The Gadsden Flag - a very brief history

At the time of the French and Indian War, Benjamin Franklin published this famous woodcut of a snake cut into eight sections. It represented the colonies, with New England joined together as the head and South Carolina as the tail, following the form of the coast. Under the snake was the message "Join, or Die." This became the first political cartoon published in an American newspaper.

The seal from a 1778 $20 bill from Georgia. The financial backing for these bills was property seized from loyalists. The French motto reads "Nemo me impune lacesset," i.e. "No one will provoke me with impunity." - the Scottish motto as used when in Scotland by the mother of the Prince of Wales, toyboy of the coughing Camilla who was apparently de-flowered by some chinless bounder, (as yet it appears un-horsewhipped) as a 17 year old at her debutante's ball in 1965 at the start of a career to match any pub dart board ... well read all about it in the Daily Mail today.

By 1775, the snake symbol wasn't just being printed in newspapers. It was appearing all over the colonies: on uniform buttons, on paper money, and of course, on banners and flags.

The snake symbol changed by shape and specias quite a bit during its rapid and widespread adoption. It wasn't cut up into pieces anymore. And it was usually shown as an American timber rattlesnake, not a generic serpent.

It eventually morphed into the Gadsden Flag designed (?) by Colonel Christopher Gadsden for the earliest US navy vessels.

See more about the fascinating history of this flag and it's modern usage here in an informtive, authoritative and entertaining article by Chris Whitten - http://www.gadsden.info/history.html

Navy Gear will sell you the flag as above for $9.99 and other associated redneck crap to make you look a real areshole on your 900 bhp bass boat.

Including George VIths Skull and Bones Flag ....