| Join or Die was the title and caption of the first known American political cartoon. The image was of a snake cut into 8 parts, each named for one of the colonies at the time.
Starting at the tail the colonies were :
S.C. (South Carolina),
N.C. (North Carolina),
V. (Vermont),
M. (Maryland),
P. (Pennsylvania),
N.J. (New Jersey),
N.Y. (New York),
and N.E. (New England).
Georgia was omitted for some reason.
The cartoon was created by Benjamin Franklin and published in the May 9, 1754 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette. The intention was to make statement about the disunited state of the American colonies and to encourage the Albany Congress to unite the colonies in response to what the Americans felt was a lack of protection and help from Britain during the French and Indian war.
The Cartoon was widely reprinted at the time, and was reused during the American Revolutionary War. The snake as a representation of America was continued with the Gadsden and Culpepper Flags, both of which depicted a snake and the words Don't Tread on Me.
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