England and America

England and America

by James Bryce

       This is a memorable day to Englishmen as well as to Americans. It is to us a day both of regret and of rejoicing: of regret at the severance of the political connection which bound the two branches of our race together, and of regret even more for the unhappy errors which brought that severance about, and the unhappy strife by which the memory of it was embittered. But it is also a day of rejoicing, for it is the birthday of the eldest daughter of England -- the day when a new nation, sprung from our own, first took its independent place in the world. And now with the progress of time, rejoicing has prevailed over regret, and we in England can at length join heartily with you in celebrating the beginning of your national life. All sense of bitterness has passed away, and been replaced by sympathy with all which this anniversary means to an American heart.

       England and America now understand one another far better than they ever did before. In 1776 there was on one side a monarch and a small ruling caste, on the other side a people. Now our government can no longer misrepresent the nation, and across the ocean a people speaks to a people. We have both come, and that most notably within recent months, to perceive that all over the world the interests of America and of England are substantially the same.

        The sense of our underlying unity over against the other races and forms of civilization has been a potent force in drawing us together. It is said that the Fourth of July is a day of happy augury for mankind. This is true because on that day America entered on a course and proclaimed principles of government which have been of profound significance for mankind. Many nations have had a career of conquest and of civilizing dominion: but to make an immense people prosperous, happy, and free is a nobler and grander achievement than the most brilliant conquests and the widest dominion.

• Who Was James Bryce, Viscount Bryce?
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The Nation's Birthday

The Nation's Birthday

by Mary E. Vandyne

Ring out the joy bells ! Once again,

With waving flags and rolling drums,

We greet the Nation's Birthday, when.

In glorious majesty, it comes.

Ah, day of days ! Alone it stands,

While, like a halo round it cast,

The radiant work of patriot hands,

Shines the bright record of the past.

Among the nations of the earth,

What land hath story like our own?

No thought of conquest marked her birth;

No greed of power was ever shown

By those who crossed the ocean wild.

That they might plant upon her sod

A home for Peace and Virtue mild,

And altars rear to Freedom's God.

How grand the thought that bade them roam!

Those pilgrim bands, by Faith inspired --

That bade them leave their cherished home,

And, with the martyr's spirit fired,

Guide their frail vessels o'er the main

Upon the glorious mission bound

On alien soil a grave to gain.

Or else a free born nation found.

What land has heroes like to ours ?

Their names are as the lightning's gleams,

When, on the darkling cloud that lowers,

In blinding majesty it streams.

Great Washington, the man of faith,

Who conquered doubt with patient might ;

Warren and Putnam, true till death,

The "Swamp Fox" eager for the fight.

See Major Molly's woman hand

Drive home the murderous cannon ball;

How bravely Lydia Darrach planned,

For home and country risking all.

A glorious list, and without end;

Forgotten were both sex and age ;

Their names in radiant luster blend.

And shine like stars on history's page.

Like stars to light the firmament,

And show the world what men may do

Who, as God's messengers, are sent

And to their mission still are true.

No. end had they to seek or gain;

Their work was there before their sight ;

There lay their duty, stern and plain,

To dare and suffer for the right.

The right that conquered, and whose power

Is shown in our broad land to-day;

Shown in this bright and prosperous hour.

When peace and plenty gild our way ;

Shown in the glorious song that swells

The hearts of men from South to North,

And in its rapturous accents tell

The story of our glorious Fourth.

The Great American Holiday

       Among all the holidays of the year, one stands out as preeminently American; one appeals especially to that sentiment of patriotism and national pride which glows in every loyal American heart. Independence Day -- the Fourth of July -- is observed in every State in the Union as our distinctive national holiday; and rightly so, for the event which it celebrates is by far the most important in American history -- an event no less, indeed, than the birth of the nation.

       Independence Day celebrates the signing, on the Fourth of July, 1776, of the paper which declared this country forever free from British rule. It had been under consideration for some time by the Continental Congress, assembled at Philadelphia, and final action was finally taken on July 4. From that time forward, the American colonists were no longer rebels in arms against their country, but a free people fighting for their independence.

       That the Declaration of Independence was mainly the work of Thomas Jefferson has been established beyond reasonable doubt; and it stands to-day one of the most remarkable state papers in the history of the world.

       At the time of the passage of the act, John Adams wrote to his wife a letter which has become historic. ''I am apt to believe -- he wrote, ''that this day will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever-more."

       Bonfires and guns there have been without limit; and the deaths that have resulted from these celebrations would form no inconsiderable fraction of those lost during the Revolution. For years, the celebration of this great holiday has consisted mainly of meaningless noise; but there is a steadily growing sentiment in favor of a more worthy observance of the day, as a time when every loyal American should rejoice in the welfare of his country, and recall with pride the manner in which the Nation was established." Anonymous, 1912

 A parade for all American people, 2017.

"it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us...that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, Nov. 19, 1863

"Dear Old Uncle Sam"

James Montgomery Flagg 1917 poster: "Boys and girls!
 You can help your Uncle Sam win the war -
 save your quarters, buy War Savings Stamps" /
 James Montgomery Flagg .

      Uncle Sam (initials U.S.) is a common national personification of the American government that, according to legend, came into use during the War of 1812 and was supposedly named for Samuel Wilson. The first use of Uncle Sam in literature was in the 1816 allegorical book "The Adventures of Uncle Sam in Search After His Lost Honor" by Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy, Esq. An Uncle Sam is mentioned as early as 1775, in the original "Yankee Doodle" lyrics of the Revolutionary War. It is not clear whether this reference is to Uncle Sam as a metaphor for the United States, or to an actual person named Sam. The lyrics as a whole clearly deride the military efforts of the young nation, besieging the British at Boston. The 13th stanza is:

"Old Uncle Sam come there to change

Some pancakes and some onions,

For 'lasses cakes, to carry home

To give his wife and young ones."

      The term Uncle Sam is reputedly derived from a Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied rations for the soldiers. There was a requirement at the time for contractors to stamp onto the food they were sending, their name and where the rations came from. Wilson's packages were labeled “E.A – US.” When someone asked what that stood for, a coworker joked and said “Elbert Anderson (the contractor) and Uncle Sam,” referring to Sam Wilson, though it actually stood for United States.

      As early as 1835 Brother Jonathan made a reference to Uncle Sam implying that they symbolized different things: Brother Jonathan was the country itself while Uncle Sam was the government and its power.

      By the 1850s the name Brother Jonathan and Uncle Sam were being used nearly interchangeably to the point that images of what had been called "Brother Jonathan" were now being called Uncle Sam. Similarly, appearance of both personifications varied wildly. For example, one depiction of Uncle Sam in 1860 depicted him looking like Benjamin Franklin, (an appearance echoed in Harper's Weekly's June 3, 1865 "Checkmate" political cartoon) while the depiction of Brother Jonathan on page 32 of the January 11, 1862 edition Harper's Weekly looks more like the modern version of Uncle Sam (except for the lack of a goatee).

      However, even with the effective abandonment of Brother Jonathan (i.e. Johnny Reb) near the end of the Civil War, Uncle Sam didn't get a standard appearance until the well-known "recruitment" image of Uncle Sam was created by James Montgomery Flagg (inspired by a British recruitment poster showing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose). It was this image more than any other that set the appearance of Uncle Sam as the elderly man with white hair and a goatee wearing a white top hat with white stars on a blue band, a blue tail coat and red and white striped trousers.

      The image of Uncle Sam was shown publicly for the first time, according to some, in a picture by Flagg on the cover of the magazine Leslie's Weekly, on July 6, 1916, with the caption "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?" More than four million copies of this image were printed between 1917 and 1918.

     While Columbia had appeared with either Brother Jonathan or Uncle Sam, her use as personification for the U.S. had declined in favor of liberty, and once she became the mascot of Columbia Pictures in the 1920s, she was effectively abandoned.

      Flagg's image also was used extensively during World War II during which the U.S. was codenamed 'Samland' by the German intelligence agency Abwehr. The term was central in the song "The Yankee Doodle Boy", which in 1942 was featured in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy.

 "The Yankee Doodle Boy" from Yankee Doodle Dandy

 

      There are two memorials to Uncle Sam, both of which commemorate the life of Samuel Wilson: the Uncle Sam Memorial Statue in Arlington, Massachusetts, his birthplace; and a memorial near his long-term residence in Riverfront Park, Troy, New York. Wilson's boyhood home can still be visited in Mason, New Hampshire. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, New York.

      In 1989, "Uncle Sam Day" became official. A Congressional joint resolution designated September 13, 1989 as "Uncle Sam Day" (birthday of Samuel Wilson).

More Related Content to Uncle Sam:

• Civil War Harper's Weekly newspapers
• Historical Uncle Sam pictures
• James Montgomery Flagg's 1917 "I Want You" Poster and other works at the Wayback Machine (archived October 28, 2004)
• What's the origin of Uncle Sam? The Straight Dope
• Images of a modern Uncle Sam promoting peace
• The Most Famous Poster

Top left, the first recorded caricature of Uncle Sam as it appeared in Punch, the London paper,
in 1844; lower left, first American cartoon showing Uncle Sam with striped trousers, published in
 1852; right, Thomas Nast's Uncle Sam, the first with whiskers, starred vest and striped trousers;
 center, Uncle Sam as drawn by Robert William Satterfield, The Day Book's famous cartoonist.

Advertisement from The Washington Times, March 1, 1918 depicting Uncle Sam

Sheriff Uncle Sam by Satterfield.