In this picture, the persuasive message is that the colonies need to join together if they are to succeed in breaking free from the British. The intended audience is the American people, who were then British colonists about to fight - literally - for their freedom. Ben Franklin drew this and published it in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. He was trying to unite the colonies because he knew that there is strength in numbers, and if the British had to fight a war from across the ocean then the colonists would have a fighting chance - but they had to be able to work together.
Hope you guys enjoy this and I hope you learned something!
Peace and love,
Caitlin
Really cool post and cartoon analysis, Caitlyn. Love the historic nature of it -- wonder why Franklin chose to portray the colonies as a snake? Maybe it had something to do the damage we could inflict against a larger foe? Very explicit image of the snake cut -- isn't that what we do to poisonous snakes we come across in inconvenient areas (i.e. our yards/garages)?
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Actually, Franklin used the snake because there was a legend that said if a snake were put back together after being cut into pieces it would come back to life. This shows that Franklin had hope that even in the discord the United States still had hope for itself that we could rise out of the ashes – or in this case pieces – and get up and fight again. Franklin wanted the colonies to keep fighting no matter what because he had such faith in what they were beginning to believe in.
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