how or what is the 'Uncle Sam' the Americans refer to?

Question

Does the expression mean something further than refering to a person?

Answer 1

US = Uncle Sam, it was a clever marketing gimick. "Uncle Sam wants you!" was the slogan to recruit people to serve the US military.

Answer 2

The United States.

Answer 3

R-U-serious!! U do not know what Uncle Sam,stands for?
First of all Uncle Sam,stands for the United States Government every one I thought knew that.
Uncle Sam,wants you posters that use to be out to get people to join the military that man was from believe it or not Buffalo,New York,and that is a true story that Uncle Sam,man was real.

Answer 4

Uncle Sam is a character that represents the United States.

According to Wikipedia, the first use of the phrase was coined during the the War of 1812. Soldiers used to receive their meat packed in barrels from the supplier Sam Wilson, so when they saw the kegs stamped U.S. they started calling him Uncle Sam.

"The 87th United States Congress adopted the following resolution on September 15, 1961: "Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of America's National symbol of Uncle Sam." A monument marks his birthplace in Arlington, Massachusetts, and a monument marks his burial in Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, New York. The first use of the term in literature is seen in an 1816 allegorical book, The Adventures of Uncle Sam in Search After His Lost Honor by Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy, Esq., also in reference to the aforementioned Samuel Wilson."

The character we're familiar with was made famous by cartoonist Thomas Nast, and by a recruiting poster printed during World War 1.

Answer 5

"During World War I, a very famous poster, inspired by a British recruitment poster, depicted Uncle Sam pointing at the people with the words I WANT YOU FOR U.S. ARMY.

Uncle Sam is a national personification of the United States, with the first usage of the term dating from the War of 1812 and the first illustration dating from 1852. He is often depicted as a serious elderly man with white hair and a goatee, dressed in clothing that recalls the design elements of the flag of the United States"

Answer 6

Uncle Sam is the inferior American answer to John Bull.

Answer 7

"Uncle Sam" was a political cartoon character created during the war of 1812 as a mascot for recruitment, and has been used again oftenly in political cartoons. Hence the classic recruitment poster "Uncle Sam wants YOU!"

Answer 8

in world war two posters with a drawing of uncle sam where put up everywhere to recruit people into the army

Answer 9

Uncle Sam is a symbol of American unity.

Answer 10

It's a record by MADNESS

I'm sailing across the sea, to be with my Uncle Sam