"Uncle Sam" is sometimes referred to as the United States. It's hard to believe that this name came about by chance and that there really was such a person who was called "Uncle Sam".
Uncle Sam (Uncle Sam) is a remarkable figure, whose image has been a symbol of the United States of America for so many years. There are many versions of the emergence of the image of Uncle Sam. Some believe that this figure comes from the abbreviation USLD (United State Light Dragoons), which was used in the name of the American regiment formed in 1807. When someone asked these soldiers what exactly was "hidden" behind these letters, the answer was extremely clear: "Uncle Sam 's Lazy Dogs." Thus, according to this version, the figure of Uncle Sam does not have any prototype, but is only the result of fantasy and wordplay.
Others believe that the image of Uncle Sam was created by opponents of the 1812 war, as it was usually referred to in newspapers of a pacifist nature, where Uncle Sam acted as an object of contempt and ridicule. It should be noted that even now the personality of Uncle Sam inspires courageous supporters of anti-Americanism. In their interpretation, this "arrogant and arrogant figure" personifies "genuine American imperialism."
The most widespread, but virtually unproven, version of the origin of Uncle Sam is mythological in nature and lies in the following American legend.
During the War of 1812, Samuel Wilson ("Uncle Sam"), a businessman from Troy, New York, with his colleague Albert Andersen, supplied barrels of provisions for the American army. The barrels were appropriately marked with the letters "U. S.", short for United States, and the joke about the generous hero Uncle Sam spread among the American soldiers.
And here's another version: after the war, he went to Troy, New York, and took up the production of canned meat. On October 2, 1812, a group of sightseers came to the plant. One of them, New York Governor Daniel D. Tompkins, asked what the letters "EAUS" mean on meat jars. The worker replied that "EA" meant the partner to whom Wilson's canned food was supplied - Elbert Anderson. And then he jokingly added that the letters "US" (in English, these are the first letters of the name of the United States) means "Uncle Sam" (the initial letters of these words are spelled the same in English - US). This case was described on May 12, 1830 by the New York Gazet and General Edweiser.
By the end of the 1812 war, "Uncle Sam" had already begun to symbolize the character of the entire nation, the American state and government. In 1961, Congress passed a resolution declaring "Uncle Sam" Wilson of Troy, New York, the progenitor of the American national symbol. Americans today are proud of the image of "Uncle Sam". But surprisingly, few people remember the person who invented it.
Uncle Sam is usually represented as a tall, gray-haired man with a goatee in a red-white-blue single-breasted coat. The most striking and characteristic detail in the image of Uncle Sam is his top hat, which depicts the flag of the United States of America. This appearance of Uncle Sam became popular thanks to the cartoonist Thomas Nast. In recent years, there have certainly been other, more modern, variations on Uncle Sam's appearance, but, as before, the top hat remains an integral part of his image.
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Over time, the figure of Uncle Sam began to be regularly approached by journalists and, mainly, artists. The most famous image of Uncle Sam appeared on a poster calling for young people into the army. This poster was created in 1917 by the artist James Montgomery Flagg and was later also used during World War II. The caption read: "I need you for the US Army" ("I WANT YOU!"). As for the face of Uncle Sam, the author of the poster, artist James Montgomery Flagg, copied it from himself in order to properly save on the model's wages. The American idea inspired Britain as well, and during World War I, British posters featured Uncle Sam, represented by Lord Kitchener.
It is curious that the symbol of the United States did not leave Russia indifferent either, and in 2004 the soloist of the Time Machine group, Andrei Makarevich, was safely depicted on Petersburg posters in the already world-famous pose of Uncle Sam.
