Political Cartoon

This is one of the first political cartoons to be published, created by Benjamin Franklin. The message is simple, join or die. This implies that joining together is the only method of survival. The snake, cut into sections, represent the colonies, and shows that divided, the snake is dead, but connected, would become fearsome. This could also represent famous phrases such as, "united we stand, divided we fall," or "divide and conquer".
The creator of the cartoon is Benjamin Franklin, who is a very well known for being one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and an all around renaissance man, mostly known for being a politician, writer, and scientist. The context of the piece is the seven years war, which was when the Colonies wanted to fight the Indians and the French for control of land past the Appalachian Mountains. The purpose of this cartoon was to unit the 13 colonies (New England represents 4 colonies) to fight together. It basically promoted colonial unity, and how much they were vulnerable separated. The audience is for the people who resided in the 13 colonies. The rhetorical elements of the cartoon was mostly imagery. The snake cut up shows no threat. However, with the word Unite, there is an image related to the snake in its former glory. Franklin leaves the glory of that image to the audience, so they can see how they can shape the snake. This is very powerful, and is more persuasive than just telling them to unite. By planting the idea in the audience, it becomes their own opinion. The "or Die" part of the cartoon shows how useless the snake is and the picture shows the snake in pieces,which shows that the dead snake is virtually dead. This adds to the impact of the Unite. Simply put, the idea is to have the audience see in their own minds what the colonies can be.