Who is Uncle Sam?

[Funky Dude]

In a lot of American films, cartoons, shows and advertisements there is some bloke wearing the American flag pants and jacket and an American flag top hat and looks in his 50's with white hair and a white goaty beard. Not so far from where I live there is a business called "American Dry Cleaners" and next to the logo is a big painting of Uncle Sam wearing the American flag getup.

Out of interest, is there such a bloke called Uncle Sam sometime back in the past who represented America in some way and wore the American flag pants, jacket and top hat? And in what way does he represent America, although I guess the American flag outfit says it all. Or is Uncle Sam a madeup gimmick? If so how did this Uncle Sam thing came about?

I'm just curious because when I see a lot of stuff that's to do with America a lot of the time Uncle Sam appears on it.

[Mixmachine]

Funky, Uncle Sam (US) basically represents the US Federal Government, this character was created sometime in the early 1800's and first used in cartoons of the day, later, the character became famous during WWI army recruiting drives, (Australia fought on the Allied side) to this day we still like to complain about how much in taxes we pay to ëUncle Samí every year. Of course in some parts of the world this character was/is used for more sinister propaganda purposes by some of our enemies.

[Funky Dude]

Thanks for the info Mixmachine.