Benjamin Franklin\u2019s \u201cJoin, or Die\u201d was first printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette on
\nMay 9, 1754. It shows a snake cut into pieces, and each piece stands for one of the British
\ncolonies. Under the image are the words \u201cJoin, or Die.\u201d The library of Congress describes it
\nas Franklin\u2019s warning that the colonies needed to unite against the French and Native
\nforces during the early stage of the French and Indian War. At first glance, the cartoon
\nlooks simple, but it came out of a very tense moment in colonial history. In 1754, Britain
\nand France were fighting for power in North America, especially in the Ohio Valley. At the
\nsame time, British officials were worried about defense and about their relationship with
\nthe Six Nations of the Iroquois. Roger Trask explains that the Albany Congress of 1754 met
\nduring this crisis and focused on Indian relations and colonial defense. Franklin was one of
\nPennsylvania\u2019s commissioners there, and he strongly supported some kind of colonial
\nunion. That background matters because it shows that this image was not random or just
\nmeant to entertain readers. Franklin used it to push a political argument. What makes the
\ncartoon so effective is the way Franklin says a lot without using many words. Karen
\nSeverud Cook points out that the image works almost like a map. The pieces of the snake
\nare labeled in geographic order, from New England down to South Carolina, so Franklin
\nturned the colonies into one body while also showing that they were cut apart. That visual
\nchoice makes the message stronger. The broken snake suggests weakness and danger.
\nThe short line under it makes the point even clearer; the colonies either act together or they
\nwill fail separately. The image also tells us something about how politics worked in colonial
\nAmerica. Franklin did not rely only on speeches or official meetings. He used a newspaper
\nimage that ordinary readers could understand right away. Lester Olgon argues that
\nFranklin\u2019s pictures worked like political arguments, not just illustrations. That idea fits this
\ncartoon well. A reader did not need long explanation to understand the warning. The image
\nwas sharp, direct, and easy to remember. \u201cJoin, or Die\u201d also helps us see that even before
\nthe American Revolution, some colonists were already thinking in broader terms than just
\ntheir own colony. They were still separate governments, but Franklin was asking them to
\nthink about common interests and common danger. Cook says the cartoon was soon
\nreprinted in other colonial newspapers, which means people outside Pennsylvania were
\nseeing it too. Franklin\u2019s Albany Plan of Union did not pass, but the image stayed
\nmeaningful because it showed a real problem in 1754. The colonies were divided even
\nthough they were facing the same danger. For museum visitors today, this piece is
\nimportant because it shows an early moment when unity began to be imagined as
\nnecessary in American political life. Because this image was created before the American
\nRevolution, it was not originally a call for independence from Britain. Instead, it was a
\nwarning that the colonies needed to cooperate during a time of military danger and
\npolitical uncertainty. It also shows how newspaper could spread political ideas quickly to
\nordinary readers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Benjamin Franklin\u2019s \u201cJoin, or Die\u201d was first printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. It shows a snake cut into pieces, and each piece stands for one of the British colonies. Under the image are the words \u201cJoin, or Die.\u201d The library of Congress describes it as Franklin\u2019s warning that the colonies needed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5965,"featured_media":3385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"project_category":[215,201],"project_tag":[440,274],"class_list":["post-3390","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-1750-1764","project_category-17th-century","project_tag-1700s","project_tag-americanhistory"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/3390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5965"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/3390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3392,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/3390\/revisions\/3392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=3390"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=3390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}