Join Or Die

3 Pages 790 Words

" …Do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states…" These words, taken from the Declaration of Independence, exhibit a united and strong force from a people ready and willing to fight to be untied as individuals and as a country. The Declaration plainly exhibits that the people of the United States want to be and are united, which twenty years prior, was not as clear.
In 1754, Benjamin Franklin illustrated the need for a group of united states in his cartoon, titled "Join or Die." This cartoon shows a nation unsure of what they want and where they are going.
In 1754, the French and Indian War was threatening several of the colonies and their livelihood. The conflict between the British and the French posed a great threat to the colonies. Individually, the colonies were weak and susuptiable to attack. As this war approached, the colonists faced the decision as to come together as one united government. If they did band together, they would benefit by working with all their resources controlled by a central government.
An active man in the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, created a cartoon that brings up the specific issue of unity between the colonies, which, would, 20 years later, form a country based on the notion of unity, The United States. The cartoon that he created consists of a snake divided into 8(one part for each colony that existed at the time) clearly independent pieces, and underneath the snake, Franklin wrote the words “Join or Die”. In this cartoon, Franklin effectively displays his feelings towards the issues surrounding the colonies at that time.
During this time, a familiar myth was that a snake that was cute-up, or separated, that was reassembled before sundown would come back to life. By using a cut-up snake to represent the colonies, Franklin presen...