It later resurfaced in both the north and the south during the Civil War and has managed to re-emerge recently as the country finds itself divided again.
Soon after the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765, the image was used to advocate for independence and would regularly be seen posted on trees, windows, on flags, and newspapers. Join or Die became the rallying cry for the effort to stop French expansion, and ultimately was used, along with Unite or Die, as a slogan for getting the colonies to rally together to fight the British in the American Revolutionary War. A new country was born But that new country took awhile to get on its feet. The slogan was adopted by patriots as a battle cry to rally against the British. Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation. This thought was born from the superstition which stated, if a snake is cut and buried before dusk it could survive and rejoin itself.įranklin would utilize his “Join, or Die” image to promote union with the British prior to the Revolutionary War. In addition, Franklin chose a cut snake to stress that we have a small window of opportunity to unite. Join or Die, the first political cartoon published in an American newspaper, illustrates Benjamin Franklins warning to the British colonies in America. The snake winds to depict the eastern seaboard of the United States. He chose to depict a severed snake to simulate death to the serpent and to the colonies as well if they chose to stay divided. The snake is divided into sections which represent the thirteen colonies. Franklin believed it represented the American spirit.the rattle snake has a deadly bite and will only attack if provoked. He chose a timber rattle snake (which can only be found in North America) as an illustrative symbol for the colonies.
#UNITE OR DIE FULL#
Each colony was moving in a different direction and this served as a call for unity.įranklin created the original image as a wooden carving and had it distributed to newspapers across the colonies. Full of facts about our fledgling democracy, the call for a national government, and the Constitutional Convention, this book presents American history with. During this period Great Britain was engaged in the French and Indian War and Franklin was very concerned about the security of the British colonies because they were not united. AMERICA: UNITE OR DIE is a real-time analysis of why American Democracy is crumbling and why both sides Republicans and Democrats are responsible for its collapse. It graced The Pennsylvania Gazette (Franklin’s newspaper) in 1754. Franklin’s image stands today as the first political cartoon to ever appear in a newspaper.
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