Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam is one of America's national symbols that is recognized around the world.  No one knows for sure where the idea of Uncle Sam started, but people think that it is Samuel Wilson who lived during the War of 1812.

Samuel Wilson was in the meat business and he sold his meat to the U.S. Army and marked the containers with "U.S." The people who unloaded the trucks decided that the "U.S." stood for Uncle Sam Wilson, and not for the Untied States.

A famous cartoonist, Thomas Nast, created Uncle Sam as a tall man with a white goatee and white hair. Thomas Nast showed him wearing a tall hat and dressed in red, white and blue.

In 1916, James Montgomery Flagg drew a picture of Uncles Sam saying "I want you" to get people to join the U.S. Army. In 1961, Congress decided to make Uncle Sam a national symbol.