Unity is one of the cardinal problems of politics. When Benjmain Franklin developed the device of the "Join, or Die" rattlesnake for the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754, he was worried about signs of impending war with France and their Indian allies. He pointedly contrasted the weakness and disunity of the colonies of British America with the strength and unity of the Iriquois Confederacy.

The rattle snake was not merely a native of North America. The sinuious curve of the snake seemed to echo the east to west (and north to south) curve of the coast line of the colonies. This can be seen by setting the divided snake upon this detail from the 1755 Universal Magazine "Map of the British and French Settlements In North America." The map was designed as a war fighting document: it features a large diagram of the new, aggressively positioned French fort at Crown Point ("Fort Frederick") as well as expansive land claims for British colonies that extend past the Mississippi River to the Pacific.

In response to the exigencies of an impending war with France, Franklin met with other colonial officials in Albany, New York. They developed the 1754 Albany Plan for a Union of the 13 colonies of British America. Atlhough nothing came of this early plan, the First Continental Congress faced the same vexing problem of unity when it convened on September 5, 1774. Once again, the imperative for unity came of another worrisome (potential) adversary: not France, but Britain.