Springville Herald | 1948-04-15 | Page 4 | Ben Franklin is Famous for Political Cartoon

BEN FRANKLIN IS FAMOUS FOR POLITICAL CARTOON Benjamin' Franklin was famous for a number of things, but few newspaper men probably know that he was the father of the modern political cartoon. On May 9, 1754, Franklin printed a wood cut of a snake cut up into sections, each of which represented one of the original colonies. Underneath was the caption, "Join or Die". It was a graphic plea for unity against Great Britain 'in the impending im-pending struggle for independence. The cartoon appeared in Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette, then the most influential paper in America.