Brother Jonathan
Brother Jonathan is the personification of New England. He was also used as an emblem of the United States in general, and can be an allegory of capitalism. His too-short pants, too-tight waistcoat and old-fashioned style reflect his taste for inexpensive, second-hand products and efficient use of means.
Brother Jonathan soon became a stock fictional character, developed as a good-natured parody of all New England during the early American Republic. He was widely popularized by the weekly newspaper Brother Jonathan and the humor magazine Yankee Notions.[1]
Brother Jonathan was usually depicted in
After 1865, the garb of Brother Jonathan was emulated by
History
The term dates at least to the 17th century, when it was applied to
A popular folk tale about the origin of the term holds that the character is derived from Jonathan Trumbull (1710–1785), Governor of the State of Connecticut, which was the main source of supplies for the Northern and Middle Departments during the American Revolutionary War. It is said that George Washington uttered the words, "We must consult Brother Jonathan," when asked how he could win the war.[5] That origin is doubtful, however, as neither man made reference to the story during his lifetime and the first appearance of the story has been traced to the mid-19th century, long after their deaths.[6]
The character was adopted by citizens of New England from 1783 to 1815, when Brother Jonathan became a nickname for any
The term "Uncle Sam" is thought to date approximately to the War of 1812. Uncle Sam appeared in newspapers from 1813 to 1815, and in 1816 he appeared in a book.
In 1825
Jules Verne included in his 1864 novel The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (French: Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras) a chapter entitled "John Bull and Jonathan", in which British and American members of a polar expedition confront each other, each seeking to claim the newly-discovered island of New America. The land is named by Captain Altamont, an American explorer, who is first to set foot on it. A deleted chapter, "John Bull and Jonathan", had Hatteras and Altamont dueling for the privilege of claiming the land for their respective countries.[11]
Around the same time, the
According to an article in the 1893
"When we meet him in politics we call him Uncle Sam; when we meet him in society we call him Brother Jonathan. Here of late Uncle Sam alias Brother Jonathan has been doing a powerful lot of complaining, hardly doing anything else."[14]
Legacy
The phrase "We must consult Brother Jonathan" appears on the graduation certificates of Yale University's Trumbull College, also named for Trumbull.[15]
Some members of the Jonathan Club, a private social club headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, believe their club was named after Jonathan Trumbull or "Brother Jonathan". However, the club was formed in 1895, and the true inspiration for its name is lost to history.
Between 1891 and 1901, US socialist Daniel De Leon wrote more than 300 editorials as dialogues between "Uncle Sam" (a class-conscious worker who espoused the doctrines of the SLP) and "Brother Jonathan" (a worker lacking in class-consciousness).[16]
See also
- John Bull
- Marianne
- Johnny Reb
- Uncle Sam
- Columbia
- Yankee
References
- ^ Yankee Notions in Google Books.
- ^ Teach Us History – Here, "Brother Jonathan" is clearly a representative of a "Yankee", a New Englander, administering pear-juice to John Bull on behalf of Admiral Perry, during the War of 1812.
- ISBN 978-0-19-506548-0.
- ^ Hopper, Kenneth and William, The Puritan Gift: Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream, I.B.Tauris, 2007, p.63.
- ISBN 978-0-913337-40-0.
- ^ The first printed usage of "Jonathan" as a generic name for a representative Yankee in the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition) is from 1816.
- OCLC 7588473.
- ISBN 0-87413-307-6.
- ISBN 978-1-4408-5486-6.
- OCLC 7588473.
- ISBN 978-1-56025-854-4.
- ^ Note: Brother Jonathan fought the enemy "John Bull" during the War of 1812; so also did the North again fight Johnny (for example, Johnny Reb meant a Confederate soldier). However, the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was sung on both sides.
- ^ "Uncle Sam", Dictionary.com; accessed 2013.09.18.
- ^ December 7, 1893 "A Bit of Advice" The Lutheran Witness p. 100
- ^ "Trumbull College History".
- DeLeon, Daniel. "Uncle Sam & Brother Jonathan". Marxist Internet Archive. New York Labor News. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
External links
- 1862 Harper's Weekly Brother Jonathan Cartoon
- The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan - complete 1827 text w. illustrations