As personifications of their respective nations, Uncle Sam and John Bull became popular during the 19th century. John Bull originated earlier, as a character in John Arbuthnot's The History of John Bull (1712). He became widely known from cartoons by Sir John Tenniel published in the British humor magazine Punch during the middle and late 19th century. In those cartoons, he was portrayed as an honest, solid, farmer figure, often in a Union Jack waistcoat, and accompanied by a bulldog. He became so familiar that his name frequently appeared in books, plays, periodical titles and as a brand name or trademark. Although frequently used through World War II, since the 1950s John Bull has been seen less often.
Uncle Sam originated in popular culture. His origins are disputed, but the name usually is associated with Sam Wilson, a businessman who supplied the army during the War of 1812. His barrels were stamped "U.S." for the government, leading him to be nicknamed "Uncle Sam." The symbolic Uncle Sam's appearance evolved from that of Brother Jonathan, the most common earlier symbol for the United States. The two characters were used interchangeably from the 1830s through the 1860s.
As with John Bull, the cartoonists of Punch helped develop the figure, showing him as a lean, whiskered man wearing a top hat and striped pants. The famous American cartoonist Thomas Nast crystallized the image with his cartoons beginning in the 1870s. By 1917, when James Montgomery Flagg depicted him on the famous World War I recruiting poster, Uncle Sam was an icon, readily recognized around the globe. He was officially adopted as the national symbol of the United States in 1950.
John Bull and Uncle Sam have often been depicted interacting, as friends or antagonists, and thus their names were selected as appropriate symbols for the Library exhibition John Bull and Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations.
