[tet68]

Boston tea party......1773.
Don’t Tread on Me!... 1775.

Close enough.

[schurmann]

“Boston tea party......1773.
Don’t Tread on Me!... 1775.
Close enough.” [tet68, post 26]

The snake motif for the American Colonies predates the Boston Tea Party and the Gadsden Flag.

In May 1754, Benjamin Franklin published a woodcut of a snake cut into eight segments, with the caption “JOIN, or DIE.” There were only eight segments because New England was represented as a single segment (it was four colonies at the time), Delaware was lumped in with Pennsylvania, and Georgia was simply left out.

The cartoon was revived in the mid-1760s to urge greater Colonial unity in response to British oppression. Franklin, a serious Anglophile until 1774, initially opposed the use of his image in this way.

Since then, it’s been revived and put to use by a number of political causes (including both sides in the American Civil War), entertainment venues, films, TV shows, and even video games. Suitably redrawn and relabeled.