Brother Jonathan was a fictional character created to personify the entire United States, in the early days of the country's existence.
In editorial cartoons and patriotic posters, Brother Jonathan was usually depicted as a typical American revolutionary, with tri-cornered hat and long military jacket. Originally, from 1776 to 1783, "Brother Jonathan" was a mildly derisive term used by the Loyalists to describe the Patriots.
Famous quotes containing the word brother:
“The hawk is aerial brother of the wave which he sails over and surveys, those his perfect air-inflated wings answering to the elemental unfledged pinions of the sea.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)