The first political cartoon to appear in an American newspaper was the accompanying image. It showed up in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9th, 1754.The cartoon was published alongside an editorial advocating colonial unity. The snake cut into eight pieces was a metaphor for the colonies, but also had to do with the widely-held belief that if you cut a snake into many pieces, it could be "resurrected" if all the pieces were collected and brought back together before the sun set.
© C Harris Lynn, 2008
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