Meet Liberty-Loving Lafayette!

Meet my latest book!

Liberty Loving Lafayette: How "America's Favorite Fighting Frenchman" Helped Win Our Independence

(Available for pre-order now: release date July 14)

VIMEO LINK: Quick Intro

Cheering Myself Up in Pandemic Time: Woo Hoo #1

In order to cheer myself up a bit, I've started revisiting some wonderful reviews people have written over the years about my books. I then decided to start making what I call Woo Hoos of my favorite bits.

Here's the first one I did:

  

Yup, definitely a Woo Hoo!

Thank you, David!

Outlandish "History" in Outlander

       Ok. I admit it. I'm a huge fan of the television series based on Diana Gabaldon's Outlander novels. The acting is superb (particularly the two leads) and the story gripping.

        In the season recently aired, however, the show's producers seem to have made a major error in the way they decided to dramatize the Regulators conflict in the Carolinas. When uniformed British troops showed up on the screen, my "suspension of disbelief" crumbled. As far as I can determine, there were NO BRITISH TROOPS involved in that conflict. Not any. All of the combatants of that struggle were American colonists: militias made up of colonists versus the Regulators, who were also colonists. Not a Redcoat to be seen.

         Governor Tryon is portrayed as a powerful official sending in the Lobsterbacks. It is at least implied that the whole Regulator movement was a rebellion against this Crown-appointed governor's unjust laws and taxes.

         Now, please remember that all laws in the British colonies in America were enacted by each colony's assembly. All taxes that had to be paid were also determined by the representatives from that colony sent to this legislature body. The governor himself could not impose any taxes.  Here's something I wrote more than thirty years ago about this.

The Americans and the British government had exactly opposite ideas about the role of these colonial assemblies, however. The King and Parliament regarded these local legislatures as only a practical, unofficial solution to the problem of governing the "plantations". The colonists, however, looked at their legislatures as something more than temporary measures to offset the inconveniences of distance. Among the leaders in the colonies (and in the assemblies) were many educated men who knew all about the rights of Englishmen. (They had read as much of John Locke’s stuff as any other Englishman of the time.) These colonial legislators (and the people they represented) thought of their assemblies as provincial parliaments with the same rights and responsibilities as the one in London starting with a capital P. And, just as the capital P Parliament held the pursestrings and controlled the actions of the King, the colonial assemblies held the pursestrings and effectively controlled their colony’s royal governor. Because of this, the royal governor generally had to act in ways the members of his colony’s assembly wanted him to, or they would not give him any money. 

                                                       - The American Revolutions @ 1990 by Dorothea Jensen

It is my understanding that the Regulators conflict arose from the fact that :

1) The North Carolina Assembly was controlled by the more prosperous, longer-settled tidewater parts of the colony. They therefore passed tax laws that imposed onerous taxes on the less prosperous, newly-settled upcountry parts of the colony, and;

2)  The officials collecting these taxes were corrupt.

So, why did the Redcoats showing up make me see red? I'll tell you why.

1) There was a strong tradition in Britain that no King should have a "standing army," in other words, a permanent army (as opposed to an army raised to fight in a particular war, then disbanded in peace time). A king without a permanent army of his own, needless to say, could not seriously oppose Parliament. Likewise, a royal colonial governor without a "standing army" could not seriously oppose the colonial assembly. Or impose his will on the colonists. Not even the colonists who were the Regulators.

2) It was the British government's sending troops to Boston (and closing the port)  as a punishment for the Boston Tea Party that started major revolt among the American colonists in Massachusetts. (Of course, there were also some left in New York after the French and Indian War ended, but that wasn't done as a punitive measure. Theoretically, they were troops left in place to help protect the outlying colonial settlements from possible further attack. There was no huge outcry at this, but people were not particularly happy to have the British soldiers around.)

So if there were red-uniformed British troops stationed in the Carolinas at the time of the Regulators conflict, I'm certain this would have been a major issue in itself, and not just a routine, "Oh, yeah, here come the many British soldiers stationed here in our colony" kind of thing.

But it was most upsetting to see this, as it muddies the whole issue of "taxation without representation." For if Governor Tryon truly imposed a tax and enforced it with British troops, the Revolution might have started then and there.  It didn't.

Having said that, I guess I'm going to have to find what Gabaldon actually wrote about Alamance, and if she specifies Redcoated troops fighting against the Regulators.  I'll let you know what I find. I write historical fiction myself, so I understand that plot pressure sometimes can mess about with the historical facts. (Although I do keep the history in my books as accurate as I can.)

I suspect, however, that the television version might have departed from her description just to make possible the dramatic moment when Jamie (sigh) is forced by circumstance to don the dreaded red uniform against which he had fought in the Uprising of 1745.



Cheers,

Dorothea

P.S. I just checked out Alamance in The Fiery Cross, and so far have found a letter written by Tryon expressing gratitude to the "officers and men of the army" for their support at Alamance. So it's apparently Diana who decided to bring in the Brits! Very disappointing.

P.S. 2 Anyone who can show that I am WRONG about all of this, please do let me know at jensendorothea@gmail.com. 

Pandemic Productions: The Riddle of Penncroft Farm, Chapter 1, Part 1

The other day I forced myself to change into Real Clothes (not PJs), comb my hair, and put on lipstick so that I could continue with my Pandemic Productions: this time making an "author readaloud" of my historical novel for young readers, The Riddle of Penncroft Farm.

(Note: there is a free teaching guide available for this book. I have posted it on my website, on the "For Teachers" page. Here's the link: www.dorotheajensen.com.)

Here is the first part of the first chapter: enjoy!

If this video does not play on your device,  use this Vimeo link to watch it directly:  https://vimeo.com/403260879.

Pandemic Productions: A Buss from Lafayette, Chapter 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm as trapped by this pandemic as the rest of the world. I've decided to create readaloud vids of my books for parents and or tele-teachers to use these during this extraordinarily challenging time. Or just to enjoy.

Here is the first chapter of my historical novel for middle graders, young adults, and older: A Buss from Lafayette.

(Note: this book starts with a diary entry: Tuesday, June 21, 1825, which is also posted on my websites: www.dorotheajensen.com  and www.abussfromlafayette.com.)

For anyone who would like to help their students/kids understand the historical bits of this book, you might want to take a look at A Buss from Lafayette Teacher's Guide, available as both paperback and e-book. This guide contains bulletin board ideas, vocabulary exercises, varied student handouts, puzzles, games, reading comprehension quizzes, discussion questions, and both individual and class projects. Its cross-curricular activities include language arts/reading, social studies, mathematics, health/safety, art, music, dance, drama, recipes, and suggestions for real and virtual field trips. A full answer key is provided. The main topics covered are the American Revolution, Lafayette's role in our War of Independence, Lafayette's Farewell Tour of America in 1824-5, and everyday life and customs in rural America in the 1820s.

Here are a couple of buy links for the guide:  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

Anyway, enjoy the story!

If this video does not play on your device, here is the Vimeo link to watch it directly: https://vimeo.com/403255999

Readaloud to Help Make the Quarantine Go By A Bit Faster

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators suggested that we members do readings of our works online during this difficult quarentine.

I'll start doing live readings on Facebook, when I figure out how!

Happy Stamp Act Repeal Day! Part 2

Here's a bit more from my manuscript (maybe I'll publish it someday) called The American Revolutions, By a Partial,

Prejudiced, and Ignorant Historian:

---

The colonial assemblies also lost no time in reflecting the angry reaction of the American people to the Stamp Act. By the end of May, the Virginia House of Burgesses (inflamed by speeches by Patrick Henry, who carefully waited to take the floor until most of the more conservative assemblymen had gone home) passed a series of “Resolves” stating their objections to the Act, even though some members thought this came very close to treason. Other assemblies soon followed suit, including Massachusetts, which took the further step of calling for an intercolonial meeting to denounce the infamous act - the Stamp Act Congress. (Congress means a “coming together”.)

It was not only the newspaper publishers and the legislators who acted upon their dislike of the Stamp Act, however. Mobs of ordinary people vented their anger upon the physical embodiment of the law - the men unfortunate enough to have accepted appointments as royal stamp agents. Instead of gaining a welcome British payment for selling stamps, many a collector had the unnerving experience of seeing a rough doll labeled with his own name being hanged and set afire. Worse yet, the real bodies of some agents were stripped naked, covered with boiling tar, rolled in feathers, and ridden on a rail. This bizarre torture was no laughing matter and before long, virtually all the stamp agents resigned their posts. 

In October of 1765, the Stamp Act Congress called for by Massachusetts convened in New York. It was the first meeting with representatives from most of the colonies. They drew up a petition to the King and Parliament stating that the Stamp Act violated their rights as Englishmen because it constituted taxation without representation, and urged its repeal. Their resentment at being treated like this was echoed in The Boston Evening Post:

We have an old Mother that peevish is grown,

She snubs us like Children that scarce walk alone;

She forgets we're grown up and have Sense of our own.

But it took more than a lack of stamp sellers and a petition or even a poem to defeat the Stamp Act - it took a widespread boycott (although that's not what it was called at the time). Beginning with New York and soon spreading to other cities, people started signing agreements that no British products would be bought until the Stamp Act was revoked. The non-importation agreements did the trick. Soon British merchants were complaining loudly to their government about their lost American profits. This British protest provided George III a way to give in without losing face . In March of 1766 the Stamp Act was repealed. 

The colonists were ecstatic at this apparent victory. The boycott was swiftly ended; toasts were drunk to the King, and city windows were “illuminated” by lit candles as a mark of celebration. Few of the rejoicing colonists noticed there was a worm in the apple. Along with the repeal of the hated Stamp Act, the British government slipped in a “Declaratory Act”. It was straightforward enough: the Act simply declared that Parliament had authority over the colonies in all cases and could impose revenue taxes any time it wanted to. It wasn't long before that's exactly what Parliament did.