Brother Jonathan

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The name “Jonathan” was taken from a caricature called Brother Jonathan, a precursor of Uncle Sam, an unmannered, forthright, patriotic New Englander.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2023

By the late 1850s, because he had been claimed by the Know-Nothings for their own, Brother Jonathan was no longer a viable national symbol.

From Slate • Jul. 4, 2022

Brother Jonathan may have morphed into Uncle Sam around the time of the Civil War, before fading away.

From Salon • Dec. 11, 2021

He replaced Brother Jonathan, a New Englander, as an American icon in the early 19th century after an article circulated in the May 12, 1830, New York Gazette.

From New York Times • Jul. 3, 2015

Brother Jonathan was calculating what could be made of the crisis in working out the election of a president.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 453 Volume 18, New Series, September 4, 1852 by Chambers, Robert