Uncle Sam, Jackasses, and the Boss

 Happy Independence Day, Americans, and in honor of the holiday, enjoy some interesting historical facts about our great United States that few people know.

• Legend has it that Uncle Sam originated with Samuel Willson, a merchant and meat packer, born outside Boston in 1766. During the war of 1812, Willson  delivered meat to troops and the crates were stamped with...

When a soldier asked what "U.S." stood for, he was told "Uncle Sam. It is he who feeds the U.S Army."

• During the election of 1828, politics got personal when Andrew Jackson's opponents called him a jackass.  He gleefully adopted the image to represent the Democratic party.

• Like the Democratic donkey, the Republican party symbol was born out of mockery. In 1874, the satirical cartoonist, Thomas Nast, drew an elephant and labeled it "the Republican vote".

• Speaking of Thomas Nast, he has another place in American history...

William Magear Tweed (1823-1878), also known as "Boss" Tweed, was the head of Tammany Hall, the most powerful political machine in the history of New York and possibly the country. Tweed bragged openly about how much power he bought with huge bribes and scoffed at reformers, who couldn't touch his organization no matter how much noise they made. 

"As long as I count the votes", he said to one  do-gooder,  "what are you going to do about it?" 

Tweed treated the press with the same contempt telling them to print all the disclosures they wanted, but one activity of the press did concern him. Tweed was incensed by the caricatures of him drawn by Thomas Nast published in Harpers Weekly.  

"My constituents can't read", he said, "but they can see pictures!"

Eventually, Tweed was arrested, charged, convicted of bribery, and subsequently sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. However, his influence was so  great that he was allowed to visit home everyday till one day he simply slipped away. He escaped to Spain where he was certain he could conceal himself from the prying eyes of the press. However, within months he was identified and extradited to the USA to complete his sentence. His downfall? Someone recognized him from a Thomas Nast caricature.

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