New nonfiction book about Regulator Movement in NC

This weekend I finished reading and taking copious notes from an excellent new nonfiction book, The Regulator Movement in North Carolina: Prelude to the Revolution, by Marcia D. Phillips.

Today is National Tell a Story Day, and this nonfiction book tells quite a story!

*The Regulator Movement in North Carolina: Prelude to the Revolution*,
by Marcia D. Phillips

If you want to know some of the little-known background leading up to the American Revolution, I highly recommend this book. As a native North Carolinian, I learned about the Regulators in North Carolina History classes; however, to read the details of it as an adult is to better grasp the terror that many residents of my state were living under in the late 1760s and early 1770s.

The author did an amazing job, like no one else I’ve read, of giving hundreds of years of history leading up to the Regulator Movement in North Carolina. She wrote about how the feudal system in Europe and even the Magna Carta laid the groundwork for what happened here in the mid-1700s!

I had never connected some of the dots that Ms. Phillips connected, but it all fits together now in my mind.

The book also does a great job of explaining the differences between the Regulator Movement in North Carolina and the Regulator Movement in South Carolina. That’s something important for me to keep in mind as I write my historical novels in progress.

Quoting from The Regulator Movement in North Carolina: Prelude to the Revolution, by Marcia D. Phillips,

“In a nutshell, the North Carolina Regulators were not attempting to overthrow the colonial government, just convince it to be the same one they had for years and true to British common law. Their actions were not intended to disrupt the law but to ensure the government’s actions were regulated, to promote uniformity and fairness. The issues of the day – excessive taxation and fees with limited recourse in the assembly, lack of justice in court rulings, and forced taxation for the Anglican Church, which none of the Regulators attended – were the sticking points but also indicative of underlying principles being violated. These discontented farmers were even willing to self-regulate if the colonial government would allow it.”

The Regulators signed petitions in an effort to get Governor Tryon to address their grievances. His appointed officials in the North Carolina Piedmont – particularly in the northern Piedmont part of the province owned by Lord Granville – were being robbed blind by those government officials who were pocketing the money they collected.

They were sick and tired of paying tax to support the Anglican Church. They were Presbyterians and Baptists, and they wanted the right to pay their own clergy. Their clergy were not allowed to officiate over marriages or funerals. For people who had left Europe for religious freedom, this was unacceptable.

The Regulator Movement in North Carolina came to a head in Alamance County on May 16, 1771, when Governor Tryon ordered eight cannons to fire upon a group of Regulators who had asked to be heard. Under the Johnston Riot Act, Tryon gave them until noon to disperse; however, instead of arresting them at noon when they did not disperse, he turned eight cannons on them. It is called the Battle of Alamance, but it was really an ambush.

As the book gives in detail, that was not the end of Tryon’s reign of terror. He had a number of Regulators hanged and had many of their farms burned to the ground.

The book includes an extensive bibliography for readers wanting to do additional research. Thank you, Ms. Phillips, for giving us such a concise and well-researched account of the Regulator Movement in North Carolina.

Perhaps it is partly because of our current political environment that, but while reading this book, it struck me how similar Governor William Tryon of North Carolina was to Donald Trump. I’m not just referring to the fact that he built an extravagant palace for himself while in office.

Some leaders build palaces. Others build ballrooms and triumphal arches.

But it is the pattern of retribution demonstrated by Tryon and by Trump that hit me as an undeniable and frightening similarity between the two men.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

It’s been one of those weeks for nature in the U.S

When I read or hear about something that’s not making “the news,” I jot down notes, in case I want to use that information in a blog post. I haven’t blogged since last Friday, so it felt like I needed to put in an appearance today.

This post is going to be a bit disjointed, but isn’t that indicative of our lives now? Nothing makes sense, and sometimes it is impossible to connect the dots. This week, it has been easy to connect the dots.

There have been several events in the last week or so that trouble me. More than that, though, it troubles me that none of these events got the attention they deserved by the national media.

Is that because the Trump Administration has a fire hose of abuses and flip-flopping aimed at us 24/7? Perhaps. I thought it was the Democrats who were always accused of “flip-flopping,” but I think Trump could be the poster boy for it since he started the war in Iran.

One thing Trump does not flip-flop on is the destruction of the environment. It is the one issue he is consistent on.

Here’s my list of concerns this week:

U.S. Forest Service

The U.S. Forest Service is pretty much being dismantled. The agency oversees 193 million acres of national forests, protects ecosystems, manages wildfire (and that “season” just started), and conducts research. All ten regional offices and more than 50 research labs are set to close. The national headquarters being moved from Washington, DC to Utah.

Boundary Waters Wilderness

Fifty Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted in favor of letting a Chilean company set up copper and nickel mining in the watershed of northern Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Wilderness. The vote was 50-49. Again, all “aye” votes were by Republicans. Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Senator Susan Collins of Maine were the two Republicans who voted against it. At least Tillis got it right, but Ted Budd of North Carolina got it wrong. The Boundary Waters Wilderness is the most visited wilderness in America. The waters that flow through it are a watershed for thousands of people.

The name of the company is Twin Metals Minnesota. Sounds like an American company, doesn’t it? It is a subsidiary of Antofagata, a Chilean mining company fined almost $775,000 in January for dumping 13,000 liters of copper concentrate into the Choapa River in Chile.

So why do 50 Republican U.S. Senators think that would be a great thing to have in Minnesota? I can’t help but think this is retribution for the way Minnesotans have stood up to Trump and his ICE agents.

If your Senators votes against the bill, write and thank them.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah might be on the chopping block soon. The Trump Administration has its eyes on it for more oil drilling and mining. Write your U.S. Senators even though it seems the vast majority of Republicans have a vendetta against the environment and wildlife it supports. Who knows? It might make a difference.

Uranium Mining in Carson National Forest

U.S. Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico is leading opposition to the Mesa Arc Project, proposed by Gamma Resources, Ltd., a Canadian company. The project aims to explore for uranium in the Chama Basin in Carson National Forest.

The Chama Basin is a watershed. (The Trump Administration seems to have a vendetta against watersheds. I’m beginning to connect the dots!)

I have never had the opportunity to visit Carson National Forest, but it is described as a pristine area with clean air and water, beautiful land, and magnificent wildlife, just 20 miles north of Ghost Ranch – Georgia O’Keefe’s Museum and former home.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

President Trump announced that oil companies can lease land inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling on June 5. It is the largest wildlife refuge in the United States. It is the calving ground for the Porcupine Caribou herd.

Canada and the United States have an agreement to manage and protect the herd. The indigenous peoples in Alaska and Yukon and Northwest Territories depend on the herd and are allowed to hunt them as they have for thousands of years.

Specifically, the Gwich’in peoples depend on the herd for their existence. The Arctic Village Council, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Friends of the Earth are suing to try to stop the oil drilling leases from being approved.

The following item has nothing to do with nature, but it demands attention.

The North Carolina Board of Elections

The North Carolina General Assembly recently took away the Governor’s right and responsibility to appoint people to the NC Board of Elections, so now there are three Republicans and two Democrats on it. The only surprise is that there aren’t five Republicans. Yes, Gov. Josh Stein just happens to be a Democrat, in case you were wondering what prompted this change in state elections governance.

Last week (or was that this week?) The NC Board of Elections voted along party lines to adopt voter purge rules that might disenfranchise thousands of legal citizens.

It is another case of the Republicans inventing a remedy for a problem that does not exist. They are so used to crying “voter fraud,” they just can’t help themselves. They cannot be bothered by facts.

Some 15,000 North Carolinians voiced opposition to this move, but the Republicans pushed it through. This takes effect in May, less than six months before this year’s important mid-term election. What a coincidence!

In conclusion

Here we are. One day Trump wants a cease fire in Iran. The next day (or the next hour) he doesn’t want a cease fire. One minute he wants the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping traffic. The next minute he doesn’t. One minute he says the U.S. will blockade the Strait. The next minute he says he won’t. One day he is going to bomb Iran out of existence at a stated time, but five minutes before that time he changes his mind. TACO.

Can you imagine what would be said if we had a female U.S. President who changed her mind every five minutes?

That is no way to conduct a war. It is certainly no way to negotiate a peace agreement, but that’s what you get when you have self-proclaimed businessmen conducting the negotiations instead of U.S. State Department professionals. I guess this kind of chaos works in the business world. It is not the way to conduct international governmental relations.

I honestly hope I never again hear anyone say, “We need a businessman in the White House.”

Did you see the photo of Trump honoring the national champion women’s tennis team from the University of Georgia? I hope the women enjoyed their trip to the White House, but the official White House photograph of Trump with the team is worth a thousand words. If you want to know how Trump really feels about women, take a look at the picture. Trump is standing front and center in front of the nine women athletes who are in three rows. Flanking Trump are five more white men. If you squint, you can see that there are nine female tennis players in the background. One of them is literally leaning over to peek out between Trump and one of the other men.

The icing on the cake this week is the video clip I saw of Trump reading a Bible verse as part of a Republican Bible Reading Marathon. You can’t make this stuff up, although the first two times I heard about it, I thought it was surely a joke.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Newspaper Columnists Day – and My Experiences

When I say it was a great privilege for me to get to write 175 local history articles for a free local weekly newspaper in Harrisburg, North Carolina for almost seven years, it is an understatement.

I was paid $25 per article, which in no way compensated me for my time and any skill I had to write the pieces. My true payment came in the form of new friendships I formed, old friendships that were renewed, the incredible amount of history I learned, and the confidence the experience gave me to think that perhaps I did have some potential as a writer.

*Harrisburg Horizons* (NC) newspaper banner

As a white woman in my 50s, I did not fully understand that it was partly my white privilege that opened many doors for me – and had opened doors for me my entire life. I was genuinely curious about the lives of the elderly black people who had lived their entire lives in the township in which I lived, but I will never be able to fully grasp what I was doing when I asked several of them individually to allow me into their homes to ask them some personal questions.

They had been born into a segregated society in the early years of the 20^th century. I had been born into a segregated society in the early 1950s, but I was white. I could not identify with the challenges they had faced all their lives.

They opened up to me and told me things they maybe had never even told their children. I heard stories of discrimination that were mandated by law. What I did not hear from a single one of them was bitterness. That was the most impressive lesson I learned from my experience as a low-level newspaper columnist.

Getting to sit for hours with a veteran of World War II who was eager to share his memories was another experience I was honored to have while writing for Harrisburg Horizons newspaper. I got to hear first-hand the vivid memories he had while training for the D-Day invasion of France. It was from him I heard about the sights, sounds, and smells of D-Day. I heard about the relentless trudging along through non-stop war through the bloody beaches, the towns, the villages, the forests, and the farmlands of Europe.

Photo from National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. Photograph from Library of Congress website

A stark contrast between that war and the wars in the late 20^th century and early 21^st century is that the World War II soldiers were there for the duration of the war. There was no deployment with a pre-announced ending date. The only way they could communicate with their loved ones was through slow-moving letters.

I approached another local World War II veteran who was on the USS Missouri and witnessed Japan’s surrender to General MacArthur, but he was disinclined to speak of the war. I respected his wishes and never spoke to him about it again. Many combat veterans do not want to talk about their experiences and we should always respect their wishes.

Many of the men and women I interviewed were parents of schoolmates of mine. I had known them to various degrees. I’d never met the mother of one of my black classmates until I went to interview her. She shared memories of attending a Rosenwald School.

Classroom in restored Siloam Rosenwald School in Charlotte, NC, 2024

The veteran of D-Day was my family’s mail carrier for decades, so I also got to interview him about his days as the only mail carrier for decades in the wider community. I only knew him as my mailman and Gail’s dad, so it was a revelation to learn that he had participated in the D-Day invasion, the Battle of the Bulge, Bastogne, the Huertgen Forest, … seeing General Dwight D. Eisenhower in person, etc.

After I wrote about a fighter pilot from Harrisburg being killed when his plane was shot down over Buigny, France during World War II, I heard from a resident of Buigny. He sent me photographs of the village and the field where Carl Higgins’ plane crashed on March 5, 1944. The D-Day veteran I interviewed said, “Carl is my hero.”

The B-26 Marauder flown by Carl Higgins, Jr. of Harrisburg, NC.

Later in his business life, the father of another of my classmates met Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the Chairman of the National Government of the Republic of China. When he identified himself as being from Harrisburg, North Carolina, Madame Chiang immediately lit up and told that she remembered stopping at the depot in Harrisburg when she rode the train from Boston to Macon, Georgia to visit her sister!

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Photo from Library of Congress website.

The father of another classmate regaled me with his memories of growing up very poor, his family moving from one farm to another as sharecroppers, his marriage to his childhood sweetheart in 1936, purchasing his first car – and being berated about that purchase by the farmer he was a sharecropper for, how he had to quit school when his older brother literally jumped a train in Harrisburg during the Great Depression and made his way to Washington, DC… and much more.

In addition to interviewing individuals, I spent hours at the public library reading old newspapers and some hand-written records on microfilm. Oh, the headaches and eye strain!

One of the unexpected gifts of writing the local history column was the vast amount of history – local and national – that I learned. I had proposed to the editor of the new (week old!) newspaper that I had an idea for a column: local history. I did so because I knew a lot of local history and I enjoyed writing.

I quickly learned that there was a massive amount of local history that I did not know. While pouring over microfilmed newspapers from the 1800s and early 1900s, I often happened upon a tidbit about an event, an organization, a government policy, a person about which I was unaware.

Examples of the things I learned by chance from those old newspapers and other resources are the meteorite that fell here in 1849, a man whose occupation in the 1880 U.S. census of Cabarrus County was listed as “witch doctor,” the evolution of information gathered over the years via the U.S. Census, a head-on collision of two trains in Harrisburg in 1897, the oldest woman in North Carolina died here in 1930 at the age of 112, and the Sauline Players whose performances I enjoyed in elementary school was a theatre troupe based here in North Carolina.

I got to correspond with a Hollywood actress, Joan McCrea, whose career started with the Sauline Players. After contacting her former agent, who contacted her current agent, Ms. McCrea called me! She gave me invaluable background and behind-the-scenes details about the Sauline Players. The two newspaper articles I wrote about the Sauline Players have garnered more response from readers here and online than any of the other columns I wrote.

Actress Joan McCrea, who got her start with the Sauline Players in North Carolina

I have just scratched the surface of my 175 newspaper articles in today’s post. When I say, “All history is local, but no history is just local,” I base that on my experience as a newspaper columnist. It was an almost seven-year writing gig that opened my eyes to delve deeper into the things I knew and to explore the new things I learned.

I count my stint as a small-time, small-town newspaper columnist as one of the highlights of my life.

If you would like to read more about the topics I’ve mentioned today and all the topics I did not mention, please look for my two books – Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 and Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2 – on Amazon in paperback and e-book. If you live in the Charlotte area, you can find all my books in paperback at Second Look Books in Harrisburg.

Book 1 contains the first 91 newspaper columns I wrote. Book 2 contains not only the other 84 columns but also my research notes from the numerous topics I did not get to write about when Harrisburg Horizons newspaper ceased operation in 2012.

Happy reading!

Janet

All history is local, but no history is just local.

How can I keep silent?

I have not blogged this week. I had planned to post on Monday and again on Tuesday, but the topics I had planned seemed frivolous in light of world events.

Here in the United States, we find ourselves in a war no one wanted. We find ourselves with a President and Vice President who have no internal restraint when it comes to saying stupid things.

My last blog post (When the U.S. President has no moral compass on April 8) was written several days before Donald Trump decided to publish an AI-generated image of himself pretending to be Jesus Christ. That was a few days before he criticized Pope Leo for being “weak crime.”

If one needed proof that the totality of what Trump knows about Christianity would fit on the head of a pin with enough room left over for his 90,000-square-foot ballroom, that image should suffice.

That was a few days before he criticized Pope Leo for being “weak crime.”

He is attacks Pope Leo as if the Pope is running for political office against him. He insults Pope Leo as if the Pope is the President, Prime Minister, or Dictator of a country he wants to take over. (Trump, please don’t start calling The Vatican the 51^st state! You already have too many countries on that list. You don’t need to start going after city-states.)

That wasn’t enough, though. Vice President J.D. Vance said that Pope Leo needed to be careful what he says about theology and should try to speak the truth… like he (J.D. Vance) does. As if J.D. Vance is a theological authority!

Vance works for a man who sells Bibles that include the U.S. Declaration of Independence, who autographs copies of that Bible, who holds the Bible upside down for photo ops in front of churches he knows nothing about, who tried to quote Second Corinthians but called it “Two Corinthians” and then said lots of people call it that.

In less than a week, the U.S. President and U.S. Vice President have scolded Pope Leo for during exactly what he is called on to do in his role as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

Trump is not a member of any denomination and Vance claims to have converted to Roman Catholicism five years ago.

Trump eventually took down his image pretending to be Jesus. He explained it away with a lie. He claimed he wasn’t portraying Jesus, he was portraying a doctor. If his doctor dresses like that, I think we now have a good idea of why Trump keeps “acing” cognitive tests.

If I opened my eyes and my doctor was dressed like that, I would think I had died and gone to heaven. If he had Trump’s face, I would know I was not in heaven.

Yesterday, Trump poured salt in the wound his Jesus image had among caused among real Christians (and some atheists!) last week by posting a new AI-generated image of Jesus embracing Trump around the shoulders. Trump doesn’t know when or how to stop. His advisors are just as misguided as he is.

That’s all just in less than a week. If you go back eleven days, you have Trump posting “Praise be to Allah” on social media on Easter Sunday. Can you imagine if President Obama had ever done that?

The White House Press Secretary told us yesterday that Trump’s sense of humor is the most underreported thing about him. He thought it was funny to mock a disabled journalist. He thinks it is funny to call people names and mispronounce people’s names. You know… the types of things that are funny to 12-year-old boys. It’s not a sense of humor I want to see in a U.S. President or any 79-year-old man.

Trump told a reporter yesterday, “I hate to be controversial.”

My question: “Since when?”

I wish I could visit the future for just one day so I could read what historians will write about “the golden age of Trump.” No doubt, it will be looked back on as one of the lowest points in the history of the United States. Right down there with the American Civil War, slavery, and the almost 100 years of Jim Crow laws.

Of course, my train of thought is in direct opposition to the Republican who represents me in the U.S. House of Representatives. His newsletter on Saturday stated, “There is no better time to be an American.” I’m not feeling it.

No doubt, future human beings will puzzle over how the American people elected such an incompetent narcissist not once, but twice. They will, no doubt, be baffled that such an incompetent little man could hoodwink half the voters into thinking he was a better candidate than either of the two highly-qualified women he defeated.

I am sure future human beings will wonder how this could have happened, because for the first 65+ years of my life I wondered how Hitler tricked the Germans.

I no longer wonder. I have now witnessed such a massive brainwashing in real time.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

When the U.S. President has no moral compass

I write this on the evening of April 7, 2026, as the President of the United States becomes more unhinged by the minute. He clearly places no value on human life.

Once again, at the proverbial eleventh hour, he snatched us back from the brink of a “civilization ending” attack on Iran.

Was that his plan all along?

Did he have a plan?

We’ll never know the truth of the matter.

When the President of the United States of America delights in jerking the world around like it’s his plaything….

When the President of the United States of America makes rash promises and outrageous threats on a daily basis….

When the President of the United States of America is undeterred, the entire world is at risk.

When the President of the United States is undeterred when told that something he wants to do is a war crime….

When the President of the United States is undeterred when told that something he wants to do is against international law….

When the President of the United States says he is not concerned about international law….

When the President of the United States surrounds himself with advisors who either agree with him or lack the moral courage, a love of our democracy, or the rule of law enough to advise against his unhinged wishes….

When the President of the United States promises to destroy the oldest civilization on Earth….

When the President of the United States, in his ignorance, uses profane language to threaten another country, he is playing right into their hands….

When the President of the United States is so ignorant of history and religion that he thinks by using vulgar threats against the regime in power in another country he will stop them from chanting, “Death to America”….

When the President of the United States bizarrely says, “Praise be to Allah” on social media on Easter Sunday….

When the President of the United States is nothing but a spoiled brat bully….

When the President of the United States changes his mind on a whim….

When the President of the United States has no moral compass….

This is where we are tonight: A two-week cease fire.

Perhaps two weeks in which we can take a deep breath and brace ourselves for whatever is to follow.

The two sides in this war are not in agreement on numerous points. They aren’t likely to be in agreement two weeks from now.

Both sides have already declared victory, which would be laughable if the future of the world did not hang in the balance.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

An 1897 Train Wreck in North Carolina

As part of my weekly or semi-weekly series of blog posts to highlight topics I wrote about in my two local history books, Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1 and Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 2, today I will tell you a little about an April 11, 1897 train wreck in Harrisburg, North Carolina.

Although I grew up in Harrisburg in the 1950s and 1960s, I had never heard a word about that head-on collision between the north-bound Southern Railway “fast mail” train No. 36 and the south-bound passenger train No. 11 until I happened upon it while reading old newspapers on microfilm at the public library while doing other research for my local history newspaper column.

An example of a steam locomotive. Photo by Steve & Barb Sande on Unsplash.

The collision happened on an otherwise quiet Sunday morning in the tiny village that had developed along the North Carolina Railroad after a train depot was established in 1854. Newspaper accounts indicate that some area residents saw what was about to happen but were helpless to do anything.

The crash was heard for miles as the engine of No. 11 ran over the engine of No. 36. The boiler of No. 36 rested on the floor of No. 11, postal car when it was over. An express car of No. 36 left the rails and landed 150 feet from the track. A car hauling fresh produce was torn to pieces. Some train parts were thrown 75 yards.

Miraculously, none of the 96 passengers on No. 36 were injured, and many of them immediately exited the train to lend aid to the injured railroad employees.

Less than three minutes after the crash, No. 11’s postal car burst into flames. Somehow, one of the postal clerks, John Hill Carter, risked his life and extinguished the flames, thereby preventing both trains from catching fire.

The accounts of the agony suffered by the employees who were killed or injured are given in great, gory detail in the newspapers of the day, which was typical of reporting in that era.

Some employees were pinned under the wreckage, while others were badly burned by the steam from the boilers. Passengers formed a bucket brigade to throw cold water on one of the trapped men to help relieve his suffering from the steam.

The Richmond, Virginia, conductor of No. 11 was cut on the face. A porter on No. 11 was pinned in from the knees down.

Those killed in the wreck were from Monroe, Charlotte, Concord, and Thomasville, North Carolina, and Lynchburg, Virginia.

One of the passengers on No. 36 was Charles Bitterman, of New Orleans, Louisiana. He belonged to “The Riverside Wheelman” cyclist club and was on his way to a bicycle race in New York. Cycling clubs were all the rage in America and Europe in the 1890s.

If you want to learn more about the 1897 train wreck, my two local history newspaper columns about it from 2007, are found in Harrisburg, Did You Know? Cabarrus History, Book 1. It is available in paperback and e-book from Amazon and in paperback at Second Look Books in Harrisburg.

Janet

All history is local, but no history is just local.

#OnThisDay: US entered WWI, 1917, plus a Hurricane Helene Recovery Update

It was on April 6, 1917, that the United States entered World War I. As with World War II, the United States was slow to enter the fray. The war had begun in the summer of 1914. By the time the war ended in 1919, 28 nations on five continents were involved. The United States tried to remain neutral.

In my blog post today, I offer a condensed and simplified explanation of the timing and reasons why the United States eventually got involved in World War I.

When the war broke out in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson asked Americans to be “impartial in thought as well as action.” That was not easy for the 32 million Americans who were born in Europe or were first-generation children of immigrants.

Neutrality gave the United States an economic advantage as it could continue to trade with countries on both sides of the war. But as time progressed, a naval blockade of the North Atlantic by Great Britain and Germany’s retaliation with submarines made trade increasingly difficult.

The *Lusitania*. Photo from Library of Congress website

On May 7, 1915, Germany torpedoed the British Cunard ocean liner Lusitania, and 128 American passengers were killed. Germany promised to stop putting Americans in harm’s way on the seas to try to gain America’s favor. The Sussex Pledge, made in May 1916 after Germany torpedoed the French ship Sussex on March 24, 1916, injuring several Americans, held for a while.

President Wilson tried to broker peace negotiations in 1915 and 1916, to no avail, as he proposed “peace without victory.” On January 31, 1917, Germany announced it was renewing total submarine warfare against merchant shipping around Great Britain and in the Mediterranean Sea. Germany thought this would bring the defeat of Great Britain and its Allies before the United States could respond.

Wilson, however, used a 1797 statute that allowed the U.S. President to arm the merchant fleet.

The last straw for the United States was when British intelligence intercepted a message, which became known as the Zimmerman note, in which German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman proposed that Mexico should join Germany if the United States joined the war on the side of the Allies.

The deal Germany offered Mexico was that it would help Mexico regain what had become New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona in the United States! The Zimmerman Note also suggested that Japan should join Germany and the Central Powers in the war.

President Wilson called on Congress to convene in a special session on April 2, 1917. The House of Representatives approved a resolution to enter the war on April 4, and the Senate followed suit on April 6, thus entering the United States into World War I on the side of Great Britain and the Allies.

Let this be a history lesson for leaders within the government of the United States of America for how, step-by-step, world wars begin.

Hurricane Helene Recovery Update

It has been a month or so since I gave an update on Hurricane Helene recovery in North Carolina. Yes, even though that hurricane blasted through the mountains in western North Carolina more than 18 months ago, recovery continues.

NC Landslide Mapping: WCNC TV Channel 36 in Charlotte did a news segment on March 9, 2026 about NC Landslide Mapping. This is an early warning system for landslide alerts. In 2011, due to state budget restraints, the program was stopped. Although restarted in 2018, some counties in the mountainous western part of NC are not mapped.

The remaining counties need to be mapped and the counties already done need to be updated since the numerous landslides due to Hurricane Helene. Geologists map prior landslides because prior landslides predict future landslides – not when they will happen, but that they will happen. People can look at the data to help them make more informed decisions before purchasing land. NC will have a Landslide Awareness Week this summer.

Lake Lure, NC: During Hurricane Helene, Lake Lure (the lake itself, from which the Town of Lake Lure takes its name) was filled with storm debris. The recovery process has been overwhelming and tedious, but 18 months after the historic flooding caused by Helene, the lake is on the verge of reopening. Quoting from The Town of Lake Lure Facebook page from March 25, 2026: “The Town of Lake Lure, NC is pleased to report that the lake level has reached approximately 986.2 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL)—just 4.3 feet below full pond (990.5 MSL). These photos highlight the steady progression of refilling the lake, captured from the east edge of Morse Park facing the main channel.

Lake Lure, as seen from the top of Chimney Rock in North Carolina

“Crews from the North Carolina State Mission Assigned Recovery Task (SMART) Program continue working around the lake, removing remaining debris and helping restore the shoreline. To date, they have cleared more than 800 cubic yards of debris, and their efforts are ongoing.

“Additionally, work is taking place at the Washburn Marina – rebuilding the floating boardwalk and marina docks, constructing the marina tour boat docks, and fueling station, and building a new marina building to serve the public.

“These final steps mark meaningful progress as we move closer to reopening Lake Lure.”

US-64: On March 31, it was reported that one lane of US-64 is now open between Chimney Rock and Bat Cave, NC. It is hoped that the new highway, much of which had to literally be rebuilt along a new route after Hurricane Helene’s record-setting rainfall moved the Rocky Broad River, will be open by Memorial Day.

Restoration of The Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina continues, with completion scheduled for late in 2026. Heavy construction equipment will be traveling on open sections of the Parkway between US-70 at Asheville (Milepost 382.5) and Mount Mitchell State Park (NC-128 at Milepost 355.3) to access landslide repair locations beginning today, April 6, 2026. Motorists should expect delays behind slow-moving heavy construction vehicles.

Visitors to hiking trails along the Parkway are advised to continue to use caution as all restoration work has not been completed.

Rebuilding of Interstate 40: It goes without saying that the rebuilding of I-40 in North Carolina in the Pigeon River Gorge just east of the Tennessee line is an ongoing project of massive proportions. Portions of the highway collapsed, and some sections completely disappeared during Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Since March 1, 2025, there is just one lane open in each direction with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. The latest estimates I’ve heard indicate completion of the project in late 2028.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Is The United States of America a Christian Nation? – Part 2

My blog post from yesterday grew to be too long, so I divided it into two parts. Before reading today’s post, it would be useful for you to read yesterday’s to put today’s post into context: Is The United States of America a Christian Nation? – Part 1.

As I stated yesterday, Christian Nationalists love to say that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, but you will not find the words “Christian” or “Jesus” in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the United States from making any “law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Americans, under our Constitution, are free to practice any religion they choose. They are free to practice no religion whatsoever. That is one of the bedrocks and beauties of the United States of America.

That is why I find the likes of U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth so dangerous. As I noted in yesterday’s blog post, he sees our current war in Iran as a holy war. But the United States of America does not fight holy wars. The day we start down that road will be the beginning of our demise.

One only needs to look at the history of Europe to see how differing interpretations of Christianity in government can create great conflict. When one monarchy favors Roman Catholicism to the detriment of Protestantism… or a monarchy favors Protestantism to the detriment of Roman Catholicism we see oppression and wars.

My Presbyterian ancestors experienced that struggle in Scotland and it, no doubt, influenced them to come to America in the mid-1700s. My ancestors on the Kintyre Peninsula of Scotland had to worship in secret in the 1600s in gatherings called conventicle because the monarchy favored Roman Catholicism at the time.

(One of the historical short stories in my book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories is about the Covenanters in Scotland and how they were punished for not espousing the Roman Catholic traditions.)

In Colonial America, religious freedom and religious overreach were issues. As noted in my Author’s Notes after “You Couldn’t Help But Like Bob” story in my short story book, fines ordered by the courts in Colonial Virginia were often to be paid to the Church of England or the Anglican Church.

There was no separation of church and state in Colonial America. In Colonial North Carolina, the Episcopal church held sway over the government. It was illegal in North Carolina for a Presbyterian minister to officiate over a marriage. Marriages conducted by Presbyterian ministers were not recognized by the Royal Government. My Presbyterian colonial North Carolina ancestors were on the wrong side of the law.

It is almost impossible for 21^st century Americans to comprehend how life was in colonial times. That is why it makes it so easy for Christians in 21^st century America to call for the Ten Commandments to be posted on public school classroom walls and courtroom walls. They do not grasp the danger – the slippery slope – such actions can lead to.

In their hearts and minds, they think they are doing a good thing. They think they are following Jesus’ instructions found in Matthew 28:18-20: “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

But Jesus did not say we are to make our governments Christian. Christianity is a personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior. It is not a belief to be imposed upon another human being. It is not a belief system to be used as a cudgel by a government. To see it that way is blasphemous and indicates a basic misunderstanding of Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 22:15-21 (as found in the New International Version of the Bible), the Pharisees try to trap Jesus by questioning him about paying taxes:

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

In Mark 12:13-17, that same encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees is recorded as follows in the New International Version of the Bible:

Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

Getting back to Matthew 28:18-20, yes, Jesus instructed us to spread the Gospel, but the Christians who want to force the Gospel on people by weaponizing the government with the Bible are taking the easy way out. They are taking a dangerous way out. The Bible and its words should never be used as a weapon.

Not once in the New Testament did Jesus force or instruct His followers to force His brand of religion on the government or on the people via the government.

A meme with the words of the First Amendment with the American flag in the background — The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Christians have countless ways to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. Forcing the Gospel on people through our government is not one of them.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Is The United States of America a Christian Nation? – Part 1

Christian Nationalists love to say that the United States was founded as a Christian nation. That is simply not true.

Read the Declaration of Independence. Read the U.S. Constitution.

You will not find the word, “Christian.” You will not find the name “Jesus.”

The documents acknowledge a creator, but they do not in any way call for a national religion. In fact, read the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It makes it illegal for the United States to make any laws respecting the establishment of religion. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

That is the First Amendment. Our country’s founders were so adamant about that issue, they made it the First Amendment.

Americans, under our Constitution, are free to practice any religion they choose. They are free to practice no religion whatsoever.

In my March 27, 2026 blog post, Meanwhile, Trump continues to lower the bar, I made the statement, “The United States of America is not a theocracy… yet.”

Americans have the First Amendment, but there are forces working in the background and in the not so “back” background who are determined to make the United States a Christian nation. Stay tuned. Even when President Trump is no more, the Christian Nationalists who prop him up will still be among us.

One example of how Christian Nationalists are not-so-silently imposing their extreme beliefs through their positions in government is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. He holds a monthly Christian service at the Pentagon. Attendance is technically not mandatory, but we all know how such an event at one’s place of employment can be in actuality.

We have an all-volunteer military since the draft was ended on January 27, 1973. Our military personnel come from various religious backgrounds. In other words, they are not all Christians, and besides, all Christians are not in agreement on details of the faith. The number of Christian denominations proves that.

At the Pentagon service on March 25, 2026, Hegseth prayed for “righteous targets for violence” and “overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy.”

Photo of praying hands — Photo by Deb Dowd on Unsplash

“Righteous targets for violence” and “overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy.” Let those words sink in. As a member of a congregation affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, I find that prayer offensive.

As I interpret it, a “righteous target” for our Department of Defense would be a target acceptable to God. The insinuation of Hegseth’s prayer is that God is on our side. Even if Hegseth believes that in his heart, it runs counter to United States tradition and principles. We do not see our wars as “holy wars,” but that is the impression Hegseth’s prayer gives.

(In contrast, it is my understanding that Iran sees its war against Israel and the United States as a holy war. In Iran today, there is no separation of church and state.)

It is not in the tradition or history of the U.S. for the Secretary of Defense to use words like “righteous target” or pray for “overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy.” If that is the mindset of our Secretary of Defense, he has a frightening interpretation of the foundation of our nation and the religious position of the U.S. military. The U.S. military has never had a religious position or religious mission.

“Overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy” goes along with Hegseth’s earlier statement that we will “give no quarter.” “Give no quarter” translates to “take no prisoners alive.” In addition to being against international law, that is not the way the United States operates. If it is, that is not what we’ve been told.

Does Hegseth want the Iranians to “give no quarter” if they capture members of our military? I doubt it. But what message does it send for our Secretary of Defense to make such statements?

The Washington Post reported, “Later that day, his department announced military chaplains would no longer wear their rank on their uniform and instead would wear religious insignia.”

On Sunday, March 29, The Washington Post reported, “Retired Army Maj. Gen. Randy Manner, who was second-in-command of the National Guard from 2011 to 2012, has worked in recent years to train hundreds of interfaith military chaplains. Manner said he has talked with ‘dozens and dozens’ of active-duty chaplains in recent weeks who say those who don’t identify with Hegseth ‘are being marginalized.’ They feel they can’t voice their concerns to their own superiors, he said, and feel their work as the primary advocate for troops’ spiritual, mental and moral health is being threatened.”

It has been reported that Hegseth has cut the number of faith codes within the military from 200 to 31 to remove “political correctness and secular humanism” from the Chaplain Corps.

Hegseth has brought his pastor into presentations at the Pentagon. This is a narrow-minded man who says women should not have the right to vote. That tells me all I need to know about Hegseth’s very small Christian denomination and its views about more the half the world’s population.

The Washington Post reported that the traditional norms that kept religious beliefs and individual religious affiliations of the top brass at the Pentagon out of their official dealings, “are being upended by the proselytizing Christian campaign of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, say multiple former high-ranking military officials and experts on religion and law. Rather than boosting cohesion through a more universal spiritual uplift, they say, the new approach violates the Constitution and undermines the bonds of mutual respect between troops that are essential, especially in wartime.”

Religion and government are not a match made in heaven. Everyone in government – and that includes the military — brings their beliefs with them, but they are never to force their religious beliefs on another person, co-workers, or the entire nation through their position of power or influence.

It appears that Secretary Hegseth’s possible affinity for alcohol, which was a topic of concern emphasized during his Congressional confirmation hearings, is turning out to be the least of our concerns about him.

Watch for Part 2 of this blog topic tomorrow, when I will look into what Jesus had to say about the government.

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

Books I Read in March 2026 & National Literature Month

April is National Literature Month in the United States. Maybe I’ll get to read more books this month than I did in March of any of the recent previous months. Writing this blog almost every day along with other things pressing on my time and energy have left little time for reading for pleasure.

In the more than ten years that I’ve been blogging, I have traditionally blogged on the first Monday or around the first day of the month about the books I read the previous month. That has not been the case over the last year or so, but maybe I will get back into that rhythm this year… or eventually. I miss having time to read.

I read one very small book and part of another book in March. Perhaps what I have to say about them will giver you the incentive to read them.

The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, by Walter Isaacson, is a tiny book with great importance during our country’s 250^th birthday this year. Walter Isaacson has done extensive research and written many books about individuals who played instrumental roles in the formation of the United States. It was only natural for him to write a book about the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Isaacson takes that sentence and breaks it down by word and phrase to address their meanings and how those particular words made it into the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.

He states in the first chapter, that “We the people” “is as profound as it is simple. Our governance is based not on the divine right of kings or the power imposed by emperors and conquerors. It is based on a compact, a social contract, that we the people have entered into.”

That early sentence in the chapter titled, “We,” sets the tone for the 67-page book. “We the people” is also the opening phrase in the United States Constitution.

Being a wordsmith of sorts and a political science major in college, I especially enjoyed how Isaacson brought in details about Benjamin Franklin’s input and editing recommendations of Thomas Jefferson’s early drafts of the Declaration of Independence. Both men were learned and very specific in word choice.

Both men were well-read and students of philosophy. They drew on the theories they had read about humanity and governance.

For instance, Jefferson had written “sacred and undeniable” but Franklin insisted that “self-evident” was a more accurate description of our rights. Franklin had become a close acquaintance of Scottish philosopher David Hume. Hume’s theory, known as “Hume’s fork” maintained that there are two types of truths. One is dependent upon empirical evidence and observations (such as, New York is bigger than Philadelphia), while the other type of truth is just true. Such truths are not contingent upon physical evidence or observations. An example is “All bachelors are unmarried.”

Franklin held that our rights are self-evident. They are not based on information that must be gathered and analyzed.

Another interesting tidbit was that Jefferson wrote that we are endowed by our Creator with certain “inalienable rights,” but when John Adams copied from Jefferson’s document, he changed “inalienable” to “unalienable” and that’s the way it was approved on July 4, 1776. No wonder I get confused sometimes over which word ended up in the document!

There is really no difference between “inalienable” and “unalienable.” Perhaps it was a case of personal preference… or an error in copying.

A book that I started reading for book club in March was Where the Rivers Merge, by Mary Alice Monroe. Time ran out, as it often does, and I did not finish reading it before the club met for discussion on March 22. I hope to read it in its entirety before the book club reads its sequel perhaps in 2027. The sequel has not been published, but book club members said it is being written.

Mary Alice Monroe knows the ACE (Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto) Basin area of coastal South Carolina very well. The story in Where the Rivers Merge is anchored in that location and it is a deep love and respect for that physical environment that is the heart of this book about a family whose members have varying degrees of appreciation for the place and differing ideas about its worth.

The ACE Basin is a large undeveloped estuary in Colleton, Charles, and Beaufort counties in South Carolina on the Atlantic coast. In addition to being an author, Ms. Monroe is very interested in conservation and the environment.

Happy reading during this National Literature Month!

Janet

The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.

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