What are you prepared to do to protect the Constitution?

Don’t Tread on Me
The history of the Gadsden flag and how the rattlesnake became a symbol of American independence
http://www.foundingfathers.info/stories/gadsden.html

Stickers: http://www.lifelibertyetc.com/stickers.aspx

Gadsden Flag http://www.navygear.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=FLAG-USNavy-3&Category_Code=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=flag

First Navy Jack http://www.united-states-flag.com/1stnavyjack1.html?productid=1stnavyjack1&channelid=FROOG

Gadsden and Culpeper Flags and etc.
http://www.gadsdenandculpeper.com/

From http://www.usflag.org/gadsden.html
The rattlesnake was the favorite animal emblem of the Americans even before the Revolution. In 1751 Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette carried a bitter article protesting the British practice of sending convicts to America. The author suggested tht the colonists return the favor by shipping “a cargo of rattlesnakes, which could be distributed in St. James Park, Spring Garden, and other places of pleasure, and particularly in the noblemen’s gardens.” Three years later the same paper printed the picture (as seen above) of a snake as a commentary on the Albany Congress. To remind the delegates of the danger of disunity, the serpent was shown cut to pieces. Each segment is marked with the name of a colony, and the motto “Join or Die” below. Other newspapers took up the snake theme.

By 1774 the segments of the snake had grown together, and the motto had been changed to read: “United Now Alive and Free Firm on this Basis Liberty Shall Stand and Thus Supported Ever Bless Our Land Till Time Becomes Eternity”

Other authors felt the rattlesnake was a good example of America’s virtues. They argued that it is unique to America; individually its rattles produce no sound, but united they can be heard by all; and while it does not attack unless provoked, it is deadly to step upon one.
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Maybe JimRob can ask the Patriot Shop to locate a flag maker who will add Free Republic across the top in a banner similar to Culpeper’s flag and we can all buy it and fly it.

I’m too busy, my feet hurt, conservatives don’t do anything like that.

I’m buying more ammo, never know when I may need to use 800-900 12 ga rounds nunber 2 shot, on birds and such.

I’m buying more ammo Sunday.

I PREFER TO DIE ON MY FEET A FREE MAN THAN ON MY KNEES AS A SLAVE.

I feel that I failed my grand daughters by not turning over to them the same freedom I enjoyed my whole life.

My heart is heavy with sorrow. It appears for this end is were we born.

America's Independent Party, which FReepers including myself founded in June, and which is already the third-largest party in America based on voter registrations, has strict adherence to the Constitution, and to the oath all sworn officers of the United States take to uphold and defend it, at the very core of our constitution, platform, and Personal Affiliation Agreement.

As a free citizen of the United States, I willingly choose to affiliate with America's Independent Party, believing along with its founders, and the founders of our republic, that our rights to life, liberty and private property are God-given and therefore unalienable.

I hereby pledge that I will, to the best of my ability, seek to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and diligently work to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, thereby fulfilling the purpose of the Constitution of the United States and this organization.

In recognition of the multitude of ways in which our nation's leaders have departed from America's founding principles, I also hereby petition local, state and federal government for redress of such grievances, with the urgent imperative demand that all officers of government henceforth faithfully perform their sworn duty to defend innocent human life and constitutional republican governance.

I told my wife that for Christmas, I want one of those "Don't tread on me" flags. I want to hang it from the porch of my desert getaway out near Lake Mead.

Here is the nice picture of mine that I took when it was flying proudly in the high desert.

I use it as a logo of sorts on the 'Civil War II' (CWII) ping list that I maintain.

Background from Wikipedia:

In fall 1775, the United States Navy was established to intercept incoming British ships carrying war supplies to the British troops in the colonies. To aid in this, the Second Continental Congress authorized the mustering of five companies of Marines to accompany the Navy on their first mission. The first Marines that enlisted were from Philadelphia and they carried drums painted yellow, depicting a coiled rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, and the motto "Don't Tread On Me." This was the first mention of the Gadsden flag's symbolism.

At the Congress, Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden was representing his home state of South Carolina. He was one of three members of the Marine Committee who were outfitting the first naval mission. It is unclear whether Gadsden took his inspiration from the Marine's drums, or if he inspired them himself.

Before the departure of that first mission, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Navy, Commodore Esek Hopkins, received the yellow rattlesnake flag from Gadsden to serve as his distinctive personal standard. Gadsden also presented a copy of this flag to his state legislature in Charleston and was recorded in the South Carolina congressional journals:

Col. Gadsden presented to the Congress an elegant standard, such as is to be used by the commander in chief of the American navy; being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattle-snake in the middle, in the attitude of going to strike, and these words underneath, "Don't Tread on Me!"

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