I love this flag. I always have. I spent an important, formative part of my childhood in New Hampshire where people are keenly aware of and also very proud of that independence minded spirit that gave birth to the Sons of Liberty. My parents have always both been fiercely independent and at the same time very proud of what our county stands for. I always thought of New England as the epicenter of the American Revolution, until I moved to South Carolina and realized there was more than one.
This flag, called the Gadsden Flag, has an illustrious and interesting history. Most attribute its beginnings to what some call America’s first political cartoon. Of course, it was drawn by none other than Benjamin Franklin in 1754:
[Benjamin Franklin's woodcut from May 9, 1754. Newspaper Serial and Government Publications Division, Library of Congress]
It shows a snake cut into eight pieces, with each piece labeled with a colony name. Its caption reads, “Join, or Die” and it was a plea for colonial unity during the French and Indian War—remember that war? It is part of that on-going unpleasantness between France and Englad that spilled over into North America. It was a fight over territory in North America—territory that was British land, portions of the Thirteen Colonies.
Franklin’s snake caught on in the Colonial independence movement. It was used on buttons, standards, and even money. It appeared 20 years later in the masthead (engraved by none other than Paul Revere) for a Boston paper called the Massachussets Spy, published by Isiah Thomas and a year later became the central symbol on the newly formed Continental Navy’s standard in 1775.
[Masthead of Thomas's Boston Journal, July 7, 1774. Newspaper Serial and Government Publications Division, Library of Congress.]
The Marines commissioned to accompany the new Navy on its first mission were observed carrying drums painted with a yellow background on which was a coiled rattlesnake with the words below it reading, “Don’t Tread on Me.”
In December of 1775 an anonymous person who was listed only as the American Guesser, wrote into the Philadelphia Journal about the image on those drums. ..”in order to divert an idle hour.” The Guesser first asserted that the rattlesnake must have been chosen as a distinctly American symbol presumably because it is a distinctly American snake (only found in the Americas). He or she further observed that the rattlesnake had sharp eyes and therefore must represent vigilence and then went on to say:
"She never begins an attack, nor, when 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."
The rattles apparently puzzled the Guesser until he or she realized that there were exactly 13 of them on the snake—the same number as the Colonies…causing further reflection:
"'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. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living."
Most scholars agree that the American Guesser was Benjamin Franklin…and I suppose logically it was Franklin who painted the snakes on the drums of those first Marines. All I can say is that Franklin was one brilliant guy who knew how to use symbols and words to influnce minds and inspire action. By comparison our politicians today are a bunch of crass, screaming, slobbering idoits…regardless of their political leanings.
The flag is generally known as the Gadsden Flag, not the Franklin Flag. Part of the brilliance of Franklin was his ability to take his famous personality out of the communication and convince regular people that his views were their views. Written by the American Guesser, the symbolism and ideals communicated in that letter were disseminated without being associated with Franklin. It is called the Gadsden Flag because Christopher Gadsden, leader of the Sons of Liberty in South Carolina and a patriot’s patriot, gave a version of the flag to the first commander of the Continental Navy during the Continental Congress. From there it was widely used by various militias during the Revolution and has come to us now as a symbol of the Sons of Liberty and the American Revolution.
Today the Gadsden Flag has been adopted as a symbol of the Tea Party Movement. I really don’t have anything against the Tea Party Movement…really, I don’t. I surely don’t agree with their political direction, but I do respect their right to be and to get involved. Actually I am glad they formed and I wish they would become a new and separate political party. Our political system is dominated by two parties, each too embedded within our economic and social power structures to bring about any meaningful change. The only way we can really bring democracy back to our system is by having multiple parties.
Like any movement or ideology, it has its fringe adherents—people who might call for the assissination of a presidential candidate in a public setting, for example. I know that most Tea Party peeps are not that radical, anti-social, or disturbed. Most are rational people, like me, that I could sit and have a civil and even productive conversation with about the direction of our country. For better or worse, the tea party makes its news through its more radical wing.
Co-opting old symbols is a classic part of political movements. In this case, it connects the Tea Party Movement to our glorious American past—a past that no good American would ever question or disparage. How can you criticize or question a patriot? By using the flag, they are calling themselves patriots. Webster’s Dictionary defines a partriot as “one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests.” I think we can probably all agree that questioning your government can be patriotic. We can also agree that patriot is a pretty fluid term that can and has been defined to meet different purposes in different times…the same is true for all words.
Now most dictionaries use a version of the definition of patriot found in Webster’s. When you look online at Dictionary.com, however, you find a second definition included: “a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, esp. of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government. “ Obviously, that is a definition pulled from a particular perspective and a distinctly modern context. It is a pretty narrow definition of patriot and one that I wouldn’t necessarily subscribe to.
All of this is not new…it is perfectly human…but I can still object. The meaning of words and symbols are being shaded and disseminated en masse and I don’t like where the shades take us. That flag is a symbol of my history and that history is not a conservative or a liberal history. The tricky thing about co-opting symbols and shading meanings for political gain is that it becomes possible to conflate symbols, meanings, and history with a particular ideological perspective. While that is a recipe for political success, it also is one that tends to limit discourse and makes it possible to demonize opposing views. Just think, for example, if one political viewpoint co-opted religion (for the sake of argument, Christianity) or the capitalistic ideals of the American Dream. Think how easy it would become to replace rational political discourse with labels like godless socialist. Think how divisive that would be for our country and how it would thwart the very things that make democracy work—conversation and compromise.
I can’t stop the Gadsden Flag—an American symbol—from being associated with a political movement that does not represent all of America—it is, after all, speech that is protected by our Constitution. Fortunately, at least for now, I can raise objections to its use in this context without being labeled an enemy of the Fatherland…at least for now.
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