Creator of Political Cartoon

Although it may appear that political cartoons have been around for a long time, they were actually started by Ben Franklin. He created the first political cartoon that was ever published. Using humor to express political themes was something Franklin had never done before. This was a huge success not just because he published The Pennsylvania Gazette personally, but also because he produced several pieces for the daily under various aliases. He became well-known for his political cartoons.

Franklin and Hugh Meredith bought The Pennsylvania Gazette in October 1729. On May 9, 1754, Franklin's "Join or Die," the first political cartoon in America, was published in newspapers. During the American Revolution, the cartoon became a symbol of colonial unity and is still popular today. The Pennsylvania Gazette rose to prominence as one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the United States, where it stayed until around 1800. Not only that but by the time it was published, it had become a symbol of unification.

The political cartoon is a woodcut depicting a serpent divided into eighths, each section identified with the initials of a different American colony or region. New England was depicted as a single piece rather than the four colonies it was at the time. Because Delaware is a part of Pennsylvania, it is not included individually. Georgia, on the other hand, was utterly overlooked. As a result, instead of the customary 13 colonies, it has eight snake segments. Only colonies claiming to share a common American identity are shown on the poster. Franklin's commentary on the "disintegration" of the colonies was accompanied by a cartoon that emphasized the significance of colonial solidarity. During the American Revolutionary War, it became a symbol of colonial freedom.