American sam
female AmericanU.S. National Identity (U.S. National Park Service)
Colombia emerged in the United Kingdom long before the American Revolution and maintained some appeal until towards the end of the 18th century. Likewise, two masculine figures competed for icons of the superior. Throughout the American Revolution, loyaltyists sneered at a master as Brother Jonathan. It was Johnny who outlived the civil war, but the tables are turning to a new person, Uncle Sam.
The majority agreed that Uncle Sam got his intimate look thanks to caricaturist Thomas Nast's sketches and a World War I recruiting placard created by James Montgomery Flagg. But the name Uncle Sam is more of a historic mystery.
This is Uncle Sam: That man and the memes
As a tribute to Uncle Sam Day, we found the history of the famous moustache. Drawings of James Montgomery Flagg by Uncle Sam. He has enlisted Americans for the army and urged us to help with the efforts of these wars. Uncle Sam's picture as the embodiment of our country and our administration is well known.
Uncle Sam has a long story. Soon after the war of 1812 Uncle Sam began to appear in pictures and literary works. But the 1917 recruitment billboard, on which Uncle Sam asks HER to join the military, is perhaps the most permanent representation of the country's nature. Montgomery Flagg designed tens of billboards for the United States during the First and Second World Wars.
Flagg used to be an Illustrator and performer, and made this special Uncle Sam design for the front page of a Newweekly. It was titled "What Are You Doing for Preparedness", but the recruitment billboard was titled "I Want YOU for U.S. Army". "The picture and caption were inspired by an early recruitment billboard of Lord Kitchener, the British War Minister, in the same position.
In fact, the picture was a strong one: In 1917 and 1918, the goverment produced four million billboards and the picture was used again in the Second World War. The strength of these new imitating pictures comes from our intimacy with the real one. It' an iconical picture of Smokey the Bear. Smoky Bear's popular theorem could be considered a derivation of Uncle Sams.
Although the originals have somewhat blurred, they still affect those who see them in our stock. It is an imagery that is part of our nationwide lexicon and ours. It is a pleasure for the Musée to have James Montgomery Flagg give us the masterpiece, so that it is also the property of the American state.
Do you want to know more about Uncle Sam? Check out this recent Histor Explorer broadcast. The fireglove contains a picture of Lady Liberty, while these pictures of Hope and Columbia.