Uncle Sam
A Symbol of Strength and Determination

Uncle Sam is one of our nation’s national symbols. This fictitious guy is usually portrayed as having a short, white beard called a goatee and wearing a suit of red, white, and blue.

Even though he is not a “real” guy, his name was derived from a nickname given to Samuel Wilson, an Army meat inspector during the 1812.  It is rumored that someone saw the U.S. initials he stamped on the salt pork barrels and jokingly said, “This meat shipment came from “Uncle Sam Wilson.”  The name stuck.

In the 19^th century political cartoonists like Thomas Nast began to produce cartoons of this government official.  Uncle Sam gradually evolved into a tall, white-haired man with beard, sporting patriotic colors and a top hat.  In 1916 James Montgomery Flagg created the single most famous portrait of Uncle Sam, the "I WANT YOU" Army recruiting poster.

Finally, in 1961, Congress passed a resolution officially recognizing the patriotic version of the Uncle Sam as a national symbol.

To find out more about the origin of Uncle Sam and his creators, check out the following icons.

	Biography of Uncle Sam: http://home.nycap.rr.com/content/us_bio.html
	Symbols of U.S. Government - Uncle Sam: http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/unclesam.html
	Uncle Sam: http://www.esu9.k12.ne.us/~juniata/unclesam.html
	Uncle Same Celebriducks: http://www.celebriducks.com/uncle_sam/
	Uncle Sam: A National Icon: http://www.who2.com/unclesam.html
	The Invention Dimension – Uncle Sam: http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventorsR-Z/unclesam.html
	James Montgomery Flagg:  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun18.html
	Uncle Sam’s World of Political Cartoons: http://www.boondocksnet.com/gallery/us_intro.html