Don't Tread on Me Vintage T-Shirt

In 1773 the founding fathers of America begged their government to grant them the rights of any British citizen, namely representation in the British Parliament. Each time the Crown ignored these requests the colonists grew bolder, culminating in the famed Boston Tea Party. The British continued to impose their will on the colonies with the Quebec Act and the “Intolerable Acts”, further testing the colonists resolve. The Sons of Liberty and other patriots began training militias to prepare for a British invasion. At the head of most of these units stood the “Gadsden Flag” which bore the image of an eastern rattlesnake with the phrase Don’t Tread on Me underneath it as a warning to those who would take away their rights as Englishmen.

The image became such a symbol of the times that it almost defeated the Bald Eagle as the American National Symbol. To this day, it still is held dear by many in the United States as a reminder that Americans must stay vigilant to safeguard the freedoms that so many before us have suffered to attain.

Benjamin Franklin famously explained the qualities that make the rattlesnake the perfect symbol of the American patriot:

She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage…she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.

This shirt is athletic cut on an ultra-thin enzyme washed blank for extraordinary comfort.