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Mm. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. Did you know that America's first symbol was a rattlesnake? Here to tell another of her great stories is frequent contributor Ashley Lubinsky. Take it away, Ashley.
In America, we have a lot of symbols. And there are symbols that we inherit, and there are symbols that. in a way, create us. And in the United States, well, actually, before the United States, you know, we had an eagle. And before there was the eagle and the stars and the stripes, and even before we had a Country There was.
He rattles me. And at the center of that story is founding father Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was a printer, a philosopher, and really one of the most effective communicators in American history. Yeah.
Now the story of the rattlesnake begins as a satire. In 1751, so decades before the Revolution, Franklin responded to British policy. They were sending convicted criminals to the American colonies. Writing with his characteristic bite, if what you will, he suggested a trade. If Britain insisted on exporting its felons, Americans, of course, must return the favor.
Franklin proposed sending rattlesnakes to England, noting they would be a grateful return for the human serpents sent us by our mother country. It was humour. but it definitely carried a message. The rattlesnake, which was native to America, was dangerous when provoked, and was already becoming a metaphor that would definitely take form several decades later. In 1754, Franklin gave that metaphor a form.
In the Pennsylvania Gazette, he published a stark image, a snake cut into pieces, and each section was labeled for a colony. Where are we now in the Library of Congress? Right now we're in the James Madison Memorial Building.
Okay, this is the Pennsylvania Gazette from 1754. Join or die.
So this is the original Benjamin Franklin drawing of A serpent. cut in pieces. Yes, so this was the first political cartoon published in America. And what you'll see is all of these colonies are represented in eight pieces. The colonies were divided and they were facing the pressures of the coming French and Indian War at this point, so they were incredibly vulnerable.
So, Franklin's message was a direct one, and that was that unity was the only option. But the image also carried a deeper meaning. There was a belief at the time that a severed snake, and this is a little wild, but a severed snake could be revived if its pieces were reassembled quickly enough. And Franklin did not have to explain that to the colonists. Two decades later, as tensions with Britain reached a breaking point, Franklin returned to this image.
And writing in 1775 under an alias, which was an American guesser. He laid out the reasoning behind the rattlesnake as a national symbol. She never begins an attack. nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders. And that line basically captured the colonial argument perfectly.
Americans, Franklin suggested, were not aggressors. They were defensive. measured but resolute. And he continued on to say, she is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. This analysis by Franklin moved from behavior to symbolism, symbolism that we still see today.
He continued on, saying, Having no eyelids, she may be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. The colonies, like the snake, were watchful. They were aware of threats, aware of power, and increasingly aware of themselves as being something distinct. And then in this piece came one of his most powerful observations. He said, She never wounds till she has generously given notice.
Even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her. Of course, we know that in many instances leading up to the revolution, the colonists did just that. The rattlesnake or the serpent was about the most feared animal, I guess, at the time. That's why it was a symbol of Well, Europe didn't have exotic venomous snakes like America. And so it was feared.
So this wasn't just natural history, it was political philosophy and rhetoric, and it was a justification for resistance. It basically was yet another warning to the British.
Now, Franklin saved his most striking metaphor for last. He said, Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinctly the rattles of this animal are separated from each other, yet making sufficient sound to alarm the boldest man living. Basically he's saying the rattles are nothing. Together, though, they're unmistakable. And Franklin saw this connection in the colonies themselves.
They had separate identities. But when united, they produced something a lot more powerful.
Something that Franklin felt was absolutely impossible to ignore. And increasingly, Everyone else noticed that. And the rattles often appeared in groups of thirteen. What began as satire and then as a newspaper image quickly spread. And the rattlesnake appeared across the colonies.
They put it on pretty much everything, flags, drums. They reprinted it in their newspapers and in their political messaging. and its meaning was clear and consistent. It was unity amongst all of the different colonies. There was this idea of vigilance, but also restraint.
And a part of that restraint was that the colonies had this strength. when they were provoked. And by the time of the American Revolution, the image had evolved into a coiled snake paired with the warning, don't tread on me. And that's the Gadsden flag, which was created by Christopher Gadsden in 1775. The Gadsden flag was created during the Revolutionary War.
In those days, the flag was a symbol of the nation that was flown aboard ships. You had to fly a flag, or else you were a pirate.
So when we decided to revolt against the British, We commissioned ships to go to sea to fight them. We had to have a symbol. Franklin's rattlesnake, obviously, at this point was more than a symbol. It was a framework, a framework for the United States of America. And it was a way to communicate complex political ideas quickly and effectively, which was unity without uniformity, which I think is probably one of the best ways to conceptualize even modern United States.
And he also felt strongly in that strength without aggression, that warning before action, and resolve without surrender. Rattlesnakes were these sort of defensive creatures by nature. There was a certain appeal to that. This idea that we are going to take the high ground, this defensive position. But if you mess with us, then we will come out fighting.
And so that has this sort of colonial frontier, sort of rough around the edges characteristic. that many of these colonists saw themselves. as possessing. The rattlesnake remains one of the earliest visual expressions of American identity. I mean, it predates the flag, it predates our independence by several decades.
And in many ways, it helped to make both possible. because it gave the colonies something they did not yet fully have. a shared identity, a shared understanding of themselves.
So, in the end, even though it started as a joke, Franklin didn't just draw a snake. He essentially gave a fragmented people a way to see themselves as one. And he did it with a warning that was clear. measured and unmistakable. Just like the sound of a rattle.
And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to Ashley Lubinsky. She's the former co-host of the Discovery Channel's Masters of Arms, and she's the co-founder of the University of Wyoming College of Law's Firearms Research Center. And she's a regular contributor here on Our American Stories. And what a story she told.
What began as a satire became something so much bigger, a symbol of unity, restraint, and vigilance, was this rattlesnake. And of course, it would evolve into the Gadsden flag. It was more than a symbol, Ashley said, but it was a framework. And the role that Ben Franklin played in this was seminal. It gave the United States a shared identity and a shared understanding of ourselves.
And a special thanks also to the contributors which you heard from the Library of Congress. The story of the rattlesnake, a symbol woven through America's story, here on Our American Stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
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