Initially, people used some kind of sign with a secret meaning that only a certain group of people understood. Symbolic forms are formed from two elements: from the image and meaning. Sometimes humorous, and sometimes quite serious images, figures, sculptures, objects that carry a definite or implicit meaning, are in individual groups, united by any interest or secret, among peoples and countries.
Who was the prototype of American Uncle Sam
Since the middle of the last century, the United States government, the country itself, and government agencies related to intelligence, state security, the army, and justice have been called so. It happened by itself. For many years, this phrase identified private entrepreneurship and business.
Uncle Sam is generally thought to be a playful decoding of the abbreviation USA. Where did this delusion come from, which became a symbol?
For the first time this expression was used in an American newspaper in September 1813 in an angry article revealing the government. A character with that name (Samuel, or Sam Wilson) really existed. During the war with England, a successful slaughterhouse owner and part-time trader supplied large quantities of provisions for the US Army. On barrels of salted meat by means of a stencil, large US letters were applied, meaning that the cargo belongs to the state government. Several dozen barrels marked with these signs were brought daily to a large military base in the city of Troy, located near the front line.
The error came out
One day, one of the watchmen of Irish descent began to prove to the soldiers next to him that these letters are directly related to the supplier, uncle (Mr.) Sam. The soldiers gladly made fun of the Irish about this. Every day, when the next batch of meat arrived, the jokes began again and again. It was tozhia that introduced this phrase, which was later picked up by journalists.
In the future, the common name was transferred to all goods from the United States. There is even a holiday called Uncle Sam's Day, which the Americans celebrate in March, the 13th, according to the real birth date of a popular person who became the prototype of the famous symbol.
When it was first drawn
The first drawing, a newspaper cartoon depicting Uncle Sam, was published in 1852. He portrayed a thin gray-haired old man with whiskers and a beard, with a high top hat on his head. His clothes, painted in the colors of the
American flag - blue tailcoat, striped trousers - were added later. Thanks to the imagination and fiction of artists who, in different years, in their own way changed the image of a noble but demanding grandfather, the whole world imagines that this is what
Uncle Sam looked like
. A photo depicting a real person may differ from the image invented by the draftsmen.
The real Sam Wilson, judging by the preserved descriptions of his appearance, had a short stature and a rather round, fat figure.
Who drew it
The very first "Uncle Sam" was painted by the artist F. G. Balle. The resemblance to the original, the real Mr. Wilson, was completely absent. The portrait, created several decades later by D. M. Flegg on the famous propaganda poster, has the face of the artist himself. It was in this image that Uncle Sam first "put on" a high hat-cylinder and a blue tailcoat.
Today, the famous image is presented in the form of souvenirs, images, large and small figures. He is present in serious and not very plots, in caricatures with kind and mocking meanings. The whole world recognizes a gray-haired old man with whiskers, and it does not matter at all whether the image of the symbol is similar to the original or not.
Lady Liberty
Another of the famous American symbols is the Statue of Liberty, installed on Bedlow Island (now Liberty Island) in 1886 on the way from the sea to New York. The huge disassembled structure was delivered on a ship from France by sea.
The female figure, created by Frederic Bartholdy, has a height of 46 m. Together with the pedestal and pedestal inside which the museum is located, the height of the sculpture is 93 m. The inner frame on which the copper sheets of the statue are mounted was designed by Gustave Eiffel. It is noteworthy that the figure is made of Russian copper, and the pedestal is made of German cement.
Under the terms of an agreement signed by President Ulysses Grant in 1877, the United States agreed to accept the sculpture of the Statue of Liberty as a gift for the 100th anniversary of Independence. The pedestal was built on donations from American citizens. For the sculpture itself, funds were raised in France. The gift was late for the planned anniversary for 10 years. Despite this annoying fact, a grandiose festival was held with a parade in honor of the installation of the long-awaited sculpture on a hexagonal pedestal.
Since then, for almost 130 years, Uncle Sam in the form of the Goddess of Liberty has been meeting guests of the country with a torch held high in his hands.