Benjamin Franklin, in 1754, used a snake to illustrate a point. He sketched, carved, and published the first known political cartoon in an American newspaper. It was the image of a snake cut into eight sections. The sections represented the individual colonies and the curves of the snake suggested the coastline. New England was combined into one section as the head of the snake. South Carolina was at the tail.
It was a plea for unity in defending the colonies during the French and Indian War. It played off a common superstition of the time: a snake that had been cut into pieces could come back to life if before sunset you joined the sections together.
Later, with the signing of The Declaration of Independence he said "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
While separated by more then 20 years, these two sentiments illustrate of the thoughts and sympathies of the founding fathers beyond mere independence.
After the end of the war, a loose Confederacy was founded and the result was a microcosm of the situation in Europe at the same period. The Constitutional Convention (also known as the Philadelphia Convention, the Federal Convention, or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia) was called to rectify this situation. Franklin served as a delegate from Pennsylvania to the convention. The purpose of the convention was to eliminate the legal and trade barriers that existed in the Confederacy. The result was a federation of the 13 states – The United States.
Franklin was a harbinger of this federation. He, along with the other founding fathers, wanted to create a nation with common bonds between its parts. The rights were spelled out for each of the states that made up the federation.
Current feelings of certain groups today seem to say that these objectives for a common bond no longer apply. They try to link their aims as if they were the basis for the Revolution and the Constitutional Convention. They are asking for neither.
This is our Open Thread. What are do you think? The founding fathers want to know!