Monday, May 24, 2010

The Meaning of Benjamin Frankin's Join or Die Political Cartoon

Benjamin Franklin illustrated this cartoon.

Analyze the cartoon. What is your interpretation of the snake and letters?

49 comments:

  1. What I think join or die means is either help our country defend what think is right or risk your life not trying to help and all of the abbreviations such as v or nj those are abbreviations for all of the colonies


    -ISAIAH WASHINGTON

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  2. I think that he means if the colonies don't come together to fight Great Britain then the king will win the war and most of them will get killed.So that means if the colonies don't work together then they will be separated and most will be killed.

    Jordan Sterling

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  3. I think join or die means to have certain states or colonies should join together/unite to do something.To save lives and stop with the bad laws the british made. Also so that when a war starts he wanted them to join together to defeat great britain.

    Anthony Johnson

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  4. Well what my opinion on this picture is to what means that if the person didn't join the colony or group as in the picture the snake is not-joined that if it didn't join they would have to die and if they didn't work in a group they would have to separate


    Ferron Mohamad

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  5. I think the picture of the snake and the letters is like a map of the colonies to where they were suppose to have their wars because it says join or die on the picture which can mean join the the war or die without getting your way, also because it has initials such as S.C which stands for south carolina and N. J which is standing for New Jersey and P.which stands for Pensylvania. Also they have different shapes just like states do on a map.

    Jazmin Gonzalez

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  6. I think that the snake and letters stand for the 13 colonies N.Y New York N.J New jersey P. Pennsylvania M. Massachusetts V. Virginia N.C North carolina S.C South Carolina


    ALEXiS WiLLiAMS

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  7. the drawing that Benjamin means that , like thre lables reperesents the 13 coloinies . That they can ethier be a group and unit and win the war or they can seperate and loose. I also think it means that if thy loose they are still a team and they shouldn't give up even if they don't win .


    (*$$!!nastassia Janvier !!$$*)) :)

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  8. The snake and the letters mean the New England colonies, Such as, New york, North Carolina, also Virginia. So I think The quote "Join Or Die" means join these colonies or you will die if you don't. Also I think to show the sign of death they show the snake (you can die from snakes).

    -InDiA HaRjO

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  9. i think it mean or its a symbol of the colonies cause n.c stands for north Carolina s.c is south Carolina and it mean join the colonies or die


    *$Bruce Anderson$*

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  10. I think that the letters are enitials on the colonies that he has probably been to like new york,new jersey, virginia and he is saying that these colonies should join together to get freedom or never join meaning die like how the british died.


    Joshua Clarke

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  11. My interpretation of the snake and the letters is the snake is some of the colonies and and the words are the colonies like new york,new jersey ,or north carolina. And at the bottom of the cartoon poster Join or die meant help fight for your colonies freedom or die like the british.

    Alberto murillo

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  12. I think it means a symbol of the british that if you don't join the war they kill you because on the drawing it says join, or die and they think the snake is a god to them.

    Michael Anglin

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  13. I think what Ben Franklin was trying to illustrate was join one of the states or die and some and most of the states in the picture is in the New England colonies and the Middle colonies plus the Southern colonies





    ^~_ TiERA TH0rNT0n_~^

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  14. It think Benjamin Franklin join or die means that you either join give them with they want or die while you are fighting in the war or it can mean be on the colonial side of the war or die trying to defeat them.thats what i think benjamin franklin means when he said join or die.

    Sabria Ductan

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  15. I think the drawing means that you etheir join,which is what they want or be in the war and die while you are fighting aganist the be you going in war with .And I think think the letters are abervations of the states you might go aganist if you dont join and you will die whenyou go aganist them.
    (*Amiayah_Smith*)

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  16. Its like a map and a path way because each letter stands for colonies and the snake is like a path going to each colony. The head of the snake goes to n.e the neck of the snake goes to n.y the stomach parts goes to p and n.j the legs go to v and n.c and the tail goes to s.c .It can also be a strategy for a army.
    Use the key down there to find out what each initial stands for.

    TH3 C0L0NI3S
    N.E=new england
    N.Y=new york
    N.J=new jersey
    P=Pennsylvania
    M=Massachusetts
    V=Virginia
    N.C=north carolina
    S.C=south carolina

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  17. What I think about it is that he is trying to threaten us. But think that I will not take it because I don't know what it is. But I think he want's us to go to war to fight for are country. But I still think that he is mean because he said JOIN, or DIE.

    (#Pejumae$Lavette#)

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  18. To me the letters and the snake is a kind of map or path way for example: N.J stands for New Jersey and N.E stands for New England. Also it shows different intials of the states.

    for example: S.C=South Carolina N.J=New Jersey
    N.C=North Carolina N.Y=New york
    V.=Virginia N.E=New England
    M.=Massachusetts
    P=Pennsylvania

    CARLA DUTHERVILLE

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  19. The cartoon drawing of the snake has 8 of colonies. When he says join or die he means protect your land or give up are land.

    Marcus Smith

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  20. $$#@ johanna dominique#@$$May 24, 2010 at 9:02 AM

    i think that join or die is like a threat likea donkey you have the tail the butt middle and the head so its like if you join and do your best u r strait but if you dont join you die each letter means that when you do your best you go a letter up and you dont die but if you say no youre dumb cuz then u will die. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) i also think that the letters stand for the southern middle and england colonies

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  21. i think it mean or its a symbol of the colonies cause n.c stands for north Carolina s.c is south Carolina and it mean join the colonies or die.


    *$Bruce Anderson$*

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  22. I think that the picture means the initials of the colonies such as N.J which stands for New Jersey and S.C which stands for South Carolina. Also they are cut into different shapes and sections like some states are on a map.

    Jazmin Gonzalez

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  23. i think is about the middle colonies and i think is about riskin ur life and help country defend for what is right or wrong and risk their own life for their own country

    by:yeremy Graziano

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  24. I think that the snake stand out the continet that where the war is and they need help to fight the war and maybe to give up there land.
    Joel williams

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  25. I think that it means that all of the letters on the snake mean all of the 13 colonies for example
    1. n.c north carolina
    2. n.y new york and so on bye hope you understand

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  26. I think that it means that if all the 13 colonies need to join the team or they mite die . they need to work to gether and not to give up

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  27. The thing that i found out is that the snake is like the state names because it says NY and it look like NY means new york

    Tyrique Hibbert

    Thank you

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  28. What i think the letters and the sections mean is that the letters stand for the thirteen colonies and the sections stand for like a strategy they will use for war and the words JOIN OR DIE mean that you can either join our war or the great british there fighting against will kill them in the war

    shania laguerre

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  29. I think that the letters are enitials on the colonies that he has probably been to like new york,new jersey, virginia and he is saying that these colonies should join together to get freedom or never join meaning die like how the british died.


    Joshua Clarke

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  30. i think that what is name and where did he come from because say
    ny



    from Faraz salla

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  31. It tells some of the thirteen colonies,about state whether there going to die or not.

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  32. I think the join or die symbol means that each cut up part of the snake means all the the 13 coli that separated for example

    n.e is new england
    N.y is new york

    Sabria Ductan

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  33. What i think the letter and the long cut in have snake mean is that the letter is trying to tell that something bad is going to happen

    by :Alissa GONZALEZ

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  34. I think in this illustration Ben Franklin meant in the picture is all the 13 colonies and he dreew a snake because the quote join or die


    tiera thornton

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  35. I think that join or die is a map

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  36. I think that it means that if you do not join together you have to die trying .....

    CHRYSTAL

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  37. I think join or die means like if you don't join the colonies to fight for freedom or you will die die from the british army.And the letters mean for the colonies.
    Chadane Hartley

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  38. The Join or Die illustration was to try to convice the two enemies (French and British) to unite. I fancy this poem because of the meaning. The meaning is to unite or face the war when there is a big possibility that many people will die during the war. It's all in the name JOIN OR DIE! - DOREEN IGIEOBO

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  39. the illustration of join or die was trieying to tell us that if we want to join the people then we wont die and if you dont want to join then you would die that is what the illustration was about
    Lanae Taylor

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  40. benjermen ment if you dont join you will die devin c. duren

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  41. The illustration of the picture that Benjamin Franklin drew was to tell the colonist to join or die. The only way to beat the other colonist was to join together.Also Benjamin Franklin wanted to defeat the french colonist.Another thing is the parts of the snakes repesented the the cites and states. Chasity King

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  42. benjermen franklen ment if you dont join you will die.so he wanted the people to join because. so they would help benjermen. devin c. duren

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  43. The cartoon of Join or Die is telling us to join together or we wont make it.Which is created by G. washington.Washington wanted to win the war.

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  44. What I think join or die means is that the French and Indian war should join together and nobody would die or disagree with each other and die

    $$Elizabeth
    Stark$$

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  45. BENJAMIN FRANKLINS DID THE JOIN OR DIE BECAUSE HE WANTED PEPOLE TO JOIN THE AMRY SO HE COULD WIN THE BATTEL AND NOT DIE JOSHUA SMITH

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  46. I Think join or die means that if you don't join to gather you will die



    by briana dixon

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