There is a curious episode of the national flag, which is not without value. As far back as 1754, Franklin, while attempting a union of the Colonies, pictured the principal ones in a wood-cut under the device of a snake divided into eight parts marked with their initials, and under the disjointed whole the admonitory motto, “_Join or die_,”--thus indicating the paramount necessity of Union. In the heats of the Revolutionary discussion, a similar representation of all the Thirteen Colonies was adopted as the head-piece of newspapers, and was painted on banners; but when the Union was accomplished, the divisions and initials were dropped, and the snake was exhibited whole, coiled in conscious power, with thirteen rattles, and under it another admonitory motto, “_Don’t tread on me_,”--being a warning to the mother country.[58] This flag was yellow, and it became the early standard of the Revolutionary navy, being for the first time hoisted by Paul Jones with his own hands. It had a further lesson. A half-formed additional rattle was said by Franklin “to represent the province of Canada,” and the wise man added, that “the rattles are united together so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces.” Thus the snake at one time pictured the necessity of Union, and at another time its indissoluble bond.[59] But these symbols were all in harmony with the national flag, which, from its first appearance, in all its forms, pictured the common cause. 2. There is next the National Motto, as it appears on the national seal and on the national money. A common seal and common money are signs of National Unity. In each the supreme sovereignty of the Nation is manifest. The first is like the national flag, and stands for the Nation, especially in treaties with foreign powers. The second is a national convenience, if not necessity, taking its distinctive character from the Nation, so that everywhere it is a representative of the Nation. Each has the same familiar motto, _E pluribus unum_,--“From many one.” Its history attests its significance.