(bright patriotic music) [Narrator] How did this become one of the most famous symbols of the revolution?

This is the Gadsden flag.

With its unforgettable yellow color, famous line, and coiled snake ready to attack.

The snake is the venomous banded timber rattlesnake, unique to the eastern US.

Designed by Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina, the flag was first flown on a US Navy vessel in 1775.

Benjamin Franklin used the snake in his "Join or Die" political cartoon, the first political cartoon ever published in an American newspaper.

It represents the colony's united front against tyranny and has become associated with the American ideas of individualism and liberty.

The rattlesnake and the line, "Don't tread on me" represented American's inherent freedoms and inalienable rights.

Many variations of the flag have been flown in different contexts, from modern American movements on both sides of the political aisle, to parodies and more.

This flag is here to stay.