by Norman A. Rubin

Created on: August 09, 2008   Last Updated: August 11, 2008

Uncle Sam, a figure symbolizing the United States government, is portrayed as a tall, white-haired man with a goatee. He is often dressed in red, white, and blue tailed coat, and wears a high hat with a blue band of stars under a white border.

In my early youth my knowledge of Uncle Sam, the icon of the U.S.A., was the character as a comic book hero for both Quality and DC Comics pictured as the leader of the freedom fighters. At the Thanksgiving parade they had a large balloon of his image of him in all his glory floating by. And at the movies James Cagney tap danced to Yankee Doodle Dandy and saluted Uncle Sam. Only when I reached a more understanding age did I realize the symbolism of this serious elderly man with white hair and a goatee,

The exact origins of Uncle Sam as a symbol for the United States are unknown, but the name may have come from the initials U.S. stamped on uniforms and government property during the War of 1812. According to one story in common folklore, the name originated with Samuel Wilson, an upstate New York patriot and merchant. Mr. Wilson owned a meatpacking business that supplied provision to the American troops during the War of 1812. When the governor of the State of New York visited the plant, he inquired to what the initials U.S. stamped on the barrels in the warehouse stood for. He was told by one of the workers that the initials stood for Uncle Sam Wilson. Later the suggestion meant that the meat shipments came from "Uncle Sam", as soldiers would refer to the government when they received their rations. It led to the idea that Uncle Sam symbolized the Federal Government and the association stuck. From then on, Uncle Sam has been referred to whenever the government is in giving or taking to or of its citizens.

In 1961, Congress passed a resolution that recognized Samuel Wilson as the inspiration for the symbol Uncle Sam. The hard-working, honest Sam Wilson seemed to symbolize the ideal American. Yet Sam Wilson was a tall, thin, clean-shaven man, but despite his true depiction, the first known caricature pictured him as short, hefty man with a black top hat and coat tails. But soon after, his image was indefinitely changed to a more patriotic image.
Thomas Nast caricaturist and editorial cartoonist in the 19th century played an important role in creating the popular image of Uncle Sam in his post-Civil War era editorial cartoons. After the War Between the States, whiskers were added to the Uncle Sam caricature in reference to

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