Uncle Sam as a visual character took shape in the political press of the late 19th century, where satirical magazines like Puck and Judge used him as a stand-in for American policy, ambition, and contradiction. Their staff illustrators developed him into a flexible symbol, capable of carrying almost any argument a cover needed to make. That tradition carried into the 20th century through wartime appeals and patriotic campaigns. The period originals here come from that long run of American political imagery.