Today in History—March 13: Uncle Sam’s Debut in an American Cartoon

Everyone knows Uncle Sam: the tall hat, the striped trousers, the pointed finger. He feels as old as the country itself. Yet his first appearance in an American cartoon came relatively late—in 1852—and he was still evolving.

Before Uncle Sam, other figures represented the young country, including Yankee Doodle, once a British insult aimed at American colonials, and Brother Jonathan, a sharp-witted embodiment of American common sense.

The Uncle Sam moniker appeared in the early 19th century. Some—including a 1961 congressional resolution—credit New York meat-packer Samuel Wilson, who supplied rations to the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. But Uncle Sam’s name appears in print before that war, so his true origins remain unsettled.

Nevertheless, by 1852 the name was well established, and Americans were used to seeing the United States personified.

Enter Frank Bellew. Born in India to an English mother and an Irish father, Bellew tried life as an architect in London before finding success as an illustrator and leaving for America circa 1850. Landing in New York, he started working for The Lantern, a popular comic weekly.

It was in his “Raising the Wind” political cartoon that he first conjured what we think of today as Uncle Sam. In a cartoon about rival shipping lines, published on March 13, 1852, Bellew presented John Bull—England personified—versus Uncle Sam, his hands pocketed in his striped trousers. Each represents his country’s approach to a dispute between two now-forgotten merchants.

But what’s missing from Bellew’s Uncle Sam?

Whiskers.

Those came later, after the Civil War ended in 1865. They were likely inspired by Abraham Lincoln. But by the time Uncle Sam made his most famous appearance in a World War I recruiting poster, declaring, “I want you for U.S. Army,” his look had been locked in by several generations of cartoonists and illustrators: white hair, striped trousers, tall hat—and whiskers.