<P> The earliest known personification of the United States was as a woman named Columbia, who first appeared in 1738 (pre-USA) and sometimes was associated with another female personification, Lady Liberty . With the American Revolutionary War came Brother Jonathan, a male personification, and Uncle Sam finally appeared after the War of 1812 . Columbia appeared with either Brother Jonathan or Uncle Sam, but her use declined as a national personification in favor of Liberty, and she was effectively abandoned once she became the mascot of Columbia Pictures in the 1920s . </P> <P> According to an article in the 1893 The Lutheran Witness, Uncle Sam was simply another name for Brother Jonathan: </P> <P> 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 . (sic) </P> <P> A March 24, 1810 journal entry by Isaac Mayo states: </P>

Where does the phrase uncle sam come from