Uncle Sam
Categories: Tax
Every respectable organization has its own mascot. The Philadelphia Phillies have their Phanatic. Disney World has Mickey Mouse. And the U.S. government has Uncle Sam, a gruff old guy sporting a goatee and dressed in a red, white, and blue suit and top hat.
Uncle Sam acts as a nickname for the U.S. government, as in "gotta send my tax check to Uncle Sam." His image is often used as a symbol of the government as well.
The origins of Uncle Sam are murky, but he first appeared around the War of 1812. Supposedly, the name comes from a meat packer named Samuel Wilson, who supplied beef to the army during the war. The soldiers started referring to the beef deliveries (stamped with the letters "U.S.") as coming from their "Uncle Sam." It got some press attention, and by the middle of the 1810s, Uncle Sam was an established nickname/symbol for the government.
Uncle Sam achieves his prominence in times of national distress. His most famous images are from recruiting posters from World War I and World War II. In fact, the WWI recruitment image, created (no kidding) by a guy named James Flagg, standardized the representation we know and love today.
