WEBVTT - Where Did the 'Don't Tread on Me' Flag Come From? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.960 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Louren 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:14.080 Vogelbaum here a proudly flown from vehicles or defiantly waved 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.560 at political rallies, the yellow Don't tread on Me flag, 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:22.000 with its fearsome, coiled rattlesnake, has become a rallying cry 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:27.000 for right wing America. This historical flag, known as the 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.800 Gadsden flag, originated in colonial times and was resurrected by 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:35.440 the modern day Tea Party movement in twenty ten. Today, 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.479 the Gadsden flag has taken on darker overtones. The flag 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.000 has been embraced by fringe political groups, including the anti 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.239 government militias and other protesters, who stormed the Capitol on 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.840 January sixth of twenty twenty one, displaying dozens of Don't 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.360 tread on Me flags. The history of the Gadsden flag, 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.200 particularly the symbolism of the brattlesnake, is closely linked with 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.560 Benjamin Franklin and the unity of all of the colonies 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:06.320 that eventually became the United States. The Gadsden flag is 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.959 visually striking because of its bright yellow field, though words 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.520 don't tread on Me and the image of a coiled 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:17.360 rattlesnake with its fangs bared ready to strike. The rattlesnake 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.080 was the first of these elements to be associated with America. 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:25.039 In seventeen fifty one, colonists were bristling over the British 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:29.360 practice of shipping convicted felons to the Thirteen Colonies. The 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.479 Crown said that it was doing the colonies a favor 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.480 by helping them populate faster. But Benjamin Franklin, then a 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:40.520 journalist in Philadelphia, wasn't having it. With his trademark wit 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:45.080 and dripping with venomous sarcasm, Franklin penned a satirical article 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.720 for his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, titled Rattlesnakes for Felons. 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:55.720 Here's a sample. Such a tender parental concern in our 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.120 mother country for the welfare of her children, calls aloud 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:03.200 for the highest rich of gratitude rattlesnakes, seeing the most 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.160 suitable returns for the human servants sent us by our 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:12.160 mother country. So yes, Franklin proposed shipping crates of venomous 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.840 American rattlesnakes to London, where they could slither happily through 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.720 the city's parks, and I quote particularly in the gardens 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.160 of the Prime Ministers, the lords of Trade, and members 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:26.040 of Parliament, for to them we are most particularly obliged. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:32.040 Three years later, in seventeen fifty four, Franklin published one 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.560 of the most indelible images of colonial America. It's one 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:40.080 of America's earliest political cartoons. The woodblock print, which was 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.480 likely etched by another artist, first appeared in the pages 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.639 of the Pennsylvania Gazette and depicting a snake cut into 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:50.800 pieces representing the American colonies over the fateful words join 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:56.120 or die. The cartoon wasn't a call to arms against 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:58.520 the British because it was published during the lead up 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.960 to the French and Indian War. The cartoon accompanied an 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.960 editorial by Franklin in which he was trying to unify 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:09.200 colonial opposition to the French. Ironically, he was probably inspired 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:12.960 by a similar French drawing from the sixteen eighties. If 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.840 Franklin was also lobbying the British to give the colonies 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:19.040 more independent governing authority to fight the French on their own. 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.440 It didn't work, and the British said their own army. 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.919 The inscription joiner die was aimed at the various colonial 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:32.120 assemblies and was a call for unity. There was a 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.040 superstition in the eighteenth century that all snakes, even a 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:40.600 chopped up snake, could be reassembled and survive. For the article, 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.920 this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:47.240 John Hartvigsen, former president of the North American Vexillological Association 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:52.200 and a consultant at colonial flag. Vexillologists study the history 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:56.480 of flags and their symbolism. He explained the idea of 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.760 unity was what different symbols of the Revolution were really 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.080 taught talking about. He mentioned that includes the circle of 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.280 thirteen stars and thirteen stripes on the first American flag. 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.800 Over the next decade, as tensions reached a fever pitch 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:16.360 between the colonies in Britain, Franklin's severed snake image went viral, 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:21.360 a colonial era meme. In seventeen seventy four, Paul Revere 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.320 redesigned the masthead of the Massachusetts Spy, a Boston newspaper, 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.080 to include a severed snake facing off with a winged dragon, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:33.000 the symbol of Britain. If you look closely, these snakes 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:37.479 and these cartoons aren't clearly rattlesnakes. But between these images 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:41.000 and that earlier piece of satire, along with popular drawings 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.520 of rattlesnakes published by nature historians earlier in the seventeen hundreds, 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:50.039 a concept was coming together. The Revolutionary War finally broke 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:54.520 out in seventeen seventy five. One Christopher Gadsden was a 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:58.320 firebrand patriot from South Carolina and a brigadier general in 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.520 the Continental Army. He was elected to the First Continental Congress, 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.000 where he served on the Marine Committee, and Gadsden decided 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.840 that the colonial navy needed a flag that would distinguish 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.239 it from pirate vessels and also rally the sailors against 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:16.719 oppressive British rule. That's when he came up with his 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.400 famous yellow flag with its coiled rattlesnake and macho motto 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.159 don't tread on me. Hart Fixen points out that the 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:27.039 snake on the Gadsden flag has thirteen rattles, with the 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:31.000 nub of a fourteenth, perhaps an invitation for Canadian provinces 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:36.880 to join the fight. So did Gadsden design the flag himself, 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.000 That's not clear. All we know is that Gadsden presented 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.120 the flag to one commodore Hopkins, the Commander in Chief 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.880 of the Navy, who proudly flew it on his flagship vessel, 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.520 the US s Alfred. The Continental Marines also flew the 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:55.400 flag during the war. By December of seventeen seventy five, 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.159 the Gadsden flag had caught the attention of none other 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.440 than Benjamin Franklin, who wrote an anonymous letter under the 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:05.280 pen name an American Guesser to the Pennsylvania Journal, highlighting 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:09.599 the similarities between this indigenous American reptile and the Thirteen 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:13.640 Colonies a quote. It occurred to me that the rattlesnake 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.480 is found in no other quarter of the world besides America, 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.680 and may therefore have been chosen on that account to 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:24.320 represent her. She never begins an attack, nor, once engaged, 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:28.440 ever surrenders. She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.440 true courage. She never wounds till she has generously given 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.400 notice even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:40.560 danger of treading on her. Then, referring to the snake's 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:44.960 thirteen rattles, Franklin returned to the theme of unity. Tis 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.599 curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.320 each other. The rattles of this animal are, and yet 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.240 how firmly they are united together, so as never to 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:59.839 be separated, but by breaking them to pieces. The Gadsden 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.000 wasn't the only flag flown during the Revolution. Interestingly, there 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.520 was also a flag called the First Navy Jack that 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.640 showed an outstretched rattlesnake on a field of thirteen red 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.080 and white stripes with the words don't tread on me. 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.040 All of these alternate flags were shelved after these stars 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:21.960 and stripes became the official national flag in seventeen seventy seven. However, 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.120 during the Civil War, the Southern Confederates flew the Gadsden 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:30.600 flag alongside these stars and bars, skipping way ahead. A 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.840 popular interest in historical flags was reignited around the bi 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:38.480 centennial celebration in nineteen seventy six. To celebrate the two 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.920 hundredth anniversary of the Revolution, the United States Navy flew 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.760 the first Navy Jack from its vessels, and the phrase 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:49.679 don't tread on me re entered the national vocabulary. Around 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.640 the same time, the Gadsden flag was also gaining popularity 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.920 among the burgeoning libertarian movement of the nineteen seventies, but 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.600 twenty ten was the year that the Gadsden flag really 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.080 made it's come back. The Tea Party was a grassroots 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:06.280 political movement that fashioned itself as a modern day Sons 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.480 of Liberty. Their enemy wasn't an oppressive foreign king, but 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.760 the United States own big government spending and taxation. The 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.560 Tea Party adopted the Gadsden flag as its own, and 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.360 their influence trickled up to Congress. In twenty ten, a 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.400 Tea Party loyalists in the House unfurled a Don't tread 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.640 on Me flag from a balcony of the Capitol to 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:32.560 protest President Barack Obama's health care legislation. Hart Fixen said, 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.400 when the Tea Party started using revolutionary war flags, I 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.920 kind of chuckled under my breath. This is interesting. The 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:45.160 problem is that it's been carried to such extremes. Back 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:48.440 in twenty fourteen, an African American postal worker filed a 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.800 complaint of racial discrimination with the US Postal Service against 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.120 a coworker who repeatedly warred work a cap sporting the 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.800 Gadsden flag. The Postal Service dismissed the complaint for failure 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:04.360 to state a cognizable claim of discrimination. However, the Equal 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:08.240 Employment Opportunity Commission reversed the dismissal and ordered the USPS 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:12.280 to investigate. It's said that while the Gadsden flag originated 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.559 in a non racial context, it has since been quote 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:20.440 interpreted to convey racially tinged messages in some contexts, and 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.480 therefore the complaint met the legal standard to be investigated 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:28.600 by the USPS rather than to be dismissed. Hartvigsen said 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.400 that he's watched with dismay as the Gadsden flag and 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:35.400 other historical flags have been appropriated by increasingly radical groups. 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.760 The low point for him was January sixth, when historical 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.440 and contemporary American flags were even used as weapons to 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.319 beat Capital police officers, a far cry from the flag's 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:53.600 original meaning of unity and benevolence. Perhaps in response to 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.560 the Gadsden flag's right wing comeback, versions of it have 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.960 shown up at LGBTQ plus rallies with the rattlesnake off 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.480 a rainbow field and it abortion writes marches with the 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.000 snake curled into the shape of a uterus. But it's 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.120 still popular at right wing rallies and tea party events, 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.200 and despite or because of all the fuss, there are 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.160 at least a dozen states that offer a specialty license 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:21.920 plate emblazoned with the Gadsden flag. Indeed, Kansas approved it's 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.720 don't Tread on Me plate just weeks after the January 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:32.720 sixth insurrection. Today's episode is based on the article What's 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:34.680 the meaning of the Don't Tread on Me Flag? On 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.959 how stuffworks dot com, written by Dave brus. Brain Stuff 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.600 is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with house stuffworks dot 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.800 Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.000 from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:48.960 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.