On The Cover
Join, or Die was created by American founding father, Benjamin Franklin, and first appeared as a political cartoon in the Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. It is a woodcut showing a snake severed into eighths, each segment representing a British Colony, and is the earliest known illustration representing colonial union in America, as well as the first political cartoon to be published in this country. New England was represented as one segment, rather than four, and Delaware and Georgia were omitted altogether. Thus, Join, or Die has eight segments instead of thirteen.