Morris County - Morristown - Illustrating an Icon: Thomas Nast’s Uncle Sam

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Illustrating an Icon: Thomas Nast’s Uncle Sam
February-mid-July 2019

Thomas Nast (1840-1902) is credited with popularizing the image of Uncle Sam. Decades before James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960) created the “I Want You” image of Uncle Sam for United States Army recruiting posters in 1917, Nast had drawn this iconic symbol of the United States more than 160 times for Harper’s Weekly.
Like his Democratic Donkey and Republican Elephant, Nast’s Uncle Sam is adapted from earlier examples. In the late eighteenth and through the nineteenth centuries, Americans identified with “everyman” characters known as Brother Jonathan and Yankee Doodle. Brother Jonathan was depicted typically as portly and wearing a brown homespun suit, while Yankee Doodle wore stars and stripes.
During the War of 1812, government supplies marked “U.S.” were nicknamed Uncle Sam. Sam Wilson, a meatpacker from Troy, New York known locally as “Uncle Sam,” sold beef to the Army. Wilson’s supplies were also stamped “U.S.,” which is how, according to popular legend, he became the original Uncle Sam. There is evidence, however, that Uncle Sam “lived” before Wilson. In a journal at the U.S.S Constitution Museum in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Uncle Sam is mention in an entry dating to 1810, two years before Wilson began selling his wares to the Army.
Nast portrayed Uncle Sam as a tall, gaunt Lincolnesque figure with a wispy beard, top hat, striped trousers, and boots. Occasionally, Nast’s image of Uncle Sam was used to convey a negative aspect of government.

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum
In the Heart of Morristown's Historic District

Museum Hours

Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday
1:00-4:00pm. Group tours welcome by appointment Sunday-Friday.
Location: 45 MacCulloch Ave, Morristown, NJ 07960, USA

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