An individual American; particularly a “Down-Easter.”
1827. A tall, boney Jonathan, whose appetite was in proportion to the magnitude of his frame.—Mass. Spy, Nov. 14.
1829. Jonathan is there; his coat is off, and he is ready for a job.—Id., Nov. 25: from The Pawtucket Chronicle.
1830. This blockade was most rigerously enforced by us, in particular, and many a poor Jonathan, who had a full cargo of provisions, and who calculated upon running in, in the night, was picked up and ordered out alongside the frigate by our vigilant guard boats.—N. Ames, ‘A Mariner’s Sketches,’ p. 205.
1830. Many a time I have seen a group of English and American seamen whose money was spent, before their ‘liberty’ was out, disencumbering themselves of jackets, shoes and silk hankerchiefs, to ‘make a raise’ for the mutual accommodation of the party. In these sacrifices, the English, I must confess, seemed to be more liberal than the Jonathans, whose calculating, money making disposition always shews itself on any emergency.—Id., p. 240.
1830. No sooner was the cargo sold, than Jonathan seemed to come to his senses.—Mass. Spy, June 9.
1830. After many inquiries, he met with a Kentucky Jonathan.—Id., July 14.
1842. Brother Jonathan [an enterprising Yankee] put his ice down to half a cent per pound.—Mr. Washington of North Carolina, House of Repr., July 6: Cong. Globe, p. 858, App.
1843. Occasionally, perchance, you will see some honest country Jonathan, with his wagon full of ‘Yankee notions,’ which he has brought in to ‘peddle,’ driving through the streets with a vacant, wondering stare, as if he had missed the place of his destination, and at night, with downcast, puzzled look, plodding homeward with his unsaleable merchandise, his Yankee tact and shrewdness for once completely nonplussed.—Yale Lit. Mag., ix. 44 (Nov.).
