What does don't tread on me mean on the yellow flag?

Answer 1

"I am warning you... do not step on me!"

The yellow flag with the words "Don't Tread on Me" also features a coiled rattlesnake. This flag is called the "Gadsden Flag" named after the South Carolina senator Christopher Gadsden who designed the flag in 1775-1776. This flag was then presented to the Continental Navy Commodore Esek Hopkins as his personal flag in early 1776.

The "Don't Tread on Me" statement associated with a rattlesnake was common in Colonial America beginning in the 1760s. The idea of a rattlesnake came first from a letter published in a newspaper by Benjamin Franklin in 1754. Since the rattlesnake was not found in England it served as a vicious warning to the British Parliament. The rattlesnake much like Colonial America at the time would not strike unless provoked. Would send a warning first by rattling. And, if and when it struck the bite would be painful and sometimes deadly.

This image of a coiled or running rattlesnake appeared on a number of flags during the Revolutionary War era: Proctor's Westmoreland County 1st Battalion from Pennsylvania, Sullivan's Life Guard of the Rhode Island Militia, The United Train of Artillery of Providence Rhode Island, Patrick Henry's Culpeper Minutemen from Virginia, the Gadsden flag, and the first Navy Jack flag.