<p>Benjamin Franklin sketched, carved, and published the first known political cartoon in an American newspaper. It was the image of a snake cut into eight sections. The sections represented the individual colonies and the curves of the snake suggested the coastline. New England was combined into one section as the head of the snake. South Carolina was at the tail. Beneath the snake were the ominous words “Join, or Die.”</p>
<p>This had nothing to do with independence from Britain. It was a plea for unity in defending the colonies during the French and Indian War. It played off a common superstition of the time: a snake that had been cut into pieces could come back to life if you joined the sections together before sunset.</p>
<p> Franklin’s snake wiggled its way into American culture as an early symbol of a shared national identity.</p>
<p>The U.S. Navy Jack with a rattlesnake (not cut into eight sections) has another story behind it altogether: <a href=“http://www.navyjack.info/history.html[/url]”>http://www.navyjack.info/history.html</a>
The rattlesnake was also an early symbol used by the Marine Corps, but it’s on a yellow background.
I am a history teacher :)</p>