Gadsden Flag Dont Tread On Me

2015Exploitable image / political symbolclassic

Also known as: Don't Tread On Me · DTOM · No Step on Snek · Gadsden Flag Parodies

Gadsden Flag Don't Tread On Me is a 2015 political image-macro based on Christopher Gadsden's 1775 revolutionary banner with a coiled rattlesnake, whose Tea Party adoption sparked ironic internet parodies like No Step on Snek.

The Gadsden Flag is a yellow banner from the American Revolution featuring a coiled rattlesnake and the words "DON'T TREAD ON ME," designed by Christopher Gadsden in 17757. After centuries as a patriotic symbol, the flag was adopted by the Tea Party movement in 2009, reigniting political debate over its meaning9. Online, the flag spawned a wave of deliberately crude parodies, most famously "No Step on Snek," that turned the icon of defiance into an ironic internet joke11.

TL;DR

The Gadsden Flag is a yellow banner from the American Revolution featuring a coiled rattlesnake and the words "DON'T TREAD ON ME," designed by Christopher Gadsden in 1775.

Overview

The Gadsden Flag features a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow background above the phrase "DON'T TREAD ON ME"7. Named after Continental Army Colonel Christopher Gadsden, it was one of several Revolutionary War-era flags using snake imagery to represent colonial unity and defiance3. The rattlesnake, native to North America and known for warning before it strikes, was considered a fitting metaphor for the colonies' defensive posture against British rule8.

In its meme form, the Gadsden Flag gets parodied through deliberately awful graphic design. Typical versions replace the detailed rattlesnake with a crudely drawn snake, swap the serif text for Comic Sans, and alter the motto to humorous misspellings like "No Step on Snek"2. The parodies poke fun at both the flag's earnest political symbolism and the groups who wave it most enthusiastically.

The rattlesnake first entered American political imagery through Benjamin Franklin. In 1751, Franklin published a satirical essay in the *Pennsylvania Gazette* suggesting colonists repay Britain for shipping convicts to America by sending rattlesnakes to England8. Three years later, in 1754, he published the famous "Join, or Die" cartoon, depicting the colonies as segments of a severed snake, urging unity during the French and Indian War1.

By 1775, the rattlesnake had become a popular symbol across all thirteen colonies, appearing on buttons, badges, currency, and flags8. That October, the Continental Congress authorized five companies of Marines to accompany the newly formed Continental Navy. Drummers for those first Marines carried yellow drums painted with a coiled rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me"13.

Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress and brigadier general, designed the flag bearing the now-iconic combination of rattlesnake and motto7. He presented it to Commodore Esek Hopkins, the first commander of the Continental Navy, who flew it as his personal ensign aboard the USS *Alfred*10. In February 1776, Gadsden presented a copy to the Provincial Congress of South Carolina in Charleston, where it was ordered displayed in their legislative hall7.

The design faded from prominence after the United States adopted the Stars and Stripes in 17777.

Origin & Background

Platform
American Revolution (original flag), Tumblr / 4chan (meme parodies)
Key People
Christopher Gadsden, Unknown
Date
1775 (original flag), 2015 (internet meme parodies)
Year
2015

The rattlesnake first entered American political imagery through Benjamin Franklin. In 1751, Franklin published a satirical essay in the *Pennsylvania Gazette* suggesting colonists repay Britain for shipping convicts to America by sending rattlesnakes to England. Three years later, in 1754, he published the famous "Join, or Die" cartoon, depicting the colonies as segments of a severed snake, urging unity during the French and Indian War.

By 1775, the rattlesnake had become a popular symbol across all thirteen colonies, appearing on buttons, badges, currency, and flags. That October, the Continental Congress authorized five companies of Marines to accompany the newly formed Continental Navy. Drummers for those first Marines carried yellow drums painted with a coiled rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me".

Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress and brigadier general, designed the flag bearing the now-iconic combination of rattlesnake and motto. He presented it to Commodore Esek Hopkins, the first commander of the Continental Navy, who flew it as his personal ensign aboard the USS *Alfred*. In February 1776, Gadsden presented a copy to the Provincial Congress of South Carolina in Charleston, where it was ordered displayed in their legislative hall.

The design faded from prominence after the United States adopted the Stars and Stripes in 1777.

How It Spread

### Political Revival (2000s-2010s)

The Gadsden Flag resurfaced in American culture at the start of the 21st century. Nike and Major League Soccer used it in marketing as early as 2006, and U.S. soccer supporter groups like Sam's Army adopted it in the late 1980s. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. Navy ordered all ships to fly the First Navy Jack, a related flag featuring a rattlesnake across red and white stripes. The flag became a common sight on T-shirts and bumper stickers.

The biggest modern resurgence came in 2009 when the Tea Party movement adopted the Gadsden Flag as its unofficial symbol. Rallies across the country featured seas of yellow flags, and demand skyrocketed. Rick Wyatt, who ran a flag store in Glen Burnie, Maryland, told the *Boston Globe* that a year's worth of Gadsden flag inventory started selling in a single day. Tea Party protesters also flew related Revolutionary War flags like the Culpeper Minute Men flag and the Betsy Ross flag.

The flag's new political association sparked backlash. In 2013, the city of New Rochelle, New York, voted 5-2 to remove a Gadsden Flag from a military armory after complaints it was a Tea Party symbol, prompting a lawsuit from local veterans. In 2014, a U.S. Postal Service worker in Denver filed an EEOC complaint against a coworker wearing a Gadsden Flag hat, calling it "a historical indicator of white resentment against blacks stemming largely from the Tea Party". The EEOC concluded the flag "originated in the Revolutionary War in a non-racial context" but allowed the investigation to proceed because the symbol "has since been sometimes interpreted to convey racially-tinged messages in some contexts".

### Internet Meme Era (2015-Present)

Parodies of the Gadsden Flag existed online for years, but the meme hit critical mass on Tumblr in early July 2015. A January 2015 version featured Pepe the Frog with the caption "DON'T TREAD ON MEMES," and a March 2015 version replaced the motto with "hhiisssss leave me a lone lads:^)" in Comic Sans. These parodies shared a common aesthetic: intentionally bad graphic design, crude drawings, and absurd reinterpretations of the original message.

The "No Step on Snek" variant emerged around the same time, using a childlike doodle of a snake and deliberate misspelling in the style of other internet language memes like "Stonks". The format spread across Reddit, 4chan, Tumblr, and Twitch through 2015 and 2016, often deployed as a humorous warning when users felt disrespected. Popularity peaked around April 2017, with the meme spreading to 9GAG, FunnyJunk, and Twitter. Photoshop edits showing U.S. military personnel carrying modified Gadsden Flags became a popular subgenre.

A September 2016 Drawception game explicitly titled "don't tread on me = no step on snek" illustrated how widely the connection between the original and the parody had spread.

How to Use This Meme

The Gadsden Flag meme typically follows one of several formats:

Classic parody: Take the original flag layout (yellow background, snake, text below) and degrade it. Draw the snake poorly, switch to Comic Sans, and replace "DON'T TREAD ON ME" with a humorous alternative. Common swaps include "No Step on Snek," "please no steppy," or absurdist non-sequiturs.

Character swap: Replace the rattlesnake with another character (Pepe the Frog, a cat, a video game sprite) while keeping the yellow background and text format.

Political remix: Alter the motto to comment on a specific issue or group. The format works for any situation where someone is asserting their right to be left alone, from parking disputes to Wi-Fi passwords.

Reaction image: Post the "No Step on Snek" doodle as a reaction when someone crosses a boundary or shows disrespect.

Cultural Impact

The Gadsden Flag occupies an unusual position as both a government-recognized military symbol and a politically contested icon. Since September 11, 2002, every active U.S. Navy ship has flown the First Navy Jack featuring the rattlesnake and "Don't Tread on Me" motto. The flag is also flown beneath the U.S. flag at many military installations.

In music, Metallica released a song called "Don't Tread on Me" on their self-titled 1991 album, with the snake featured on the cover. The band 311 released an album and song of the same name, and hardcore group Cro-Mags made "Don't Tread on Me" one of their signature tracks.

The EEOC's 2016 determination that the flag is not inherently racist but can carry racial undertones "in some contexts" created a legal precedent that still shapes workplace and school disputes. The 2023 Colorado school incident demonstrated how the flag can ignite national debate overnight, with coverage from the *New York Post*, *Newsweek*, the *Daily Mail*, and Fox News.

LGBTQ+ groups have also used the Gadsden Flag, particularly after violent attacks including a shooting in Colorado Springs, reframing the "don't tread on me" message as a statement against anti-LGBTQ+ violence.

Full History

The Gadsden Flag's journey from Revolutionary War standard to internet punchline spans over 250 years, driven by the symbol's stark visual simplicity and the ease with which its message can be recontextualized.

Benjamin Franklin laid the groundwork decades before the flag existed. His 1751 rattlesnake satire and 1754 "Join, or Die" cartoon established the snake as American political shorthand. Writing anonymously as "An American Guesser" in the *Pennsylvania Journal* in December 1775, Franklin argued the rattlesnake was the ideal symbol for America: it never attacks first, never surrenders once provoked, and always warns before striking. Paul Revere had already added a snake fighting a British dragon to the masthead of the *Massachusetts Spy* in 1774.

Gadsden himself was a significant figure beyond the flag. Known as "the Sam Adams of the South," he was a founding member of South Carolina's Sons of Liberty, served as a delegate to both Continental Congresses, and later commanded the 1st South Carolina Regiment. He spent 42 weeks in solitary confinement after refusing to negotiate with British forces, and though elected governor of South Carolina after the war, he declined due to failing health. He died in 1805 and is buried in Charleston.

The flag's political malleability showed early. During the Civil War, Confederates adopted versions of the rattlesnake imagery. The *Cincinnati Daily Press* warned in September 1861 that if "Jess Davis & Co" invaded Delaware and Maryland, "the coiled snake, and 'don't tread on me' will be sent at the head of the invaders". In the late 1960s, Ku Klux Klan leaders embraced the flag, and in the 1970s, organizers of radical environmental group Earth First! gave speeches from Gadsden-draped stages. Libertarian political movements began adopting the flag in that same decade.

The Tea Party era brought the most intense debate. A 2009 report from Missouri law enforcement labeled the Gadsden Flag "the most common symbol displayed by right-wing terrorist organizations". That same year in Louisiana, a man was detained by police for having a "Don't Tread on Me" bumper sticker. Harvard professor Theda Skocpol, co-author of *The Tea Party and The Remaking of Republican Conservatism*, explained the appeal: Tea Party members "feel that they're the true Americans. The most common thing people said to us in our interviews was, 'We are working to save America'".

The flag appeared at the January 6, 2021 Capitol breach, carried alongside Confederate flags and other political banners. It showed up at Proud Boys rallies in Portland in 2020. Trinity College students who hung a Gadsden Flag outside their dorm in November 2022 had it removed by administrators, sparking a TikTok debate.

The August 2023 Colorado school incident brought the flag's contested meaning to a massive audience. Twelve-year-old Jaiden Rodriguez was told to remove a Gadsden Flag patch from his backpack at The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs after a teacher claimed it had "origins with slavery". A video of the exchange went viral on X (formerly Twitter), racking up over 9.1 million views. Colorado's Democratic governor retweeted criticism of the school's decision, and the school reversed course. Historian William Deverell of USC told *Newsweek* the flag "has proven, over several centuries, to be a very malleable symbol".

Cornell associate professor David Bateman offered a more pointed analysis: "In the 70s and 80s, the flag became a favorite of a libertarian movement that worked with white supremacists and played footsie with Nazis," though he noted the movement had "thankfully distanced itself from that sort of thing". He described the flag's contemporary function as "a bridge symbol" connecting the far right to the broader conservative movement through deliberate ambiguity.

Fun Facts

Benjamin Franklin's original rattlesnake symbolism came from a joke about sending snakes to England as payback for Britain dumping convicts in America.

Gadsden spent 42 weeks in solitary confinement during the Revolutionary War after refusing to cut a deal with the British. He was locked in an old Spanish prison.

The Gadsden Purchase in Arizona is named for Christopher Gadsden's grandson, who served as a diplomat.

When Rick Wyatt's Maryland flag store saw Tea Party demand spike in 2009, he tried to reorder but found every manufacturer was sold out too.

Jeff McQueen, who created the rival "Flag of the Second American Revolution," drove his 2008 Bullitt Ford Mustang from Michigan to Scott Brown's victory party in Boston to hand out flags to people in the front row where cameras could see them.

Derivatives & Variations

No Step on Snek:

The most popular parody. A poorly drawn snake on a yellow background with intentionally misspelled text. Became a meme format in its own right, appearing on T-shirts, stickers, tote bags, and car decals sold on Amazon and Etsy[11].

Pepe Gadsden:

Pepe the Frog replacing the rattlesnake with "DON'T TREAD ON MEMES," originating on Tumblr in January 2015[2].

Comic Sans variants:

Multiple parodies replacing the flag's serif text with Comic Sans and broken English, emphasizing deliberately poor design[2].

Military Photoshop edits:

Edited photos of U.S. military personnel carrying the "No Step on Snek" flag instead of the original, popular on Reddit[11].

Anarcho-capitalist version:

Christopher Cantwell and other libertarians added the rattlesnake and "Don't Tread On Me" to the black-and-yellow anarcho-capitalist flag[8].

Jeff McQueen's "II" flag:

A Betsy Ross design with a Roman numeral "II" in the center, created in 2009 as an alternative to the Gadsden Flag for Tea Party rallies. McQueen distributed over 10,000 flags across all 50 states[14].

Frequently Asked Questions

Gadsden Flag Dont Tread On Me

2015Exploitable image / political symbolclassic

Also known as: Don't Tread On Me · DTOM · No Step on Snek · Gadsden Flag Parodies

Gadsden Flag Don't Tread On Me is a 2015 political image-macro based on Christopher Gadsden's 1775 revolutionary banner with a coiled rattlesnake, whose Tea Party adoption sparked ironic internet parodies like No Step on Snek.

The Gadsden Flag is a yellow banner from the American Revolution featuring a coiled rattlesnake and the words "DON'T TREAD ON ME," designed by Christopher Gadsden in 1775. After centuries as a patriotic symbol, the flag was adopted by the Tea Party movement in 2009, reigniting political debate over its meaning. Online, the flag spawned a wave of deliberately crude parodies, most famously "No Step on Snek," that turned the icon of defiance into an ironic internet joke.

TL;DR

The Gadsden Flag is a yellow banner from the American Revolution featuring a coiled rattlesnake and the words "DON'T TREAD ON ME," designed by Christopher Gadsden in 1775.

Overview

The Gadsden Flag features a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow background above the phrase "DON'T TREAD ON ME". Named after Continental Army Colonel Christopher Gadsden, it was one of several Revolutionary War-era flags using snake imagery to represent colonial unity and defiance. The rattlesnake, native to North America and known for warning before it strikes, was considered a fitting metaphor for the colonies' defensive posture against British rule.

In its meme form, the Gadsden Flag gets parodied through deliberately awful graphic design. Typical versions replace the detailed rattlesnake with a crudely drawn snake, swap the serif text for Comic Sans, and alter the motto to humorous misspellings like "No Step on Snek". The parodies poke fun at both the flag's earnest political symbolism and the groups who wave it most enthusiastically.

The rattlesnake first entered American political imagery through Benjamin Franklin. In 1751, Franklin published a satirical essay in the *Pennsylvania Gazette* suggesting colonists repay Britain for shipping convicts to America by sending rattlesnakes to England. Three years later, in 1754, he published the famous "Join, or Die" cartoon, depicting the colonies as segments of a severed snake, urging unity during the French and Indian War.

By 1775, the rattlesnake had become a popular symbol across all thirteen colonies, appearing on buttons, badges, currency, and flags. That October, the Continental Congress authorized five companies of Marines to accompany the newly formed Continental Navy. Drummers for those first Marines carried yellow drums painted with a coiled rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me".

Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress and brigadier general, designed the flag bearing the now-iconic combination of rattlesnake and motto. He presented it to Commodore Esek Hopkins, the first commander of the Continental Navy, who flew it as his personal ensign aboard the USS *Alfred*. In February 1776, Gadsden presented a copy to the Provincial Congress of South Carolina in Charleston, where it was ordered displayed in their legislative hall.

The design faded from prominence after the United States adopted the Stars and Stripes in 1777.

Origin & Background

Platform
American Revolution (original flag), Tumblr / 4chan (meme parodies)
Key People
Christopher Gadsden, Unknown
Date
1775 (original flag), 2015 (internet meme parodies)
Year
2015

The rattlesnake first entered American political imagery through Benjamin Franklin. In 1751, Franklin published a satirical essay in the *Pennsylvania Gazette* suggesting colonists repay Britain for shipping convicts to America by sending rattlesnakes to England. Three years later, in 1754, he published the famous "Join, or Die" cartoon, depicting the colonies as segments of a severed snake, urging unity during the French and Indian War.

By 1775, the rattlesnake had become a popular symbol across all thirteen colonies, appearing on buttons, badges, currency, and flags. That October, the Continental Congress authorized five companies of Marines to accompany the newly formed Continental Navy. Drummers for those first Marines carried yellow drums painted with a coiled rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me".

Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress and brigadier general, designed the flag bearing the now-iconic combination of rattlesnake and motto. He presented it to Commodore Esek Hopkins, the first commander of the Continental Navy, who flew it as his personal ensign aboard the USS *Alfred*. In February 1776, Gadsden presented a copy to the Provincial Congress of South Carolina in Charleston, where it was ordered displayed in their legislative hall.

The design faded from prominence after the United States adopted the Stars and Stripes in 1777.

How It Spread

### Political Revival (2000s-2010s)

The Gadsden Flag resurfaced in American culture at the start of the 21st century. Nike and Major League Soccer used it in marketing as early as 2006, and U.S. soccer supporter groups like Sam's Army adopted it in the late 1980s. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. Navy ordered all ships to fly the First Navy Jack, a related flag featuring a rattlesnake across red and white stripes. The flag became a common sight on T-shirts and bumper stickers.

The biggest modern resurgence came in 2009 when the Tea Party movement adopted the Gadsden Flag as its unofficial symbol. Rallies across the country featured seas of yellow flags, and demand skyrocketed. Rick Wyatt, who ran a flag store in Glen Burnie, Maryland, told the *Boston Globe* that a year's worth of Gadsden flag inventory started selling in a single day. Tea Party protesters also flew related Revolutionary War flags like the Culpeper Minute Men flag and the Betsy Ross flag.

The flag's new political association sparked backlash. In 2013, the city of New Rochelle, New York, voted 5-2 to remove a Gadsden Flag from a military armory after complaints it was a Tea Party symbol, prompting a lawsuit from local veterans. In 2014, a U.S. Postal Service worker in Denver filed an EEOC complaint against a coworker wearing a Gadsden Flag hat, calling it "a historical indicator of white resentment against blacks stemming largely from the Tea Party". The EEOC concluded the flag "originated in the Revolutionary War in a non-racial context" but allowed the investigation to proceed because the symbol "has since been sometimes interpreted to convey racially-tinged messages in some contexts".

### Internet Meme Era (2015-Present)

Parodies of the Gadsden Flag existed online for years, but the meme hit critical mass on Tumblr in early July 2015. A January 2015 version featured Pepe the Frog with the caption "DON'T TREAD ON MEMES," and a March 2015 version replaced the motto with "hhiisssss leave me a lone lads:^)" in Comic Sans. These parodies shared a common aesthetic: intentionally bad graphic design, crude drawings, and absurd reinterpretations of the original message.

The "No Step on Snek" variant emerged around the same time, using a childlike doodle of a snake and deliberate misspelling in the style of other internet language memes like "Stonks". The format spread across Reddit, 4chan, Tumblr, and Twitch through 2015 and 2016, often deployed as a humorous warning when users felt disrespected. Popularity peaked around April 2017, with the meme spreading to 9GAG, FunnyJunk, and Twitter. Photoshop edits showing U.S. military personnel carrying modified Gadsden Flags became a popular subgenre.

A September 2016 Drawception game explicitly titled "don't tread on me = no step on snek" illustrated how widely the connection between the original and the parody had spread.

How to Use This Meme

The Gadsden Flag meme typically follows one of several formats:

Classic parody: Take the original flag layout (yellow background, snake, text below) and degrade it. Draw the snake poorly, switch to Comic Sans, and replace "DON'T TREAD ON ME" with a humorous alternative. Common swaps include "No Step on Snek," "please no steppy," or absurdist non-sequiturs.

Character swap: Replace the rattlesnake with another character (Pepe the Frog, a cat, a video game sprite) while keeping the yellow background and text format.

Political remix: Alter the motto to comment on a specific issue or group. The format works for any situation where someone is asserting their right to be left alone, from parking disputes to Wi-Fi passwords.

Reaction image: Post the "No Step on Snek" doodle as a reaction when someone crosses a boundary or shows disrespect.

Cultural Impact

The Gadsden Flag occupies an unusual position as both a government-recognized military symbol and a politically contested icon. Since September 11, 2002, every active U.S. Navy ship has flown the First Navy Jack featuring the rattlesnake and "Don't Tread on Me" motto. The flag is also flown beneath the U.S. flag at many military installations.

In music, Metallica released a song called "Don't Tread on Me" on their self-titled 1991 album, with the snake featured on the cover. The band 311 released an album and song of the same name, and hardcore group Cro-Mags made "Don't Tread on Me" one of their signature tracks.

The EEOC's 2016 determination that the flag is not inherently racist but can carry racial undertones "in some contexts" created a legal precedent that still shapes workplace and school disputes. The 2023 Colorado school incident demonstrated how the flag can ignite national debate overnight, with coverage from the *New York Post*, *Newsweek*, the *Daily Mail*, and Fox News.

LGBTQ+ groups have also used the Gadsden Flag, particularly after violent attacks including a shooting in Colorado Springs, reframing the "don't tread on me" message as a statement against anti-LGBTQ+ violence.

Full History

The Gadsden Flag's journey from Revolutionary War standard to internet punchline spans over 250 years, driven by the symbol's stark visual simplicity and the ease with which its message can be recontextualized.

Benjamin Franklin laid the groundwork decades before the flag existed. His 1751 rattlesnake satire and 1754 "Join, or Die" cartoon established the snake as American political shorthand. Writing anonymously as "An American Guesser" in the *Pennsylvania Journal* in December 1775, Franklin argued the rattlesnake was the ideal symbol for America: it never attacks first, never surrenders once provoked, and always warns before striking. Paul Revere had already added a snake fighting a British dragon to the masthead of the *Massachusetts Spy* in 1774.

Gadsden himself was a significant figure beyond the flag. Known as "the Sam Adams of the South," he was a founding member of South Carolina's Sons of Liberty, served as a delegate to both Continental Congresses, and later commanded the 1st South Carolina Regiment. He spent 42 weeks in solitary confinement after refusing to negotiate with British forces, and though elected governor of South Carolina after the war, he declined due to failing health. He died in 1805 and is buried in Charleston.

The flag's political malleability showed early. During the Civil War, Confederates adopted versions of the rattlesnake imagery. The *Cincinnati Daily Press* warned in September 1861 that if "Jess Davis & Co" invaded Delaware and Maryland, "the coiled snake, and 'don't tread on me' will be sent at the head of the invaders". In the late 1960s, Ku Klux Klan leaders embraced the flag, and in the 1970s, organizers of radical environmental group Earth First! gave speeches from Gadsden-draped stages. Libertarian political movements began adopting the flag in that same decade.

The Tea Party era brought the most intense debate. A 2009 report from Missouri law enforcement labeled the Gadsden Flag "the most common symbol displayed by right-wing terrorist organizations". That same year in Louisiana, a man was detained by police for having a "Don't Tread on Me" bumper sticker. Harvard professor Theda Skocpol, co-author of *The Tea Party and The Remaking of Republican Conservatism*, explained the appeal: Tea Party members "feel that they're the true Americans. The most common thing people said to us in our interviews was, 'We are working to save America'".

The flag appeared at the January 6, 2021 Capitol breach, carried alongside Confederate flags and other political banners. It showed up at Proud Boys rallies in Portland in 2020. Trinity College students who hung a Gadsden Flag outside their dorm in November 2022 had it removed by administrators, sparking a TikTok debate.

The August 2023 Colorado school incident brought the flag's contested meaning to a massive audience. Twelve-year-old Jaiden Rodriguez was told to remove a Gadsden Flag patch from his backpack at The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs after a teacher claimed it had "origins with slavery". A video of the exchange went viral on X (formerly Twitter), racking up over 9.1 million views. Colorado's Democratic governor retweeted criticism of the school's decision, and the school reversed course. Historian William Deverell of USC told *Newsweek* the flag "has proven, over several centuries, to be a very malleable symbol".

Cornell associate professor David Bateman offered a more pointed analysis: "In the 70s and 80s, the flag became a favorite of a libertarian movement that worked with white supremacists and played footsie with Nazis," though he noted the movement had "thankfully distanced itself from that sort of thing". He described the flag's contemporary function as "a bridge symbol" connecting the far right to the broader conservative movement through deliberate ambiguity.

Fun Facts

Benjamin Franklin's original rattlesnake symbolism came from a joke about sending snakes to England as payback for Britain dumping convicts in America.

Gadsden spent 42 weeks in solitary confinement during the Revolutionary War after refusing to cut a deal with the British. He was locked in an old Spanish prison.

The Gadsden Purchase in Arizona is named for Christopher Gadsden's grandson, who served as a diplomat.

When Rick Wyatt's Maryland flag store saw Tea Party demand spike in 2009, he tried to reorder but found every manufacturer was sold out too.

Jeff McQueen, who created the rival "Flag of the Second American Revolution," drove his 2008 Bullitt Ford Mustang from Michigan to Scott Brown's victory party in Boston to hand out flags to people in the front row where cameras could see them.

Derivatives & Variations

No Step on Snek:

The most popular parody. A poorly drawn snake on a yellow background with intentionally misspelled text. Became a meme format in its own right, appearing on T-shirts, stickers, tote bags, and car decals sold on Amazon and Etsy[11].

Pepe Gadsden:

Pepe the Frog replacing the rattlesnake with "DON'T TREAD ON MEMES," originating on Tumblr in January 2015[2].

Comic Sans variants:

Multiple parodies replacing the flag's serif text with Comic Sans and broken English, emphasizing deliberately poor design[2].

Military Photoshop edits:

Edited photos of U.S. military personnel carrying the "No Step on Snek" flag instead of the original, popular on Reddit[11].

Anarcho-capitalist version:

Christopher Cantwell and other libertarians added the rattlesnake and "Don't Tread On Me" to the black-and-yellow anarcho-capitalist flag[8].

Jeff McQueen's "II" flag:

A Betsy Ross design with a Roman numeral "II" in the center, created in 2009 as an alternative to the Gadsden Flag for Tea Party rallies. McQueen distributed over 10,000 flags across all 50 states[14].

Frequently Asked Questions