Three or four years later, other newspapers, who appeared to have no knowledge of Samuel Wilson, made the far more probable explanation that the term Uncle Sam was simply taken from the letters “U. S.” on soldiers’ caps and knapsacks. Even the Indians accepted the new term, and when President Madison was at the northern front asked the privilege “to shake hands with Uncle Sam.”[A]
[A] Note—We have the word of one searcher that as early as 1807 a regiment of Light Dragoons was raised whose initials, “U. S. L. D.,” on wagons and accouterment were waggishly interpreted to mean “Uncle Sam’s Lazy Dogs.”
Uncle Sam’s clothes, like the Quaker dress, were not invented to be humorous, but as the fashionable costume of the period when Quakers’ and Uncle Sam’s began to appear. Trousers with straps under the insteps were still worn down to fifty years ago. In the days when the striped cotton trousers of the French soldiers began to drive out the old-fashioned knee breeches, Uncle Sam came by his lower protection naturally. The broad-brimmed beaver hat, till very recently, could be seen on the heads of wealthy Quaker bankers in Philadelphia. The star-spangled coats and correctly flag-striped trousers are of course the inventions of later patriotic times.
SAFEGUARDING IMMIGRATION
Asiatic Detention Quarters at Angel Island, San Francisco Bay
What Does Uncle Sam Do for His Nephews and Nieces?
The great thing about Uncle Sam is his dignity, activity, keenness, endless good nature and love of his countrymen. His cousin, John Bull, is the beefy, sturdy, pragmatic, land-owning squire of the British counties, brave enough, resolute enough, but a defender of his country, rather than its most intimate friend. Uncle Sam and the popular interest in his thousands of portraits are standing proofs of the common sense and good temper of the American people. We like in Uncle Sam what we like in our personal Uncle Ezra, or Uncle Peyton, his genuine, affectionate, thoughtful and protecting affection for us.
The three men in American history who have most nearly corresponded to Uncle Sam in their own personal relations with their fellow men were Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Jackson was testy, and sharp tempered, but he could be very genial and gallant when he chose. Lincoln was the Uncle Abe of the nation; in person, in speech, in action, and above all in his great affectionate heart he was what we like to think Uncle Sam is. Theodore Roosevelt was not so much uncle as brother; there is only one “T. R.” in our history!
