<P> JOIN, or DIE. is a political cartoon, attributed to Benjamin Franklin and first published in his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754 . The original publication by the Gazette is the earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced by a British colonist in America . It is a woodcut showing a snake cut into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initials of one of the American colonies or regions . New England was represented as one segment, rather than the four colonies it was at that time . Delaware was not listed separately as it was part of Pennsylvania . Georgia, however, was omitted completely . Thus, it has eight segments of a snake rather than the traditional 13 colonies . The two northernmost British American colonies at the time, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, were not represented, nor were any British Caribbean possessions . The cartoon appeared along with Franklin's editorial about the "disunited state" of the colonies, and helped make his point about the importance of colonial unity . It became a symbol of colonial freedom during the American Revolutionary War . </P> <P> Also known as the French and Indian War, the seven years were a war (and choice) for the colonies against Britain, France, and their native allies . They wanted to fight for the land west of the Appalachian Mountains . At that time, the colonists were divided on whether to fight the French and their Native - American allies for control of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains . It became a symbol for the need of organized action against an outside threat posed by the French and Native - Americans in the mid 18th century . Writer Philip Davidson states that Franklin was a propagandist influential in seeing the potential in political cartoons . Franklin had proposed the Albany Plan and his cartoon suggested that such a union was necessary to avoid destruction . As Franklin wrote: </P>

Who drew a snake cartoon which represents unity and independence