Professional Documents
Culture Documents
294
Benjamin Franklin drew the cartoon JOIN, or DIE. It appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. He hoped his cartoon would make colonial leaders want to unite together.
The snake in the cartoon stands for most of the colonies. Each piece of the snake represents one of the colonies. Each colony is represented except Delaware and Georgia.
The saying Join or Die was based on an old tale about snakes. According to this story, a snake that was cut into pieces would come to life again if it was put back together before sunset.
Benjamin Franklin wanted the pieces of the snake the colonies to come together to survive. In his cartoon, Benjamin Franklin used the snake as a symbol. Symbols are a good way to show ideas that are sometimes hard to draw in a picture.
The eagle is often used to represent the idea of freedom. The dove stands for the idea of peace. The hawk stands for war.