What was the origin of 'Don't Tread on Me' in early US politics?
Executive summary
The phrase “Don’t Tread on Me” emerged from a longer, older colonial visual language: Benjamin Franklin’s mid‑18th century rattlesnake imagery helped seed a symbol of colonial unity, and Christopher Gadsden crystallized that imagery into the yellow naval ensign known today as the Gadsden flag during the opening years of the American Revolution [1] [2]. Over the next two centuries the rattlesnake and the motto were adapted by militias, the Continental Marines, and later by both Confederate and modern political movements, making the slogan historically rooted but politically malleable [1] [3] [4].
1. Benjamin Franklin’s rattlesnake: the visual seed of the slogan
The rattlesnake first entered colonial political iconography with Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 “Join, or Die” cartoon, which portrayed the colonies as segments of a cut snake to urge union during the French and Indian War; that image later became shorthand for colonial unity and resistance to external control [1] [5]. Historians and popular accounts link Franklin’s snake to later militarized imagery, arguing that the animal’s reputation—one that warns before it strikes—suited a political message that liberty would be defended if provoked [1] [6].
2. Christopher Gadsden and the creation of the yellow ensign
Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate and brigadier general, is credited with designing the yellow flag bearing a coiled timber rattlesnake and the explicit motto “DON’T TREAD ON ME,” which he presented as a naval standard in 1775 and is therefore commonly called the Gadsden flag [2] [6] [7]. Gadsden’s design was used as a naval ensign and was associated with Commodore Esek Hopkins and Continental Navy vessels, while similar rattlesnake imagery also appeared on Marine drums and other flags in the same period [1] [7].
3. Early military adoption and the phrase’s literal meaning
Contemporaries interpreted the combination of the coiled rattlesnake and the motto as a warning: the colonies would not be passively trampled and would strike back if their rights were infringed, a posture adopted by the Continental Marines and various militia units that displayed rattlesnake flags and related slogans [1] [8]. The phrase functioned then less as a polished political slogan and more as a clear statement of readiness to defend rights—rooted in the animal metaphor and widely intelligible to 18th‑century Americans [8] [6].
4. The symbol’s 19th‑century twists and the Civil War
The rattlesnake and “Don’t Tread on Me” imagery did not remain neutral; by 1861 Confederates and southern secessionists adopted versions of the motif, and the emblem appeared on secessionist banners and printed material, demonstrating how Revolutionary symbols could be repurposed for sectional causes [9] [4]. This historical appropriation undercuts any claim that the phrase has a single, unchanging meaning, and it illustrates the symbol’s capacity to be reinterpreted in different political contexts [4] [9].
5. Modern revival and contested meanings
The Gadsden flag resurfaced strongly in the early 21st century—prominently within the Tea Party and later among a range of right‑wing and libertarian groups—and its reappearance at events like January 6, 2021, has driven debate over whether the symbol now signals anti‑government extremism or mainstream libertarian protest, a tension noted by historians and contemporary reporting [10] [4]. Government agencies and courts have also grappled with the flag’s modern interpretations: while acknowledging Revolutionary origins, some legal reviews and workplace disputes recognized that the symbol may convey different, sometimes racially or politically charged, messages depending on context [10] [11].
6. Bottom line and limits of the record
The origin of “Don’t Tread on Me” in early U.S. politics is traceable to a lineage: Franklin’s rattlesnake imagery provided the conceptual groundwork, and Christopher Gadsden’s 1775 yellow naval flag fixed the phrase and coiled‑snake motif into a durable Revolutionary symbol [1] [2] [6]. Sources note, however, that the symbol’s exact early permutations and everyday meanings varied across colonies and units, and scholarly accounts emphasize the flag’s shifting uses rather than a single fixed doctrine—an important caveat for anyone claiming a monolithic origin or meaning [8] [12].