Gadsden flag
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox flag Template:Libertarianism US The Gadsden flag is a historical American flag with a yellow field depicting a timber rattlesnake<ref name="herpetology-guy">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="dcnr-pa-gov">Template:Cite web</ref> coiled and ready to strike. Beneath the rattlesnake are the words "Dont Tread on Me"Template:Sic.Template:Efn Some modern versions of the flag include an apostrophe in the word "don't".
The flag is named after Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolinian delegate to the Continental Congress, Slaver and brigadier general in the Continental Army,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> who designed the flag in 1775 during the American Revolution.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> He gave the flag to Commodore Esek Hopkins, and it was unfurled on the main mast of Hopkins' flagship USS Alfred on December 20, 1775.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> Two days later, Congress made Hopkins commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He adopted the Gadsden banner as his personal flag, flying it from the mainmast of the flagship while he was aboard.<ref name=":0" /> The Continental Marines also flew the flag during the early part of the war.<ref name=":1" />
The rattlesnake was a symbol of the unity of the Thirteen Colonies at the start of the Revolutionary War, and it had a long history as a political symbol in America. Benjamin Franklin used it for his Join, or Die woodcut in 1754.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> Gadsden intended his flag to serve as a physical symbol of the American Revolution's ideals.<ref name=":0" />
The flag has been described as the "most popular symbol of the American Revolution".<ref name=":0" /> Its design proclaims an assertive warning of vigilance and willingness to act in defense against coercion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This has led it to be associated with the ideas of individualism and liberty.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It is often used in the United States as a symbol of right-libertarianism, classical liberalism, and small government, as well as for distrust or defiance against authorities and government.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Appearance and symbolism
Variations in appearance
Many variations of the Gadsden flag exist. The motto may or may not include an apostrophe in the word "Don't";<ref name="natgeo" />Template:Rp the typeface used for the motto may or may not feature serifs. The rattlesnake is sometimes shown as resting on a green ground; representations dating from 1885 and 1917 do not display anything below the rattlesnake. The rattlesnake usually faces to the left, and the early representations mentioned above face left. However, some versions of the flag show the snake facing to the right.
History of the rattlesnake symbol in America
The timber rattlesnake can be found in the area of the original Thirteen Colonies. Like the bald eagle, part of its significance is that it was unique to the Americas, serving as a means of showing a separate identity from the Old World. 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 The Pennsylvania Gazette. It became the policy of the British Parliament to send convicted criminals to Britain's North American colonies (primarily the Province of Georgia), so Franklin suggested that Americans thank Parliament by sending rattlesnakes to Britain.<ref name="LeepsonDeMille2006">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1754, during the French and Indian War, Franklin published Join, or Die, a woodcut of a snake cut into eight sections. It represented the colonies, with New England joined as the head and South Carolina as the tail, following their order along the coast. This was the first political cartoon published in an American newspaper.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1774, Paul Revere added Franklin's iconic cartoon to the nameplate of Isaiah Thomas's paper, the Massachusetts Spy, depicted there as fighting a British griffin.<ref name=loc>Template:Cite web</ref>
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 and its valuation for vigilance, assertiveness, individualism, unity, and liberty:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
[T]here was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, "Don't tread on me." [...] she has no eye-lids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders [...] The Rattle-Snake is solitary, and associates with her kind only when it is necessary for their preservation [...] 'Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. [...] The power of fascination attributed to her, by a generous construction, may be understood to mean, that those who consider the liberty and blessings which America affords, and once come over to her, never afterwards leave her, but spend their lives with her.
The rattlesnake symbol was first officially adopted by the Continental Congress in 1778 when it approved the design for the seal of the War Office.Template:Citation needed At the top center of the seal is a rattlesnake holding a banner that says, "This we'll defend". This design of the War Office seal was carried forward—with some minor modifications—into the subsequent designs as well as the Department of the Army's seal, emblem and flag.Template:Citation needed As such, some variation of a rattlesnake symbol has been in continuous official use by the US Army for over 243 years.
Other American flags that use a rattlesnake motif include The United Companies of the Train of Artillery of the Town of Providence, the First Navy Jack, and the Culpeper Minutemen flag, among others.
In the 21st century, the Gadsden Flag has been used by supporters of the Tea Party movement.
History
George Washington established the Continental Navy in 1775 as Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces, before Esek Hopkins was named Commodore of the Navy. The 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.
Continental Colonel Christopher Gadsden represented South Carolina in the Congress, and he was one of seven members of the Marine Committee outfitting the first naval mission.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="natgeo">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Paul Aron described Gadsden as a "leading advocate of an American navy."<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> The first Marines carried drums painted yellow and depicting a coiled rattlesnake with thirteen rattles along with the motto "Don't Tread on Me." This is one of the first recorded mentions of the flag's symbolism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Gadsden decided that the American navy needed a distinctive flag and took it upon himself to make one in 1775.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":1" /> He gave Commodore Esek Hopkins a yellow rattlesnake flag to serve as his personal standard on USS Alfred, the flagship of America's first navy squadron.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="natgeo" />Template:Rp Gadsden intended the design to serve as a physical symbol of the American Revolution's ideals.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The rattlesnake was seen in Charleston, South Carolina as a "noble and useful" animal that gave warning before it attacked.<ref name=":0" /> Before being appointed to lead the Navy, Hopkins had led The United Companies of the Train of Artillery of the Town of Providence, a unit that flew a flag similar to Gadsden's.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He unfurled the Gadsden flag on the main mast of USS Alfred on December 20, 1775, while the ship was at anchor in Chesapeake Bay.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> Whenever he was aboard, Hopkins flew the flag from the mainmast of the flagship as his personal banner.<ref name=":0" /> Alfred was also the first recorded ship to fly the first national flag of the United States, when Senior Lieutenant John Paul Jones hoisted it on December 3, 1775, while the ship floated in the Delaware River near Philadelphia.<ref name=":3">Rankin, Hugh F. “The Naval Flag of the American Revolution.” William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 3, 1954, pp. 340–53. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1943310. Accessed 20 Feb. 2023.</ref><ref name=":2" />
By winter 1775, the South Carolina Provincial Congress expected that British forces would attack Charleston and recalled Gadsden home from Congress in Philadelphia to command the 1st South Carolina Regiment.<ref name=":0" /> By January 14, Gadsden had both his orders to return home and permission from the Continental Congress to leave.<ref name=":0" /> On Friday, February 9, 1776, he presented an example of his yellow rattlesnake flag to president of the Congress William Henry Drayton.<ref name=":0" />
Gadsden's presentation of the rattlesnake flag was recorded in the South Carolina congressional journals on February 9, 1776:
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Col. Gadsden presented to the Congress an elegant standard, such as is to be used by the commander in chief of the American Navy; being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle in the attitude of going to strike and these words underneath, "Don't tread on me."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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Use during the Civil War
Between 1860 and 1862, the meaning of the Gadsden flag was disputed between pro- (later, the Confederacy) and anti-slavery (later, the Union) sides, with the latter side ending up abandoning the flag "because Confederates had irreparably tainted it" and the former making it into their unofficial flag.<ref name=washpo/>
The Union side would counter the Gadsden flag with images of snakes being stomped, stabbed, and eaten by eagles; in response, the Confederacy would abandon it for the Southern Cross battle flag.<ref name=washpo/>
In 1861, a ship from Georgia entered Boston Harbor flying a version of the Gadsden Flag with 15 stars on it signifying the 15 slave states. The captain removed the flag after a large and angry crowd gathered, who then destroyed it.<ref name=washpo>Template:Cite news</ref>
Modern use
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.
The Gadsden flag has become a popular specialty license plate in several states. Template:As of, the following states offer the option of obtaining a Gadsden flag specialty license plate: Alabama, Arizona,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Florida,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kansas,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Maryland,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Missouri, Montana,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Texas, and Virginia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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Use as a libertarian symbol
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In the 1970s, libertarians began using the Gadsden flag as a symbol to represent individual rights and limited government.<ref name="Walker">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The flag's prominent yellow or gold color is also strongly associated with libertarianism.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The libertarian Free State Project in New Hampshire uses a modified version of the flag with the snake replaced by a porcupine, a symbol of the libertarian movement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Use by the right
Beginning in 2009, the Gadsden flag was widely used as a protest symbol by protesters who supported the American Tea Party movement.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was also displayed by members of Congress at Tea Party rallies.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> In some cases, the flag was ruled to be a political, rather than a historic or military, symbol due to the strong Tea Party connection.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Gadsden flag was featured prominently in a report related to the January 6, 2021, attack of the United States Capitol.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Efn
Use by the left
In the mid-1970s, the New Left People's Bicentennial Commission used the Gadsden flag symbolism on buttons and literature.<ref>Hall, Simon. "'Guerrilla-Theater... In the Guise of Red, White, and Blue Bunting': The People's bicentennial Commission and the Politics of (Un-)Americanism. Journal of American Studies, Vol. 52, No. 1 (February 2018); pp. 114–136. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018; pp. 114-136</ref><ref>Daly, Christopher. "The Peoples Bicentennial Commission: Slouching Towards the Economic Revolution" The Harvard Crimson April 28, 1975</ref>
Following Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which struck down Roe v. Wade, abortion rights activists were seen at a Texas rally carrying a version of the flag with the snake in the shape of a human uterus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Street Patrol, a 1990s LGBTQ+ self-defense group affiliated with Queer Nation/San Francisco, used as its logo a coiled snake over a triangle holding a ribbon with the motto "Don't Tread on Me".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some libertarians use a version of the flag with the snake and motto placed over a rainbow flag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, posters containing a rainbow Gadsden flag inscribed with "#ShootBack" were placed around West Hollywood.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Use in a terrorist act
In 2014, the flag was used by Jerad and Amanda Miller, the perpetrators of the 2014 Las Vegas shootings who killed two police officers and a citizen.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Millers reportedly placed the Gadsden Flag on the corpse of one of the officers they killed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Legal cases involving the Gadsden flag
In March 2013, the Gadsden flag was raised at a vacant armory building in New Rochelle, New York, without permission from city officials. The city ordered its removal<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the United Veterans Memorial & Patriotic Association, which had maintained the U.S. flag at the armory, filed suit against the city. A federal judge dismissed the case, rejecting the United Veterans' First Amendment argument and ruling that the flagpole in question was city property and thus did not represent private speech.<ref name="newrochelle">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2014, a US Postal Service employee filed a complaint about a coworker repeatedly wearing a hat with a Gadsden Flag motif at work. Postal service administration dismissed the complaint, but the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reversed the decision and called for a careful investigation. The EEOC issued a statement clarifying that it did not make any decision that the Gadsden flag was a "racist symbol," or that wearing a depiction of it constituted racial discrimination.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2023, a seventh grader at The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was removed from school for wearing several patches that were "in violation of the school’s dress code policy" including a Gadsden flag patch.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After high-profile backlash against the decision, including criticism from Governor Jared Polis, the school reversed its decision.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Use outside the U.S.
The Gadsden flag has been used by supporters of Argentine right-libertarian president Javier Milei.<ref name=argent>Template:Cite news</ref> During Milei's inauguration, there were Gadsden flags flown<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which is one of the first times the flag was flown with notability in a foreign inauguration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Parodies
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Parodies and pastiches of the Gadsden flag exist; one common design replaces the "Don't tread on me" motto with "No Step on Snek", sometimes paired with a crudely drawn snake.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="sottile">Template:Cite web</ref>
Appearances in popular culture
The Gadsden flag has made numerous appearances in popular culture, particularly in film, television, video games, music, and sports
In art
- The Freedom Train, a graffiti artwork painted in 1976, incorporated the Gadsden flag in its design.
In film and television
- In the 1982 film Tootsie, the character of Jeff Slater (Bill Murray) is shown to have the Gadsden flag displayed in his bedroom.
- In the 1985 film Rocky IV, the character of Paulie (Burt Young) wears a coat with the flag on the back while in Russia.
- In the 1995 The Simpsons episode "Bart vs. Australia", Bart reveals in an act of patriotism the phrase "Don't Tread On Me" written across his buttocks when he is supposed to be kicked by the Australian Prime Minister as a punishment.
- In the 1999 drama series The West Wing, the character of Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) is shown to have a variation of the Gadsden flag displayed in this office.
- In the 2000 film The Patriot, the flag is shown being flown by American troops during the Battle of Cowpens.
- In the 2006 CBS apocalyptic drama series Jericho, Gadsden flags are shown several times, most notably in the series finale when Jericho's mayor, Gray Anderson (Michael Gaston), replaces the town hall's "Allied States of America" flag with a Gadsden flag.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In the 2009 NBC mockumentary sitcom Parks and Recreation, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) has a miniature Gadsden flag in his office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In the 2023 HBO apocalyptic drama series The Last of Us, Bill (Nick Offerman) has a Gadsden flag in his house.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In music
- 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-gray picture of a coiled rattlesnake like the one found on the Gadsden Flag.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- American country singer Granger Smith recorded a song called “Don’t Tread On Me,” which was featured on his 9th studio album “When The Good Guys Win.” The song also featured his alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr.
- American rapper Lil Darkie recorded a song called "DON'T TREAD ON ME", released in 2019, in regard to the New Zealand Mosque Shootings. The cover art depicts Lil Darkie's self drawn character as the rattlesnake on the Gadsden Flag.
- The flag is also featured in the official for Aaron Lewis' single "Country Boy", featuring George Jones, Charlie Daniels & Chris Young.
- American rock band Grateful Dead reference the flags motto in their song "Uncle Johns Band" from their 1970 album "Working Mans Dead".
Notes
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References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
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- Continental Marines
- Culture of the United States
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- Flags of the American Revolution
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- History of the Thirteen Colonies
- Libertarianism in the United States
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- Military flags of the United States
- National symbols of the Confederate States of America
- Snakes in art
- Tea Party movement
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