Ben Franklin's 'Join or Die' Cartoon that started a tradition

JOIN OR DIE: This cartoon - acknowledged as the very first editorial cartoon published in America - was first published 257 years ago today.

The woodcut drawing is believed to have been the creation of Benjamin Franklin (later to become one of the founding fathers of the USA), and it first appeared in his newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9th 1754, accompanying an article by Franklin which called for unity amongst the colonial governments of the British Colonies.

'Join or Die' depicts a snake divided into eight fragments, each representing one of the colonial governments. The cartoon played to a superstition of the day that if  a snake that had been cut in two were rejoined before sunset, it would come back to life. The image caught the public's imagination and was reproduced in other newspapers throughout the colonies. It also found itself being parodied and as the inspiration behind many dirivatives, including the use of the snake in the masthead of Paul Revere's publication The Massachusetts Spy.

As a proud forerunner to a wonderful tradition of American political cartooning, 'Join or Die' must count as one of the most influential editorial cartoons ever produced.

- John Curtis