dont tread on me

A form of don't tread on me — A slogan, associated during the American Revolutionary War with freedom from British rule, and in more recent years with libertarianism and anti-government sentiments.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

phrase
  1. archaicArchaic spelling of don't tread on me.

    For the first flag adopted for an armed force raised for the Independence was a rattlesnake with the slogan, "Dont Tread on Me."

    1929, West Virginia, West Virginia Blue Book
    2 more examples

    Twice in the Navy's history, the union jack has been replaced by a different flag that has been known by several names: “First Navy Jack,” “Navy Jack,” the “Dont Tread on Me” flag, and sometimes “the rattlesnake flag.”

    2008 September 1, Thomas J Cutler, NavCivGuide: A Handbook for Civilians in the United States Navy, Naval Institute Press, →ISBN

    Jake browsed for five minutes and spent another two debating between a “Dont Tread on Me” T-shirt that mimicked the popular Gadsden flag showing a coiled snake on a yellow background, and a red hoodie with a “Southern cross” on the back.

    2017 December 30, Nathan Birr, Fire & Ice, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 98

Origin

The phrase was initially rendered as dont tread on me, without apostrophe, as dont was then an accepted contraction of do not. In some later versions, due to standards for apostrophes becoming more strict since the 18th century, the first word was changed to don't.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

dont tread on me. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dont%20tread%20on%20me

MLA

“dont tread on me.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dont%20tread%20on%20me. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dont tread on me,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dont%20tread%20on%20me.

Source: dont tread on me on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.