History
A popular folk tale about the origin of the term holds that the character derives from Jonathan Trumbull (1710–85), Governor of Connecticut. It is said that George Washington often uttered the words: "We must consult Brother Jonathan" when faced with a difficult question; however, that origin is doubtful, as neither man made reference to the story during their lifetimes and the first appearance of the story has been traced to the mid-19th century, long after their deaths.
The character was adopted by Americans from 1783 to 1815. During the War of 1812, the term "Uncle Sam" appeared. Uncle Sam appeared in newspapers from 1813 to 1815, and in 1816 he appeared in a book. Brother Jonathan was replaced by the female personification Columbia and the increasingly popular Uncle Sam. Indeed, the character can be seen as an intermediate step between Yankee Doodle and Uncle Sam as a representation of the everyday American.
However, Brother Jonathan, and variants of the name Jonathan continued to be used as slang references to Americans through the American Civil War. For example Johnny Reb meant a Confederate soldier, and a popular song was "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".
Read more about this topic: Brother Jonathan
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–117)
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase ‘the meaning of a word’ is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, ‘being a part of the meaning of’ and ‘having the same meaning.’ On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)
“Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)