Long before the bald eagle became a symbol of the United States, the rattlesnake represented the American colonies and their growing sense of shared identity. In my recent interview with Our American Stories hosted by Lee Habeeb, I discuss how Benjamin Franklin helped shape the rattlesnake into a political and cultural symbol that reflected unity, vigilance, restraint, and resistance during the years leading up to the American Revolution.
The episode explores Franklin’s initial satirical article, threatening to send rattlesnakes to England if they kept sending criminals to the colonies and how that evolved into the famous “Join, or Die” political cartoon. Later, the rattlesnake continued to evolve as an American symbol, setting the stage for the origins of the Gadsden Flag and its enduring warning: “Don’t Tread On Me.” What began as satire ultimately became one of the earliest visual expressions of American identity and played an important role in uniting the colonies during a pivotal moment in history.
Full Transcript Below
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories. Did you know that America’s first symbol was a rattlesnake? Here to tell another of her great stories is frequent contributor Ashley Lebinsky. Take it away, Ashley.
In America, we have a lot of symbols, and there are symbols that we inherit, and there are symbols that in a way create us. And in the United States, actually, before the United States, you know, we had an eagle, and before there was the eagle and the stars and the stripes, and even before we had a country, there was a rattlesnake. And at the center of that story is founding Father Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was a printer, a philosopher, and really one of the most effective communicators in American history. Now, the story of the Rattlesnake begins as a satire in seventeen fifty one, so decades before the Revolution. Franklin responded to British policy they were sending convicted criminals to the American colonies. Writing with his characteristic bite if you will. He suggested a trade. If Britain insisted on exporting its felons Americans, of course, must return the favor. Franklin proposed sending rattlesnakes to England, noting they would be a grateful return for the human serpents sent us by our mother country. It was humor, but it definitely carried a message. The rattlesnake, which was native to America, was dangerous when provoked, and was already becoming a metaphor that would definitely take form several decades later. In seventeen fifty four, Franklin gave that metaphor a form. In the Pennsylvania Gazette, he published a stark image a snake cut into pieces, and each section was labeled for colony.
Where are we now in the Library of Congress? Right now, we’re in the James Madison Memorial Building. Okay, this is the Pennsylvania Gazette from seventeen fifty four, Join or Die. So this is the original Benjamin Franklin drawing of a serpent cut in pieces. Yes, so this was the first political cartoon published in America.
And what you’ll see is all of these colonies are represented in eight pieces. The colonies were divided and they were facing the pressures of the coming French and Indian War at this point, so they were incredibly vulnerable. So Franklin’s message was a direct one, and that was that unity was the only option. But the image also carried a deeper meaning. There was a belief at the time that a severed snake, and this is a little wild, but a severed snake could be revived if its pieces were reassembled quickly enough, and Franklin did not have to explain that to the colonists. Two decades later, as tensions with Britain reached a breaking point, Franklin returned to this image and, writing in seventeen seventy five under an alias which was an American guesser, he laid out the reasoning behind the rattlesnake as a national symbol. She never begins an attack, nor when once engaged, ever surrenders, and that line basically captured the colonial argument perfectly. Americans, Franklin suggested, were not aggressors. They were defensive, measured, but resolute, and he continued on to say she is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. This analysis by Franklin moved from behavior to symbolism, symbolism that we still see today. He continued on, saying, having no eyelids, she may be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. The colonies, like the snake, were watchful. They were aware of threats, aware of power, and increasingly aware of themselves as being something distinct. And then in this piece came one of his most powerful observations. He said, she never wounds till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her. And of course we know that in many instances leading up to the revolution the colonists did just that.
The rattlesnake or the serpent was about the most feared animal. I guess at the time that’s why it was a symbol of. Well, Europe didn’t have exotic, venomous snakes like in America, and so it was feared.
So this wasn’t just natural history. It was political philosophy and rhetoric, and it was a justification for resistance. It basically was yet another warning to the British. Now, Franklin saved his most striking metaphor for last. He said, tis curious and amazing to observe how distinctly the rattles of this animal are separated from each other, yet making sufficient sound to alarm the boldest man living. Basically, he’s saying, the rattles are nothing together, though they are unmistakable. And Franklin saw this connection. In the colonies themselves. They had separate identities, but when united, they produced something a lot more powerful, something that Franklin felt was absolutely impossible to ignore. And increasingly everyone else noticed that, and the rattles often appeared in groups of thirteen. What began as satire and then as a newspaper image quickly spread and the rattlesnake appeared across the colonies. They put it on pretty much everything. Flags, drums, they reprinted it in their newspapers and in their political messaging, and its meaning was clear and consistent. It was unity amongst all of the different colonies. There was this idea of vigilance but also restraint, and a part of that restraint was that the colonies had this strength when they were provoked. And by the time of the American Revolution, the image had evolved into a coiled snake paired with the warning don’t tread on me. And that’s the Gadsden flag, which was created by Christopher Gadsden in seventeen seventy five.
The Gadsden flag was created during the Revolutionary War. In those days, the flag was a symbol of the nation that was flown aboard ships. You had to fly a flag or else you were a pirate. So when we decided to revolt against the British, we commissioned ships to go to sea to fight them. We had to have a symbol.
Franklin’s Rattlesnake, obviously at this point, was more than a symbol. It was a framework, a framework for the United States of America, and it was a way to communicate complex political ideas quickly and effectively, which was unity without uniformity, which I think is probably one of the best ways to conceptualize even modern United States. And he also felt strongly in that strength without aggression, that warning before action and resolve without surrender.
Rattlesnakes were these sort of defensive creatures by nature. There was a certain appeal to that, this idea that we are going to take the high ground, this defensive position, but if you mess with us, then we will come out fighting. And so that passed this sort of colonial frontier, sort of rough around the edges characteristic that many of these columnists saw themselves as possessing.
The rattlesnake remains one of the earliest visual expressions of American identity. I mean it predates the flag, it predates our independence by several decades, and in many ways it helped me both possible because it gave the colonies something they did not yet fully have, a shared identity, a shared understanding of themselves. So in the end, even though it started as a joke, Franklin didn’t just draw a snake. He essentially gave a fragmented people a way to see themselves as one. And he did it with a warning that was clear, measured, and unmistakable, just like the sound of a rattle.
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling by our own Greg Engler, and a special thanks to Ashley Lebinski. She’s the former co host of the Discovery Chains Masters of Arms, and she’s the co founder of the University of Wyoming College of Laws Firearms Research Center, and she’s a regular contributor here on our American Stories. And what a story she told. What began as a satire became something so much bigger, a symbol of unity, restraint, and vigilance was this rattlesnake, and of course it would evolve into the Gadsden flag. It was more than a symbol, actually said that, it was a framework, and the role that Ben Franklin played in this was seminal. It gave the United States to shared identity and a shared understanding of ourselves. And a special thanks also to the contributors which you heard from the Library of Congress. The story of the Rattlesnake a symbol woven through America’s story. Here on our American Stories.