July 31, 2023 • 11 mins
The Gadsden flag -- with its coiled rattlesnake on a bright yellow field and the words 'don't tread on me' -- has symbolic roots stretching back before the American Revolution. Learn its history in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/revolutionary-war/dont-tread-on-me-flag.htm
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Louren
Vogelbaum here a proudly flown from vehicles or defiantly waved
at political rallies, the yellow Don't tread on Me flag,
with its fearsome, coiled rattlesnake, has become a rallying cry
(00:22):
for right wing America. This historical flag, known as the
Gadsden flag, originated in colonial times and was resurrected by
the modern day Tea Party movement in twenty ten. Today,
the Gadsden flag has taken on darker overtones. The flag
has been embraced by fringe political groups, including the anti
(00:43):
government militias and other protesters, who stormed the Capitol on
January sixth of twenty twenty one, displaying dozens of Don't
tread on Me flags. The history of the Gadsden flag,
particularly the symbolism of the brattlesnake, is closely linked with
Benjamin Franklin and the unity of all of the colonies
that eventually became the United States. The Gadsden flag is
(01:06):
visually striking because of its bright yellow field, though words
don't tread on Me and the image of a coiled
rattlesnake with its fangs bared ready to strike. The rattlesnake
was the first of these elements to be associated with America.
In seventeen fifty one, colonists were bristling over the British
practice of shipping convicted felons to the Thirteen Colonies. The
(01:29):
Crown said that it was doing the colonies a favor
by helping them populate faster. But Benjamin Franklin, then a
journalist in Philadelphia, wasn't having it. With his trademark wit
and dripping with venomous sarcasm, Franklin penned a satirical article
for his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, titled Rattlesnakes for Felons.
(01:51):
Here's a sample. Such a tender parental concern in our
mother country for the welfare of her children, calls aloud
for the highest rich of gratitude rattlesnakes, seeing the most
suitable returns for the human servants sent us by our
mother country. So yes, Franklin proposed shipping crates of venomous
(02:12):
American rattlesnakes to London, where they could slither happily through
the city's parks, and I quote particularly in the gardens
of the Prime Ministers, the lords of Trade, and members
of Parliament, for to them we are most particularly obliged.
Three years later, in seventeen fifty four, Franklin published one
of the most indelible images of colonial America. It's one
(02:35):
of America's earliest political cartoons. The woodblock print, which was
likely etched by another artist, first appeared in the pages
of the Pennsylvania Gazette and depicting a snake cut into
pieces representing the American colonies over the fateful words join
or die. The cartoon wasn't a call to arms against
(02:56):
the British because it was published during the lead up
to the French and Indian War. The cartoon accompanied an
editorial by Franklin in which he was trying to unify
colonial opposition to the French. Ironically, he was probably inspired
by a similar French drawing from the sixteen eighties. If
Franklin was also lobbying the British to give the colonies
more independent governing authority to fight the French on their own.
(03:19):
It didn't work, and the British said their own army.
The inscription joiner die was aimed at the various colonial
assemblies and was a call for unity. There was a
superstition in the eighteenth century that all snakes, even a
chopped up snake, could be reassembled and survive. For the article,
(03:40):
this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with
John Hartvigsen, former president of the North American Vexillological Association
and a consultant at colonial flag. Vexillologists study the history
of flags and their symbolism. He explained the idea of
unity was what different symbols of the Revolution were really
taught talking about. He mentioned that includes the circle of
(04:03):
thirteen stars and thirteen stripes on the first American flag.
Over the next decade, as tensions reached a fever pitch
between the colonies in Britain, Franklin's severed snake image went viral,
a colonial era meme. In seventeen seventy four, Paul Revere
redesigned the masthead of the Massachusetts Spy, a Boston newspaper,
(04:25):
to include a severed snake facing off with a winged dragon,
the symbol of Britain. If you look closely, these snakes
and these cartoons aren't clearly rattlesnakes. But between these images
and that earlier piece of satire, along with popular drawings
of rattlesnakes published by nature historians earlier in the seventeen hundreds,
a concept was coming together. The Revolutionary War finally broke
(04:50):
out in seventeen seventy five. One Christopher Gadsden was a
firebrand patriot from South Carolina and a brigadier general in
the Continental Army. He was elected to the First Continental Congress,
where he served on the Marine Committee, and Gadsden decided
that the colonial navy needed a flag that would distinguish
it from pirate vessels and also rally the sailors against
(05:12):
oppressive British rule. That's when he came up with his
famous yellow flag with its coiled rattlesnake and macho motto
don't tread on me. Hart Fixen points out that the
snake on the Gadsden flag has thirteen rattles, with the
nub of a fourteenth, perhaps an invitation for Canadian provinces
to join the fight. So did Gadsden design the flag himself,
(05:37):
That's not clear. All we know is that Gadsden presented
the flag to one commodore Hopkins, the Commander in Chief
of the Navy, who proudly flew it on his flagship vessel,
the US s Alfred. The Continental Marines also flew the
flag during the war. By December of seventeen seventy five,
the Gadsden flag had caught the attention of none other
(05:58):
than Benjamin Franklin, who wrote an anonymous letter under the
pen name an American Guesser to the Pennsylvania Journal, highlighting
the similarities between this indigenous American reptile and the Thirteen
Colonies a quote. It occurred to me that the rattlesnake
is found in no other quarter of the world besides America,
and may therefore have been chosen on that account to
(06:19):
represent her. She never begins an attack, nor, once engaged,
ever surrenders. She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and
true courage. She never wounds till she has generously given
notice even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the
danger of treading on her. Then, referring to the snake's
(06:40):
thirteen rattles, Franklin returned to the theme of unity. Tis
curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of
each other. The rattles of this animal are, and yet
how firmly they are united together, so as never to
be separated, but by breaking them to pieces. The Gadsden
wasn't the only flag flown during the Revolution. Interestingly, there
(07:04):
was also a flag called the First Navy Jack that
showed an outstretched rattlesnake on a field of thirteen red
and white stripes with the words don't tread on me.
All of these alternate flags were shelved after these stars
and stripes became the official national flag in seventeen seventy seven. However,
during the Civil War, the Southern Confederates flew the Gadsden
(07:25):
flag alongside these stars and bars, skipping way ahead. A
popular interest in historical flags was reignited around the bi
centennial celebration in nineteen seventy six. To celebrate the two
hundredth anniversary of the Revolution, the United States Navy flew
the first Navy Jack from its vessels, and the phrase
don't tread on me re entered the national vocabulary. Around
(07:49):
the same time, the Gadsden flag was also gaining popularity
among the burgeoning libertarian movement of the nineteen seventies, but
twenty ten was the year that the Gadsden flag really
made it's come back. The Tea Party was a grassroots
political movement that fashioned itself as a modern day Sons
of Liberty. Their enemy wasn't an oppressive foreign king, but
(08:10):
the United States own big government spending and taxation. The
Tea Party adopted the Gadsden flag as its own, and
their influence trickled up to Congress. In twenty ten, a
Tea Party loyalists in the House unfurled a Don't tread
on Me flag from a balcony of the Capitol to
protest President Barack Obama's health care legislation. Hart Fixen said,
(08:33):
when the Tea Party started using revolutionary war flags, I
kind of chuckled under my breath. This is interesting. The
problem is that it's been carried to such extremes. Back
in twenty fourteen, an African American postal worker filed a
complaint of racial discrimination with the US Postal Service against
a coworker who repeatedly warred work a cap sporting the
(08:55):
Gadsden flag. The Postal Service dismissed the complaint for failure
to state a cognizable claim of discrimination. However, the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission reversed the dismissal and ordered the USPS
to investigate. It's said that while the Gadsden flag originated
in a non racial context, it has since been quote
(09:15):
interpreted to convey racially tinged messages in some contexts, and
therefore the complaint met the legal standard to be investigated
by the USPS rather than to be dismissed. Hartvigsen said
that he's watched with dismay as the Gadsden flag and
other historical flags have been appropriated by increasingly radical groups.
(09:36):
The low point for him was January sixth, when historical
and contemporary American flags were even used as weapons to
beat Capital police officers, a far cry from the flag's
original meaning of unity and benevolence. Perhaps in response to
the Gadsden flag's right wing comeback, versions of it have
(09:56):
shown up at LGBTQ plus rallies with the rattlesnake off
a rainbow field and it abortion writes marches with the
snake curled into the shape of a uterus. But it's
still popular at right wing rallies and tea party events,
and despite or because of all the fuss, there are
at least a dozen states that offer a specialty license
(10:17):
plate emblazoned with the Gadsden flag. Indeed, Kansas approved it's
don't Tread on Me plate just weeks after the January
sixth insurrection. Today's episode is based on the article What's
the meaning of the Don't Tread on Me Flag? On
how stuffworks dot com, written by Dave brus. Brain Stuff
(10:38):
is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with house stuffworks dot
Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts
from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Louren
Vogelbaum here a proudly flown from vehicles or defiantly waved
at political rallies, the yellow Don't tread on Me flag,
with its fearsome, coiled rattlesnake, has become a rallying cry
(00:22):
for right wing America. This historical flag, known as the
Gadsden flag, originated in colonial times and was resurrected by
the modern day Tea Party movement in twenty ten. Today,
the Gadsden flag has taken on darker overtones. The flag
has been embraced by fringe political groups, including the anti
(00:43):
government militias and other protesters, who stormed the Capitol on
January sixth of twenty twenty one, displaying dozens of Don't
tread on Me flags. The history of the Gadsden flag,
particularly the symbolism of the brattlesnake, is closely linked with
Benjamin Franklin and the unity of all of the colonies
that eventually became the United States. The Gadsden flag is
(01:06):
visually striking because of its bright yellow field, though words
don't tread on Me and the image of a coiled
rattlesnake with its fangs bared ready to strike. The rattlesnake
was the first of these elements to be associated with America.
In seventeen fifty one, colonists were bristling over the British
practice of shipping convicted felons to the Thirteen Colonies. The
(01:29):
Crown said that it was doing the colonies a favor
by helping them populate faster. But Benjamin Franklin, then a
journalist in Philadelphia, wasn't having it. With his trademark wit
and dripping with venomous sarcasm, Franklin penned a satirical article
for his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, titled Rattlesnakes for Felons.
(01:51):
Here's a sample. Such a tender parental concern in our
mother country for the welfare of her children, calls aloud
for the highest rich of gratitude rattlesnakes, seeing the most
suitable returns for the human servants sent us by our
mother country. So yes, Franklin proposed shipping crates of venomous
(02:12):
American rattlesnakes to London, where they could slither happily through
the city's parks, and I quote particularly in the gardens
of the Prime Ministers, the lords of Trade, and members
of Parliament, for to them we are most particularly obliged.
Three years later, in seventeen fifty four, Franklin published one
of the most indelible images of colonial America. It's one
(02:35):
of America's earliest political cartoons. The woodblock print, which was
likely etched by another artist, first appeared in the pages
of the Pennsylvania Gazette and depicting a snake cut into
pieces representing the American colonies over the fateful words join
or die. The cartoon wasn't a call to arms against
(02:56):
the British because it was published during the lead up
to the French and Indian War. The cartoon accompanied an
editorial by Franklin in which he was trying to unify
colonial opposition to the French. Ironically, he was probably inspired
by a similar French drawing from the sixteen eighties. If
Franklin was also lobbying the British to give the colonies
more independent governing authority to fight the French on their own.
(03:19):
It didn't work, and the British said their own army.
The inscription joiner die was aimed at the various colonial
assemblies and was a call for unity. There was a
superstition in the eighteenth century that all snakes, even a
chopped up snake, could be reassembled and survive. For the article,
(03:40):
this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with
John Hartvigsen, former president of the North American Vexillological Association
and a consultant at colonial flag. Vexillologists study the history
of flags and their symbolism. He explained the idea of
unity was what different symbols of the Revolution were really
taught talking about. He mentioned that includes the circle of
(04:03):
thirteen stars and thirteen stripes on the first American flag.
Over the next decade, as tensions reached a fever pitch
between the colonies in Britain, Franklin's severed snake image went viral,
a colonial era meme. In seventeen seventy four, Paul Revere
redesigned the masthead of the Massachusetts Spy, a Boston newspaper,
(04:25):
to include a severed snake facing off with a winged dragon,
the symbol of Britain. If you look closely, these snakes
and these cartoons aren't clearly rattlesnakes. But between these images
and that earlier piece of satire, along with popular drawings
of rattlesnakes published by nature historians earlier in the seventeen hundreds,
a concept was coming together. The Revolutionary War finally broke
(04:50):
out in seventeen seventy five. One Christopher Gadsden was a
firebrand patriot from South Carolina and a brigadier general in
the Continental Army. He was elected to the First Continental Congress,
where he served on the Marine Committee, and Gadsden decided
that the colonial navy needed a flag that would distinguish
it from pirate vessels and also rally the sailors against
(05:12):
oppressive British rule. That's when he came up with his
famous yellow flag with its coiled rattlesnake and macho motto
don't tread on me. Hart Fixen points out that the
snake on the Gadsden flag has thirteen rattles, with the
nub of a fourteenth, perhaps an invitation for Canadian provinces
to join the fight. So did Gadsden design the flag himself,
(05:37):
That's not clear. All we know is that Gadsden presented
the flag to one commodore Hopkins, the Commander in Chief
of the Navy, who proudly flew it on his flagship vessel,
the US s Alfred. The Continental Marines also flew the
flag during the war. By December of seventeen seventy five,
the Gadsden flag had caught the attention of none other
(05:58):
than Benjamin Franklin, who wrote an anonymous letter under the
pen name an American Guesser to the Pennsylvania Journal, highlighting
the similarities between this indigenous American reptile and the Thirteen
Colonies a quote. It occurred to me that the rattlesnake
is found in no other quarter of the world besides America,
and may therefore have been chosen on that account to
(06:19):
represent her. She never begins an attack, nor, once engaged,
ever surrenders. She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and
true courage. She never wounds till she has generously given
notice even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the
danger of treading on her. Then, referring to the snake's
(06:40):
thirteen rattles, Franklin returned to the theme of unity. Tis
curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of
each other. The rattles of this animal are, and yet
how firmly they are united together, so as never to
be separated, but by breaking them to pieces. The Gadsden
wasn't the only flag flown during the Revolution. Interestingly, there
(07:04):
was also a flag called the First Navy Jack that
showed an outstretched rattlesnake on a field of thirteen red
and white stripes with the words don't tread on me.
All of these alternate flags were shelved after these stars
and stripes became the official national flag in seventeen seventy seven. However,
during the Civil War, the Southern Confederates flew the Gadsden
(07:25):
flag alongside these stars and bars, skipping way ahead. A
popular interest in historical flags was reignited around the bi
centennial celebration in nineteen seventy six. To celebrate the two
hundredth anniversary of the Revolution, the United States Navy flew
the first Navy Jack from its vessels, and the phrase
don't tread on me re entered the national vocabulary. Around
(07:49):
the same time, the Gadsden flag was also gaining popularity
among the burgeoning libertarian movement of the nineteen seventies, but
twenty ten was the year that the Gadsden flag really
made it's come back. The Tea Party was a grassroots
political movement that fashioned itself as a modern day Sons
of Liberty. Their enemy wasn't an oppressive foreign king, but
(08:10):
the United States own big government spending and taxation. The
Tea Party adopted the Gadsden flag as its own, and
their influence trickled up to Congress. In twenty ten, a
Tea Party loyalists in the House unfurled a Don't tread
on Me flag from a balcony of the Capitol to
protest President Barack Obama's health care legislation. Hart Fixen said,
(08:33):
when the Tea Party started using revolutionary war flags, I
kind of chuckled under my breath. This is interesting. The
problem is that it's been carried to such extremes. Back
in twenty fourteen, an African American postal worker filed a
complaint of racial discrimination with the US Postal Service against
a coworker who repeatedly warred work a cap sporting the
(08:55):
Gadsden flag. The Postal Service dismissed the complaint for failure
to state a cognizable claim of discrimination. However, the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission reversed the dismissal and ordered the USPS
to investigate. It's said that while the Gadsden flag originated
in a non racial context, it has since been quote
(09:15):
interpreted to convey racially tinged messages in some contexts, and
therefore the complaint met the legal standard to be investigated
by the USPS rather than to be dismissed. Hartvigsen said
that he's watched with dismay as the Gadsden flag and
other historical flags have been appropriated by increasingly radical groups.
(09:36):
The low point for him was January sixth, when historical
and contemporary American flags were even used as weapons to
beat Capital police officers, a far cry from the flag's
original meaning of unity and benevolence. Perhaps in response to
the Gadsden flag's right wing comeback, versions of it have
(09:56):
shown up at LGBTQ plus rallies with the rattlesnake off
a rainbow field and it abortion writes marches with the
snake curled into the shape of a uterus. But it's
still popular at right wing rallies and tea party events,
and despite or because of all the fuss, there are
at least a dozen states that offer a specialty license
(10:17):
plate emblazoned with the Gadsden flag. Indeed, Kansas approved it's
don't Tread on Me plate just weeks after the January
sixth insurrection. Today's episode is based on the article What's
the meaning of the Don't Tread on Me Flag? On
how stuffworks dot com, written by Dave brus. Brain Stuff
(10:38):
is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with house stuffworks dot
Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts
from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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