Traditional symbols of English speaking countries

A national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation or its people; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda. Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations of the majestic wisdom and war goddess Minerva/Athena, and often took the Latin name of the ancient Roman province. Examples of this type include Britannia, Germania, Hibernia, Helvetia and Polonia. Representations of the citizenry of a nation - rather than of the nation itself - are Deutscher Michel and John Bull.The boxing kangaroo is a national personification of Australia, frequently seen in popular culture. The symbol is often displayed prominently by Australian spectators at sporting events, such as at cricket, tennis and football matches, and at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games. A distinctive flag featuring the symbol has since been considered "Australia's sporting flag".

The boxing kangaroo

The idea of a boxing kangaroo originates from the animal's defensive behavior, in which it will use its smaller forelegs to hold an attacker in place while using the claws on its larger hind legs to try to kick, slash or disembowel them. This stance gives the impression that the kangaroo appears to be "boxing" with its attacker. The image of the boxing kangaroo has been known since at least 1891, in which a cartoon titled "Jack the fighting Kangaroo with Professor Lendermann" appeared in a Sydney newspaper. The image was inspired by late 19th century outback travelling shows which featured kangaroos wearing boxing gloves fighting against men.

Alan Bond owned the image and licensed it for mass production. The image was later bought by the Australian Olympic Committee, and is used as a mascot to represent the Australian Olympic team and to promote sport and fair play in schools. Johnny Canuck was a Canadian cartoon hero and superhero who was created as a political cartoon in 1869 and was later re-invented, most notably as a Second World War action hero in 1942. The Vancouver Canucks, a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League , currently use a lumberjack rendition of Johnny Canuck as one of their team logos.

Johnny Canuck

Johnny Canuck was created as a lumberjack national personification of Canada. He first appeared in early political cartoons dating to 1869 where he was portrayed as a younger cousin of the United States' Uncle Sam and Britain's John Bull. Dressed as a habitant, farmer, logger, rancher or soldier, he was characterized as wholesome and simple-minded and was often depicted resisting the bullying of John Bull or Uncle Sam. He appeared regularly in editorial cartoons for 30 years before declining in usage in the early twentieth century.

Uncle Sam is the national personification of the United States and sometimes more specifically of the American government, with the first usage of the term dating from the War of 1812. He is depicted as a stern elderly white man with white hair and a goatee beard, and dressed in clothing that recalls the design elements of flag of the United States-for example, typically a top hat with red and white stripes and white stars on a blue band, and red and white striped trousers. The first use of the term in literature is seen in an 1816 allegorical book, The Adventures of Uncle Sam in Search After His Lost Honor by Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy.

Uncle Sam

In the year 1812, a large quantity of provisions for the army were purchased at Troy, N.Y., by Elbert Anderson, a government contractor. The goods were inspected by two brothers, Ebenezer and Samuel Wilson. The last named was invariably known among the workmen as "Uncle Sam." The packages were marked E.A.-U.S. On being asked the meaning of these initials, a workman jokingly replied that he did not know unless they meant Elbert Anderson and Uncle Sam. So the title became current among the workmen, soldiers, and people, and the United States Government is known now by those who affectionately call it Uncle Sam became a useful icon in cartoons, much like the John Bull character who represented the United Kingdom. John Bull and Uncle Sam have squared off in hundreds of political cartoons throughout the years.

John BullJohn Bull originated in the creation of Dr. John Arbuthnot in 1712, and was popularised first by British print makers and then overseas by illustrators and writers such as American cartoonist Thomas Nast and Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, author of John Bull's Other Island. He is sometimes used to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom, but has not been accepted in Scotland or Wales because he is viewed there as English rather than British. Britannia, or a lion, is therefore used as an alternative in some editorial cartoons. Although embraced by Unionists, Bull is rejected by Nationalists in Northern Ireland as well. As a literary figure, John Bull is well-intentioned, frustrated, full of common sense, and entirely of native country stock. Unlike Uncle Sam later, he is not a figure of authority but rather a yeoman who prefers his small beer and domestic peace, possessed of neither patriarchal power nor heroic defiance. Arbuthnot provided him with a sister named Peg, and a traditional adversary in Louis Baboon. Peg continued in pictorial art beyond the 18th century, but the other figures associated with the original tableau dropped away.

Bull is usually portrayed as a stout, portly man in a tailcoat with light coloured breeches and a top hat which by its shallow crown indicates its middle class identity. During the Georgian period his waistcoat is red and/or his tailcoat is royal blue which, together with his buff or white britches, can thus refer to a greater or lesser extent to the 'blue and buff' scheme used by supporters of Whig politics which is part of what John Arbuthnot wished to deride when he invented the character. A typical John Bull Englishman is referenced in Margaret Fuller's Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 in Chapter 2: "Murray's travels I read, and was charmed by their accuracy and clear broad tone. He is the only Englishman that seems to have traversed these regions, as man, simply, not as John Bull."

Billy Yank is the personification of the Northern states of the United States, or less generally, the Union during the American Civil War. The latter part of his name is derived from yankee, a slang term for New Englanders. Political cartoonists used Billy Yank and his Confederate counterpart Johnny Reb to symbolize the combatants in the American Civil War of the 1860s.Billy Yank is usually pictured wearing a regulation Yankee wool uniform that included the fatigue blouse, a light-weight wool coat with an inside pocket and four brass buttons on the front, with a forage cap made of wool broadcloth with a rounded, flat top, cotton lining, and leather visor.

Billy Yank

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