In 1754 the colonies were caught in a life or death
struggle fighting off Spain and France for survival
struggle fighting off Spain and France for survival
On May 9, 1754 the essence of the popular Gadsden Flag now used by the US Marie Corps appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette.
The snake is chopped up into 8 pieces. The head is New England: NE. At the tail is South Carolina. Missing is Georgia and Delaware, as Delaware was still a part of Pennsylvania.
Why the lowly snake? Back in Franklin's time it was thought that if you could put the dismembered parts of snake back together before sunset it would come back to life. Franklin also went out a limb. Back then as well as now, snakes were considered something less that goodly. But Franklin's boldness to picture the US as a serpent was quite shocking. He wanted to shock his readers with a wicked message of unity.
This political cartoon was not made as a metaphor to unite against the UK in colonial rebellion, rather it's statement is more akin to "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." And in 1754 the primary threats to colonies were the French, Spanish, natives, and themselves.
In 2010 Gen X,Y, and I terms it means, "Come Together Right Now or else it's Game Over."
Recently this 1754 drawing has seen the like light of day in 2010
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