Symbol of American Culture - Uncle Sam - Essay Example

History dates the American war with England in the north to 1812. Samuel Wilson was given the tender to inspect and supply American soldiers during the war with meat. He was a renowned meat and pork packer, inspector and distributor in New York. The United States government transported the meat bearing “U.S” on the barrels since the soldiers knew that the meat was from the government but inspected by Samuel, they started to refer to the meat as Uncle Sam’s. A year later this name was adopted by the populations as the unofficial name for the United States federal government (Swosugrad09 and Miller, pg.4-6). Several other government properties that passed through Samuel for inspection were marked “U.

S”, making the people in the country assume that Uncle Sam was the government. There was a need to give Uncle Sam a figure to aid in his symbolism top the American people. Designers started to create their own images of Uncle Sam for drawings, banners and newspapers. Moreover, recruitment process for the American army for the First World War, created an avenue where Uncle Sam was personified. The drawing showed a man with a stern face, clad in a blue coat, white shirt and a hat with stars on it.

This was a representation of the American flag which had blue, white and red with 49 stars in it. The man was drawn with a pointed finger with large captioned words beneath it, making it ‘talk’ to people. . In the move by congress to improve the security of the country and its people, the congress sought to use cameras and computers in the resident’s houses to monitor any security threats. Newspapers columnists who were opposed to the move wrote articles and referred to the government as Uncle Sam keeping an eye on his people.

This concludes all that Uncle Sam does is a symbol not to represent the people, but the government itself. Variations in government actions have led to deviation in the representation of Uncle Sam to the people. When a positive gesture is done or achieved by the government, Uncle Sam is dressed in United States symbolic colors representing his good will for citizens. When the government makes policies that the citizens feel go against their wishes, he is represented in drawings clad in plain clothes indicating it is against wishes of the American citizens.

Uncle Sam also has had greater acceptance with his symbolization of patriotism. He was made famous in two periods where the American citizens were in need of a father figure. His influence during the war in 1812 and later his presence that motivated the Americans in the First World War proved his call for patriotism. Moreover, with the current changes that have undergone in the United States, Uncle Sam figure has not lacked some criticism. First, with the increase in the minority presence in the United States population, the figure is seen not to adequately represent them.

Uncle Sam evolved when American was mainly made up of the white population. Additionally, with the current changes in demography and increase in minority groups in the country’s vast population, Uncle Sam may lose some of his prominence among the people. The minority population may demand the