Editing Brother Jonathan (section)

==History==
[[File:CanadianAmericaRelationsCartoon1886.gif|thumb|upright|left|"Mrs. Britannia" and her daughter "Miss Canada" discussing whether "Cousin Jonathan" aspires to "marriage" with Canada, in an 1886 political cartoon about fears of American aspirations to bring Canada into the Union]]

The term dates at least to the 17th century, when it was applied to [[Puritan]] [[roundheads]] during the [[English Civil War]].<ref name="Hart1995">{{cite book|author=James D. Hart|title=The Oxford Companion to American Literature|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompanionthart|url-access=registration|edition=6th.|date=12 October 1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-506548-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompanionthart/page/91 91]}}</ref> It came to include residents of colonial [[New England]], who were mostly Puritans in support of the Parliamentarians during the war. It probably is derived from the Biblical words spoken by [[King David|David]] after the death of his friend [[Jonathan (1 Samuel)|Jonathan]], "I am distressed for thee, my brother [[Jonathan (1 Samuel)|Jonathan]]" (2 Samuel 1:26). As [[Kenneth Hopper]] and [[William Hopper (politician)|William Hopper]] put it, "Used as a term of abuse for their ... Puritan opponents by [[Royalist]]s during the [[English Civil War]], it was applied by British officers to the rebellious colonists during the [[American Revolution]]".<ref>Hopper, Kenneth and William, ''The Puritan Gift: Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream'', I.B.Tauris, 2007, p.63.</ref>

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 [[Departments of the Continental Army#Northern Department|Northern]] and [[Departments of the Continental Army#Middle Department|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.<ref>{{cite book | author = Gould, Dudley C | title= Times of Brother Jonathan: What He Ate, Wore, Believed in & Used for Medicine During the War of Independence| publisher = Southfarm Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-913337-40-0|pages=9–10|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTGZ7ur2t30C&dq=times+of+brother+jonathan&pg=PA9}}</ref> 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.<ref name="OED">The first printed usage of "Jonathan" as a generic name for a representative Yankee in the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition) is from 1816.</ref>

The character was adopted by citizens of New England from 1783 to 1815, when Brother Jonathan became a nickname for any [[New England|Yankee]] sailor, similar to the way that [[G.I. (military)|G.I.]] is used to describe members of the U.S. Army.

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 [[John Neal]] wrote the novel ''[[Brother Jonathan: or, the New Englanders]]'' and had it published in [[Edinburgh]] to expose British readers to US customs and language.<ref>{{cite thesis | last = Richards | first = Irving T. | year = 1933 | title = The Life and Works of John Neal | degree = PhD | publisher = [[Harvard University]] | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | url = http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990038995990203941/catalog | oclc = 7588473 | pages = 694–695}}</ref> The emblem had been developing for decades as a minor self-referential device in American literature, but saw full development in this novel into the personification of American national character.<ref>{{cite book | last = Morgan | first = Winifred | title = An American Icon: Brother Jonathan and American Identity | publisher = University of Delaware Press | location = Newark, New Jersey | year = 1988 | isbn = 0-87413-307-6 | page = 143}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Kayorie | first = James Stephen Merritt | editor-last = Baumgartner | editor-first = Jody C. | chapter = John Neal (1793–1876) | page = 88 | title = American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and Their Impact on U.S. Policy and Culture | publisher = ABC-CLIO | location = Santa Barbara, California | year = 2019 | isbn = 978-1-4408-5486-6}}</ref> The weekly newspaper ''[[Brother Jonathan (newspaper)|Brother Jonathan]]'' was first published in 1842, issued out of [[New York City|New York]]. As editor in 1843, Neal used it to argue for Brother Jonathan to be the national emblem of the US.<ref>{{cite thesis | last = Richards | first = Irving T. | year = 1933 | title = The Life and Works of John Neal | degree = PhD | publisher = [[Harvard University]] | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | url = http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990038995990203941/catalog | oclc = 7588473 | page = 1031}}</ref> ''Yankee Notions, or Whittlings of Jonathan's Jack-Knife'' was a high-quality humor magazine, first published in 1852, that used the stock character to lampoon Yankee acquisitiveness and other peculiarities. It, too, was issued out of New York, which was a rival with neighboring [[New England]] before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. It was a popular periodical with a large circulation, and people both inside and outside New England enjoyed it as good-natured entertainment. Such jokes were often copied in newspapers as far away as California, where natives encountered Yankee ships and peddlers, inspiring [[Yankee]] impersonations in comedy burlesques.

[[Jules Verne]] included in his 1864 novel ''[[The Adventures of Captain Hatteras]]'' ({{langx|fr|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 [[Newfoundland (island)|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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Jules Verne: The Definitive Biography |last=Butcher |first=William |author2=Arthur C. Clarke |author2-link=Arthur C. Clarke  |year=2006 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |isbn=978-1-56025-854-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/julesvernedefini00butc/page/156 156]–157 |url=https://archive.org/details/julesvernedefini00butc |url-access=registration }}</ref>

Around the same time, the [[New England]]–based [[Know Nothing Party]], which ''Yankee Notions'' also lampooned, was divided into two camps—the moderate Jonathans and the radical Sams. Eventually, Uncle Sam came to replace Brother Jonathan, and the victors applied "Yankee" to all of the country by the end of the century, after the "[[Yankee]]" section had won the [[American Civil War]]. Likewise, "[[Uncle Sam]]" was applied to the Federal government.<ref>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.</ref> [[Uncle Sam]] came to represent the United States as a whole over the course of the late 19th century, supplanting Brother Jonathan.<ref>"[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/uncle+sam Uncle Sam]", Dictionary.com; accessed 2013.09.18.</ref>

According to an article in the 1893 ''[[The Lutheran Witness]]'', Brother Jonathan and [[Uncle Sam]] were different names for the same person:

"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."<ref>December 7, 1893 "A Bit of Advice" ''The Lutheran Witness'' p. 100</ref>