Join or Die
America’s first political cartoon was printed in 1754 in Benjamin Franklin’s The Pennsylvania Gazeteer. The cartoon depicted a snake cut into pieces. Each piece was labeled with the name of a colony. The words “Join or Die” finished the cartoon. The point of the cartoon was that the colonies had to join together against the British. At that time some people believed that a cut-up snake would come to life again if the parts were assembled before sunset. Children could learn about the history of political cartoons from the Library of Congress site at: Political Cartoons.