Join, or Die

Have you ever seen a snake? This picture shows a snake that's been cut into eight pieces! Each piece has a letter on it, like a secret code.

These letters stand for different places called colonies where people lived a long, long time ago. The snake looks sad because it's broken. It's like a puzzle that needs all its pieces to be whole again.

This picture was made by a very smart person named Benjamin Franklin. He wanted people to see that the colonies needed to stick together like a real snake.

People long ago believed in a cool trick! They thought if you cut a snake into pieces and put them back together before the sun went down, the snake could magically come back to life! Benjamin Franklin used this idea for his picture.

He showed the snake cut up to show that the colonies were not working together. He hoped that seeing the snake like this would make people want to join together, just like the snake pieces needed to join to live.

This snake picture is super important because it was one of the first times someone drew a picture to show that all the colonies should be friends and work together. It was like a big sign saying, 'Hey, everyone! We need to be united!' If the colonies didn't work together, they might have trouble.

Benjamin Franklin wanted them to be strong, like a full snake instead of just pieces. This picture helped people think about being one big team.

Later on, when the colonies wanted to be free and start their own country, this snake picture became famous again! People used it as a symbol to show they were brave and wanted to be united for freedom. It was like a battle cry in picture form! So, this old snake picture wasn't just about snakes; it was about people wanting to be strong and together, which is a really big deal for history!