What's particularly interesting about the Gadsden Flag for us is that some of the Marines that enlisted in that month in Philadelphia, November 1775, were carrying drums painted yellow, emblazoned with a fierce rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike, with thirteen rattles, and sporting the motto "Don't Tread on Me." The Flag became a symbol for American Independence.

In December 1775, "An American Guesser" anonymously wrote to the Pennsylvania Journal:

"I observed on one of the drums belonging to the Marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, 'Don't tread on me.' As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America."

Many scholars now agree that this "American Guesser" was Benjamin Franklin.

What's this got to do with legislative updates? Nothing except it was a symbol of hope for our Country in the early days while the legislature was developing and then there's the Marines.