Benjamin Franklin’s famous severed snake cartoon is remembered as a symbol of resistance to Britain, but in May 1754 it was designed to promote colonial unity with the British Crown. This episode explores the cartoon’s origins in the Pennsylvania Gazette, the joint snake folklore behind it, and Franklin’s push for the Albany Plan against the French during the French and Indian War.

A decade later, the Stamp Act turned the image into a symbol of resistance to Britain, much to Franklin’s dismay. His counter-cartoon, Magna Britannia, failed to stop it. The snake went on to appear on Paul Revere’s masthead, was used by both sides in the Civil War, became a modern tattoo, and is planned as a 46-foot monument outside Independence Hall for the 250th anniversary.

• Why the snake had only eight segments and left out Delaware and Georgia
• How Franklin likely borrowed the design from a 1685 French emblem by Nicolas Verrien
• Patriot and Loyalist readings of the snake as vigilance or as the serpent of Eden
• Franklin’s 1766 Magna Britannia cartoon and why it could not compete
• Lessons about how creators lose control of symbols once they are released