Brother Jonathan was a fictional character created to personify the entire United States, in the early days of the country's existence.
In editorial cartoons and patriotic posters, Brother Jonathan was usually depicted as a typical American revolutionary, with tri-cornered hat and long military jacket. Originally, from 1776 to 1783, "Brother Jonathan" was a mildly derisive term used by the Loyalists to describe the Patriots.
Famous quotes containing the word brother:
“—My brother Toby, quoth she, is going to be married to Mrs. Wadman. “Then he will never,” quoth my father, “be able to lie diagonally in his bed again as long as he lives.””
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)