join, or die t-shirts
Join, or Die is a famous political cartoon created by Benjamin Franklin and first published in his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. It is a woodcut showing a snake severed into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initial of one of the original colonies above the words "Join, or Die". During that era, there was a superstition that a snake which had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the pieces were put together before sunset. During the American Revolutionary War, the image became a potent symbol of Colonial unity and resistance to what was seen as British oppression.
The image has been widely used as a symbol of unity in many contexts since, with the initials above the "Join, or Die" slogan that represent the colonies replaced. The graphic was also used in advertising for HBO's John Adams series, which ran in 2008. Get a Join or Die t-shirt today!
