Gadsden flag


The Gadsden flag is a historical American flag with a yellow field depicting a timber rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike. Beneath the rattlesnake resting on grass are the words: " Tread on Me" .
The flag is named after American general and politician Christopher Gadsden, who designed it in 1775 during the American Revolution. It was used by the Continental Marines as an early motto flag, along with the Moultrie flag.

History

Serpentine symbolism

The timber rattlesnake can be found in the area of the original Thirteen Colonies. Its use as a symbol of the American colonies can be traced back to the publications of Benjamin Franklin. In 1751, he made the first reference to the rattlesnake in a satirical commentary published in his Pennsylvania Gazette. It had been the policy of Parliament to send convicted criminals to the Americas, so Franklin suggested that they thank them by sending rattlesnakes to Britain.
In 1754, during the French and Indian War, Franklin published his 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 their order along the coast. Under the snake was the message "Join, or Die". This was the first political cartoon published in an American newspaper.
As the American colonies came to identify more with their own communities and the concept of independence, rather than as part of a larger polity that was either unwilling or unable to defend their interests, icons that were unique to the Americas became increasingly popular. The rattlesnake, like the bald eagle and American Indian, came to symbolize American ideals and society.
As the American Revolution grew, the snake began to see more use as a symbol of the colonies. In 1774, Paul Revere added Franklin's iconic cartoon to the nameplate of Isaiah Thomas' paper, the Massachusetts Spy, depicted there as fighting a British Griffin.
In December 1775, Benjamin Franklin published an essay in the Pennsylvania Journal under the pseudonym American Guesser in which he suggested that the rattlesnake was a good symbol for the American spirit.
The rattlesnake symbol was first officially adopted by the Continental Congress in 1778 when it approved the design for the official Seal of the War Office. At the top center of the Seal is a rattlesnake holding a banner which says: "This We'll Defend". According to the US Army's Institute of Heraldry, "'This We'll Defend", on a scroll held by the rattlesnake is a symbol depicted on some American colonial flags and signifies the Army's constant readiness to defend and preserve the United States. This design of the War Office Seal was carried forward—with some minor modifications—into the subsequent designs for the War Department's Seal, and the Department of the Army's Seal, Emblem and Flag. As such, the rattlesnake symbol has been in continuous official use by the US Army for over 236 years.

Gadsden's flag

In fall 1775, the Continental Navy was established by General George Washington in his role as Commander in Chief of all Continental Forces, before Esek Hopkins was named Commodore of the Navy. The Navy began with seven ships, often called "Washington Cruisers", that flew the "Liberty Tree Flag", depicting a green pine tree with the motto "An Appeal to Heaven". This is according to the October 20, 1775, letter of Washington's aide Colonel Joseph Reed, which is stored in the Library of Congress.
Those first ships were used to intercept incoming transport ships carrying war supplies to the British in the colonies in order to supply the Continental Army, which was desperately undersupplied in the opening years of the American Revolutionary War. One ship captured by Captain John Manley had 30,000 pairs of shoes on it. However, the admiralty agent demanded his per cent commission before he would release the cargo for Washington's army, so many soldiers marched barefoot in the snow. To aid in this, the Second Continental Congress authorized the mustering of five companies of Marines to accompany the Navy on their first mission. The first Marines enlisted in the city of Philadelphia and carried drums painted yellow and depicting a coiled rattlesnake with thirteen rattles along with the motto "Don't Tread on Me." This is the first recorded mention of the future Gadsden flag's symbolism.
At the Congress, Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden represented his home state of South Carolina. He was one of seven members of the Marine Committee who were outfitting the first naval mission.
Before the departure of that first mission in December 1775, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Navy, Commodore Esek Hopkins, received the yellow rattlesnake flag from Gadsden to serve as the distinctive personal standard of his flagship. It was displayed at the mainmast. Hopkins had previously led The United Companies of the Train of Artillery of the Town of Providence, before being appointed to lead the Navy. The 1775 flag of the Providence Train of Artillery's featured a coiled timber rattlesnake and the motto "Do Not Tread on Me" along with an anchor, cannons and the motto "In God We Hope" on a gold background. The flag presented to Hopkins as Commander of the Continental Navy is a simplified version of that design.
Gadsden also presented a copy of this flag to the Congress of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. This was recorded in the South Carolina congressional journals on February 9, 1776:

Variations in appearance

Many variations of the Gadsden flag exist:
already used a coiled rattlesnake on a field of gold with the motto "Do Not Tread on Me" on its flag. Before Esek Hopkins was named the first Commodore of the American Navy by the Continental Congress he served as a Brigadier General of the Rhode Island Militia Artillery, and would have been familiar with the design of the flag.
The traditional version of the First Navy Jack has an uncoiled rattlesnake and the same motto as the Gadsden flag, on a field of 13 horizontal red and white stripes. This design is associated with the 1775 orders to the first ships of the Continental Navy by Commodore Esek Hopkins directing his vessels to fly a striped Jack and Ensign at their proper places, but the actual design of the First Navy Jack has never been clearly demonstrated.
The Culpeper Minutemen flag has a coiled rattlesnake and the same motto as the Gadsden flag. It has a white field, rather than yellow, and the additional motto "Liberty or Death" and the name "The Culpeper Minute Men". It is the flag of Virginia volunteers from the Culpeper area.
The John Proctor's Regiment flag of 1st Battalion Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, had a coiled rattlesnake shown on its flag.

Modern use

Considered one of the first flags of the United States, the flag was later replaced by the current Stars and Stripes flag. Since the Revolution, the flag has seen resurgences as a symbol of American patriotism, disagreement with government, or support for civil liberties.
The First Navy Jack, which was not directly related to the Gadsden flag, has been in use by the United States Navy since its beginnings. Unlike the Liberty Tree Flag with the letter by Colonel Joseph Reed that describes it, there is no document that describes the Snake on Stripes flag, only an image by English artist Thomas Hart in the background of a portrait of Commodore Esek Hopkins. In that same painting is a round "tree flag". The triangular Liberty Tree flag is derived from the only surviving tree flag from the Revolution, found in an old trunk in 1993 on Long Island, the 5th Regt. Connecticut Militia. The Snake on Stripes flag was included in a book of flags by Admiral Preble, but later Preble determined the flag not valid, so he removed it from his text. However, the book publisher used the old color plates, so the image was continued in the new edition and subsequently picked up by other publications and Webster's Dictionary.
In preparation for the 1976 bicentennial year, staff officers in the Secretary of the Navy's office sought a powerful image for the Navy's Bicentennial. One Navy officer saw the Snake on Stripes Flag in Webster's Dictionary, so the staff officers ordered a large number to give away as Navy promotional items and then turned to the Naval Historical Center to "get the history". They were told that the flag had probably never flown during the Revolution, based on Admiral Preble's later discoveries, but a decision was made to use the Snake on Stripes Flag, or the "Fake Snake Flag", anyway. Beginning in 1975, commissioned Navy ships flew this Jack in place of the Naval Jack at the bow. In 1977, the Secretary of the Navy directed that the ship in active status with the longest total period of active service shall display the First Navy Jack until decommissioned or transferred to inactive service, at which time the flag shall be passed to the next ship in line with appropriate honors. The display of this jack by the oldest ship in the fleet is intended as a form of recognition to promote pride of service, enhance morale, and contribute to the tradition of naval service. USS Enterprise became the oldest active ship in the United States Navy upon the decommissioning of USS Kitty Hawk on May 12, 2009. Enterprise is only the third aircraft carrier ever to hold the honor of flying the First Navy Jack.
In 1992 the queer Street Patrol group based in San Francisco used a modified version of the Gasdsen flag rattlesnake as their organisation logo.
Since the first Patriot Day on September 11, 2002, which commemorates the lives lost in the September 11 attacks, the rattlesnake from the flag is also shown on the US Army's Drill Sergeant Identification Badge.
For historical reasons, the Gadsden flag is still popularly flown in Charleston, South Carolina, the city where Christopher Gadsden first presented the flag and where it was commonly used during the revolution, along with the blue and white crescent flag of pre-Civil War South Carolina.

License plates

The Gadsden flag has become a popular specialty license plate in several states.
, the following states offer the option of obtaining a Gadsden flag specialty license plate: Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Political party symbol

In the 2010s it became associated with the American Tea Party movement. Because of these multiple uses, the meaning of the Gadsden Flag is ambiguous and depends on the context.
Beginning in 2009, the Gadsden Flag has been used by the American Tea Party movement. It was also displayed by members of Congress at Tea Party movement rallies. Some lawmakers have called it a "political symbol" because of this association. In March 2013, a resident of New Rochelle, New York, put up a Gadsden flag at the city's vacant armory building. The city ordered its removal, fearing that the flag would be seen as political. The next month, a veterans group, the United Veterans Memorial & Patriotic Association, filed suit against the city, arguing that the Gadsden flag is the original flag of the U.S. Marine Corps and thus fits into the section of the policy which states that the Connecticut State Capitol can fly "flags of recognized military organizations of the U.S.A." The flag has been flown to represent nationalist or patriotic causes, as well as also being used to simply to recall the American Revolution.

Use in the workplace

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that the display of the Gadsden flag in the workplace could be considered racial harassment, depending on the circumstances.

In popular culture

In the sport movie Rocky IV, Rocky's former trainer Paulie is briefly seen sporting the Gadsden flag adorning the back of his jacket while in Russia.
Athletic apparel company Nike uses the image of a rattlesnake coiled around a soccer ball for an ongoing, patriotic "Don't Tread on Me" campaign in support of the United States men's national soccer team. The phrase has become a rallying cry for American soccer fans and the Gadsden flag can occasionally be seen at national team games. A representation of the rattlesnake is contained on the inside of their uniforms, over the heart, with the initials "D.T.O.M.", which were used in the 2010 World Cup.
In Hideo Kojima's video game , a variation of the flag can be seen on one of the connecting bridges of the "Big Shell" facility, in a reference to both the original meaning and usage of the flag.
In the apocalyptic 2006 CBS TV drama Jericho, the flag makes several appearances, most notably in the series finale as Jericho's acting mayor takes down the flag of the "Allied States of America", which had been flying at the town hall following a federal coup. He replaces the red, white, and blue flag of the central government with a Gadsden Flag which the previous mayor had kept framed in his office. The scene depicts a once-collaborationist character as finally having summoned the courage to be in open defiance against a supreme government.
American heavy metal band Metallica recorded a song called "Don't Tread on Me" on their self-titled fifth studio album, released in 1991. The album cover features a dark grey picture of a coiled rattlesnake like the one found on the Gadsden Flag. The song's lyrics refer to political phrases from the American Revolutionary War.
In addition, in the hit series The West Wing, Sam Seaborn's office displays the flag hanging above his cabinet.
NASCAR driver Carl Edwards displayed the Gadsden Flag next to his facsimile signature on his race car.
In WWE, the tag team Real Americans, composed by Jack Swagger, Cesaro and the manager Zeb Colter, used the Gadsden Flag and the preamble "We the People". Also, Dolph Ziggler often has the snake as a design on his long wrestling tights.
In the 1979 novel Alongside Night, an organization called the Revolutionary Agorist Cadre, seeking a Second American Revolution, welcomes visitors to one of its undergrounds: "The room's only decoration was a modified Gadsden flag draped on the wall adjoining the bar and medical areas, a golden field with 'LAISSEZ-FAIRE!' in an upper left corner, a coiled rattlesnake facing left with its tongue out, and in the lower right, 'DONT TREAD ON ME!'" The Gadsden flag without the addition of "LAISSEZ-FAIRE!" is carried over into the 2014 Alongside Night movie adaptation in which the Gadsden flag is used by the Revolutionary Agorist Cadre as well as the traditional anarchist black flag.
A verse from the 1970 song "Uncle John's Band" by the Grateful Dead contains the words "Their walls are built of cannonballs, their motto is 'Don't tread on me'".
In the video game Red Dead Redemption 2, in the gun store in Rhodes there is a Gadsden Flag hung on a wall.
In the video game Fallout 4, in the Red Rocket settlement, in the main entrance behind the cashier, there's a small office on the left side doorway, in which there's the infamous Benjamin Franklin's "Join, or Die!" poster with the 8-pieces snake.
In the Futurama episode All the Presidents' Heads, Professor Farnsworth discovered a means of time travel using the fluid used to preserve heads and attempted to use it to prevent the nefarious actions of his ancestor David Farnsworth. After the original timeline is restored from one where Britain had won the American Revolutionary War, a modified version of the Gadsden flag featuring Bender and his catchphrase "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass" is displayed in the Head Museum's Hall of Presidents.
In the Simpsons episode "Bart Gets An F", during a dream sequence in which Bart sees the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin picks up a sled with a modified version of the flag reading "Don't Sled on Me".