You have to love the directness of the First Navy Jack that hangs from the USS Constitution in the Charlestown Naval Shipyard on Boston’s Freedom Trail. “Don’t tread on me” is as clear a message of boundaries as you’d ever want; the uncoiled rattlesnake only underscores the message. When it comes to clarity, few have this flag beat.
Photo from
Hoarded Ordinaries
A Brief History of the U.S. Navy Jack: In the fall of 1775, as the first ships of the Continental Navy readied in the Delaware River, Commodore Esek Hopkins issued a set of fleet signals. Among these signals was an instruction directing his vessels to fly a striped Jack and Ensign at their proper places. The custom of the jack-type flag had originated with the Royal Navy in the 15th century or earlier; such was the likely source of Hopkins’ inspiration. This first U.S. Navy Jack has traditionally been shown as consisting of 13 horizontal alternating red and white stripes with a superimposed rattlesnake and the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.” The rattlesnake had long been a symbol of resistance to British repressive acts in Colonial America; its display on the new jack of the fledging Continental Navy fit naturally with the fervor of the times. According to Dr. Whitney Smith of the Flag Research Center, the traditional design of the First Navy Jack has never been accurately determined. Historians inferred the design from Hopkins’ message and a color plate depicting a slightly different “Don’t Tread Upon Me” flag used as a Navy Ensign in Admiral George Henry Preble’s 1880 book, History of the Flag of the United States. Historians’ widely copied Preble’s rare color plate, thus providing the probable source of the traditional design of the First Navy Jack.” READ MORE
DON’T TREAD ON ME
I don’t know about you all, but I’m not hearing much out of the Romney camp these days, and … IT IS NOT A WISE MOVE!!!!! There is the potential for a monstrous sweep this election cycle. Passion is running high for smaller, more frugal government, the imposition of term limits, and of course, JOBS!
Listen please, those responsible for running the Romney campaign. You do not want to allow the fires o passion to burn out. Please, take advantage of the passion of the people, and use it to fuel the huge sweep needed to get America back to her honorable roots.
and just or fun, en français:
(Veuillez écouter ceux qui sont responsables de la campagne de Romney en cours d’exécution. Vous ne souhaitez pas permettre à la passion de o des feux brûler. S’il vous plaît profiter de la passion du peuple et l’utiliser pour alimenter le balayage énorme besoin de revenir de l’Amérique à ses racines honorables.)
My friends, most of us agree that Romney is NOT the ideal candidate. Most of us would have preferred a much more conservative representative. This, however, is what we have to work with after the course of the duly established process. We have a choice between President Obama and Gov. Romney. To choose neither is irresponsible. We are grown ups, or at least that’s what our VOTER ID says. The object then, is to select the BEST of those choices offered. It will accomplish NOTHING good to throw a tantrum and demand another option. We can still lobby or a strong conservative VP choice to strengthen the ticket and better represent the American people. My personal favorite is Bobby Jindal.
The bottom line is, how important is it to you that we REMOVE OBAMA from the White House? A non-vote = 1 vote or Obama almost as strongly as one cast or him. Though not the best commentary on our Representative government, I have rarely voted FOR my choice, but usually AGAINST the opposition. That is what I will do this year as well. BUT THEN … We-the-People must work to raise up better choices, better local candidates that will develop into better national candidates! There are several young men and women new to public service who are beginning to make their mark as the serve us better than their predecessors. We most remove those who do nothing but collect pay checks, and replace them with those who will fight to uphold and strengthen the US Constitution, not override it or ignore it!
Current polls show third party option hits Romney.
We hold these truths to be self-evident:
- that all men are created equal
- that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights
- that among these right are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed … PLEASE READ MORE
Benjamin Franklin created this famous political cartoon. He first published it in his Pennsylvania Gazette on the 9th of May, 1754. It is the earliest-known work, by a colonial American, which advocates union of the colonies. The woodcut depicts a snake, divided into eighths, each bearing the initials of a colony or region. In addition to the cartoon, Franklin wrote an editorial about the "disunited state" of the British colonies. The image is related to a superstition that if a snake were cut into pieces, it would become alive again if those pieces were rejoined before sunset.
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