Jersey.

During the War of 1812, his business prospered, he had obtained a contract to supply beef to the American army, he shipped the salted meat in barrels. The barrels that were owned by the government, were marked US.
The soldiers joked that the barrels were marked with Uncle Sam's initials. Later, the US initials were linked to Sam Wilson. In 1961, Congress identified Samuel Wilson as the namesake of Uncle Sam.

There is even a monument erected in the old part of his birthplace in Menotomy.

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Representation

In the 1830s, cartoonists used his image in newspapers and the myth grew. Initially, Uncle Sam was portrayed as a rather chubby guy, but after the death of President Lincoln in 1865, he took on the features of the beloved deceased president.

Uncle Sam was then used to recruit into the army.

Indeed, during the First World War, a very famous poster for recruitment staged Uncle Sam, pointing his finger at the reader with the words "I want you for U.S. Army". This poster was also reused during the Second World War. More than 4 million copies of the poster were printed between 1917 and 1918.

Since then, it has been largely parodied with many variations of the original slogan.

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So in fact Uncle Sam did not exist, he is not a historical person. It's just a symbol representing the United States and especially the US government.

I hope you liked this article, in any case, personally, I learned something, I thought Uncle Sam had existed.

Have a good day !

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