StanleyWheeler

Fun Facts: Pressed by the Coercive Acts (see last week's post), the colonies took action. One of the actions was the gathering of delegates for the First Continental Congress which met September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia. Each colony, except Georgia, sent delegates. George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry were among the delegates in attendance from Virginia. One of the proposals discussed was A Plan of Union of Great Britain and the Colonies, which provided for a popularly elected Grand Council which would've been the equivalent to the English Parliament, and a President General appointed by the crown. Even at that time, some of the delegates favored independence rather than simple legislative equality with England. The congress organized a boycott against British goods, and petitioned King George III for redress. The congress resolved to reconvene in May 1775 if the response from England was not favorable. England responded to the boycott with the New Eng...

"Witch hunts are really only obnoxious for the witches." "Canada is America's hat." These were two of the comments I overheard yesterday during a game of Apples to Apples. I take no responsibility for, nor do I endorse the comments, but I did find them entertaining. Fun Fact : The British, having utterly failed to understand the position of the American colonists, decided that the best answer to the Boston Tea Party was the adoption of the Coercive Acts aimed at punishing Boston and Massachusetts. The Coercive Acts closed Boston Harbor until the damages for the loss of the tea were repaid, restricted Massachusetts' town meetings and made the governor's council an appointed body, made British officials immune from prosecution in Massachusetts, required colonists to house and quarter British troops on demand, and also extended freedom of worship to Catholics in Canada and allowed the continuation of their judicial system. If the British thought the...

Fun Facts : The Tea Act of 1773 might have been a stone calculated to kill two birds. If it was, it didn't. The British East India Company had dire financial problems. The American colonies disputed parliament's authority to tax and control them without elected representation. Parliament addressed both issues through the Tea Act with a tax of 3 pence on tea imported to the colonies. Of course existing legislation had already prohibited the colonies from importing tea from anyone other than Great Britain. Prior to 1773, the EIC didn't actually sell tea to the colonies, but sold it wholesale in Britain to merchants who then resold it to merchants in the colonies. As a result of a colonial boycott on British products, in 1770 Parliament had actually repealed most of the taxes in the Townsend Acts. The tax on tea was one of those not repealed; it was maintained as a show of authority to tax the colonies. With repeal of the Townsend taxes, the colonies lifted the boycott and tra...

Strap down the grey matter and hold on to your cerebellum (not to be confused with antebellum or parabellum) Clamorous Harbingers  will give your mind a ride! (Yes. I was listening to Boston when that bit of self promotional inspiration came to me). Not yet, but soon. My proclamation is premature as I've not yet completed the book. However, "Havoc!" has been cried, and the dogs of war let slip. The battle at the cache to shape the future of empires and liberty's struggle has commenced. Perhaps I should go into television repair. I performed a life-extending surgery on our television. The IR sensor which reads the remote had gone bad. It had started as a frequent but not complete failure to respond to the input from the remote control. In a matter of days, the failure to hearken waxed into willful rebellion such that all commands had to be given by physical administration. Wife picked up a new remote, but the TV's fault, like that of Brutus, lay not with the s...

Fun Facts: The Boston Massacre happened March 5, 1770. The British had sent more than 2,000 (some sources say 4,000) soldiers to occupy the city to enforce the various tax laws. Clashes between soldiers and colonists became more common as the latter's protests against British taxes often included vandalism against the stores of merchants selling British goods. When colonists attacked a loyalist's store in February, a customs officer living near the store fired on the crowd, killing an 11 year-old boy. On March 5, 1770, Private White was the lone soldier on guard outside a customs house on King Street. Angry colonists threatened him. He fought back with his bayonet. The colonists responded with snowballs, ice, and stones. In desperation, White called for reinforcements. Capt. Preston arrived with more soldiers. The situation escalated as the colonists struck the soldiers with clubs. Someone may have shouted, "Fire!" A soldier fired his musket. Others fired, killing ...

Author Interview Kelly Blanchard Author of The Chronicles of Lorrek   Please tell me a little about your current work in progress. My current work in progress is a series that my husband and I are co-writing. It takes place about a year after the events of the last book of the Chronicles of Lorrek. I am currently in the process of relaunching the Chronicles of Lorrek series though. It's going to be a lot of fun! Where did you get the idea for this book or series? I wish I knew! I don't know what exactly gave me the idea for the universe of Lorrek, but I do know where I got the inspiration for Lorrek. It was based off Loki from the Thor movies. I loved Tom Hiddleston's Loki, and I asked myself, “What if he's actually a good guy but just really, terribly misunderstood?” That took on a life of its own and created my main character. Of course, I don't have any norse mythology in my books, but the idea is still there. Do you write in mor...