I was tempted to illustrate today’s blog post with a picture of Donald Trump, but I can’t stand the thought of it.
With his self-described “weavings,” he could be the poster boy for National Speak in Complete Sentences Day.
It reminds me of the saying, “No life is wasted. You can always serve as a bad example.”
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
Every year on May 20 or sometime that week I blog about the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. It was signed on May 20, 1775 – a full year before the national declaration.
Unfortunately, the original copy was lost when John McKnitt Alexander’s house burned. The writers and signers got together after the fire and reconstructed the document from memory.
Since the original copy was lost, there are naysayers today. I don’t know what their motives are, but they insist on seeing the original in order to believe it existed. A newspaper account in the Raleigh Register on April 30, 1819 does not suffice as proof for them.
There has never been any love lost between Raleigh – the State Capital – and Charlotte (in Mecklenburg County), so I find it surprising that a Raleigh newspaper ever acknowledged the document. For a newspaper in Raleigh – of all places – to do so only indicates to me a level of certification.
May 20, 1775 was added to the North Carolina state flag in 1861, so there must have been a high degree of belief that the document was real. Again, with the historical seat of power in North Carolina being in the eastern part of the state, the legislators would not have been quick to given Mecklenburg County any credit on the state flag.
Here is the wording of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, as it was recreated after being lost in a fire, and as it is found in The Hornet’s Nest: The Story of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, by LeGette Blythe and Charles Raven Brockmann, published in 1961:
Ephraim Brevard
Hezekiah J. Balch
John Phifer
James Harris
William Kennon
John Foard
Richard Barry
Henry Downs
Ezra Alexander
Charles Alexander
Zaccheus Wilson
Waightstill Avery
Benjamin Patton
Matthew McClure
Neil Morrison
Robert Irwin
John Flennegin
David Reese
William Graham
John Queary
Hezekiah Alexander
Adam Alexander
John Davidson
Richard Harris
Thomas Polk
Abraham Alexander
John McKnitt Alexander
Captain James Jack rode horseback from Charlotte to Philadelphia to deliver a copy of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and a copy of the May 31, 1775 Mecklenburg Resolves to the Second Continental Congress. It is disputed that he made it to Philadelphia with the Declaration, but he did get there with the Mecklenburg Resolves.
Archibald and Maggie Sellers McCurdy lived in the part of Mecklenburg County that became Cabarrus County in 1792. Mr. McCurdy stood on the steps of the Mecklenburg County courthouse in Charlotte on May 20, 1775 and heard the declaration read.
He came home and told his wife, Maggie, that they needed to make a list – perhaps written, perhaps mental – of all the people in the community that they could trust. The community was dominated by patriots, but they needed to evaluate which of their neighbors and associates could be trusted in the coming inevitable war for independence.
I wrote a story about the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the McCurdy’s, “Whom Can We Trust?” and included it in my book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories.
My book is available in paperback and e-book on Amazon, and the paperback is available sometimes at Second Look Books in Harrisburg, NC.
Janet
All history is local, but no history is just local
Plessy v. Ferguson is one of those landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases we would like to forget. Put it behind us. Consider it ancient history from the 19th century.
Not so fast.
We have something to learn from Plessy v. Ferguson today, 130 years after the ruling.
Background
To refresh your memory from history or political science class, Homer Plessy was a man of mixed race. That meant, under the law in the United States, he was considered Black. Though reportedly seven-eighths white, he was not permitted to ride in a “whites-only” railroad car in New Orleans. The Louisiana State Legislature had passed a Separate Car Act in 1890. That law required separation train cars for white and Black passengers.
In 1891, a group of Black men in New Orleans formed “Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law.” Bolstered by a May 15, 1892 ruling by the Louisiana State Supreme Court in favor of the Pullman Company, the Committee decided to test the law in interstate travel. On June 7, 1892, Mr. Plessy purposely took a seat in a whites-only rail car on the East Louisiana Railroad to test the law.
What happened to Mr. Plessy
Mr. Plessy was arrested for boarding a “whites-only” train car. His defenders in court argued that the Separate Car Act of 1890 violated the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
When Mr. Plessy’s case went to District Court, the judge was John H. Ferguson. Judge Ferguson denied a request to dismiss the case and then ruled that the Louisiana Separate Car Act of 1890 was constitutional because the State had the authority to regular public accommodations.
The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision, and Mr. Plessy took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Surely, that august body would see that the Louisiana law was unjust, discriminatory, and unconstitutional.
After all, the 13th Amendment had abolished slavery in the United States in 1865, and Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1866, not only extended citizenship to former slaves but also state, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Mr. Plessy and his lawyers maintained that the Separate Car Act on 1890 was unconstitutional under the last phrase in Section 1 of the 14th Amendment.
The ruling
In a 7-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 18, 1896, that the State law in Louisiana was constitutional because it provided “separation but equal” accommodations for white and Black passengers.
That famous “separate but equal” wording is what took the United States down a terrible road of discrimination for the next 70 years.
It paved the way for “Jim Crow” laws. It made racial segregation in public education, in public conveyances, restaurants, lodging, etc. lawful.
The “separate but equal” doctrine stood until the Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court case in 1954 and the Civil Rights Acts in the 1960s. (The Brown v. Board of Education ruling, ironically, was handed done in a 9-0 decision on May 17, 1954, just one day shy of the anniversary of the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.)
We all know now that “separate but equal” was never equal; it was just separate. That doctrine became the umbrella and shield for untold acts of discrimination and violence until the late 1960s.
Who cast the dissenting vote?
Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan was the lone dissenter in the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling. Although he came from a slave-holding family in Kentucky, Justice Harlan often cast the dissenting vote in civil rights cases that went before the U.S. Supreme Court. He sat on the Court from 1877 until 1911.
Lessons to be learned from Plessy v. Ferguson in 2026
If I had penned this blog post a couple of years ago, it probably would have ended there. Just a nice little history lesson. Just the facts of the case and the final ruling.
But I’m writing this in mid-May 2026, and that 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case has taken on a whole new significance.
As in 1896, in 2026 we have a U.S. Supreme Court majority who tend to be constitutional textualists or literalists, meaning they usually view the Constitution and laws as the people at the time of a law’s enactment would have interpreted it and not necessarily taking into account the spirit of the law.
In my six years of studying political science in college, I was taught to study the time and letter of the law but to look for the spirit of the law.
I offer a current example of how some people now want to interpret the 14th Amendment as applying only to the people who had been slaves prior to and during the American Civil War. They argue that the 14th Amendment does not grant citizenship to everyone who just happens to be born in the United States. They don’t want the 14th Amendment to apply to the children of undocumented immigrants. Trust me. We have not heard the last of that argument.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially dismantled the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As a result, state legislators are falling all over each other to redraw Congressional District boundaries. They feel emboldened to eliminate majority Black or Democrat districts before this November’s mid-term elections.
This is history repeating itself. The hurried gerrymandering and shifting of Congression District lines in 2026 is in many ways a mirror image of the Jim Crow laws of the late 1800s.
Why is it that we don’t learn from history? Or perhaps a more accurate question is “Why do we only learn how to repeat the harmful things from our history?”
The Roberts court is taking us down a road of easier corruption in politics (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 2010), less accountability for the U.S. President (Trump v. United States, 2024), and an attempted erasure of all the progress our country made in racial relations and equality in the 60 years following the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Louisiana v. Callais, April 29, 2026).
The racial discrimination the U.S. Supreme Court is fomenting by its Louisiana v. Callais decision a couple of weeks ago is far-reaching and should send chills done the spine of every American.
The lesson for us to learn from the last 16 years of U.S. Supreme court decisions, un-checked Presidential powers, and a U.S. Congress that acts more like a lap dog than a co-equal branch of the federal government is that our rights and the “guarantees” we have in our laws and U.S. Constitution are no more secure than the paper they are written on.
Every week I learn that more protected federal lands set aside generations ago for wildlife and the preservation of the natural world are being trashed by our own elected officials. It’s being done quietly, of course, because they don’t want us to know. If they were proud of what they’re doing, they’d be making grand announcements.
I assumed the East Wing of the White House would be there forever. I assumed national parks and wildlife refuges were permanently protected.
The U.S. Constitution is a living and breathing document. It will always be up for discussion, debate, and amending. That’s the beauty of it, but it also makes it fragile and vulnerable to the whims of Presidents and others who wish to test it.
Democracy is more fragile than I realized.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
The free press is under attack in the United States. President Trump and his followers never miss an opportunity to criticize journalists. Trump delights in telling falsehoods about specific news organizations, and one of his favorite pastimes is to publicly say nasty things to female reporters.
If you take time to watch his press conferences, speeches, and interviews, you know what I’m talking about.
We have not in my 73 years had any other U.S. President who had a personal vendetta against the free press. His contempt for the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is frightening to those of us who treasure freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
To mark World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, I will give just two examples of what we were made aware of this week thanks to the free press.
Defense Department Drone Deal
Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the U.S. Department of Defense is going to purchase drones from a company owned by Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump.
You did not get that information from The White House or from the U.S. Department of Defense.
You got it from a free press.
1,000-Year-old UNESCO Site Damaged by Department of Homeland Security
The Washington Post reported that a bulldozer cut a 60-foot swath out of a 200-foot Native American archeological treasure on Friday, April 24, 2026.
Did The White House report it? Did the U.S. Department of Homeland Security report it?
No, the free press reported it.
The priceless site in in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) treasure that was partially destroyed was an etching in the desert sand known as an intaglio.
At least 1,000 years ago, ancestors of the Hia-ced O’odham Indigenous People scraped down to white soil under the desert sand to create a 200-foot long etching of a fish.
Thanks to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issuing waivers for the construction of Trump’s border wall, the Trump Administration does not have to abide by the federal laws protecting the environment or sacred Indigenous sites while building the wall.
Now, thanks to those waivers and a President’s administration devoid of respect for history, nature, or indigenous peoples, a 60-foot swath has been ripped through the etching as the construction of the Trump wall between the United States and Mexico continues at the rate of three miles per week.
The Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior. An anonymous employee of that department confirmed to The Washington Post that the damage had been done by the Department of Homeland Security.
The Tohono O’odham Nation was able to prevent the first Trump Administration from building the wall across its reservation. They were able to protect the intaglio and a sacred burial site then, but that protection has been ignored by the second Trump Administration.
Archaeologist Rick Martynec, who has studied the site over the last 20 years, reported that the Refuge had been in discussions with the Department of Homeland Security to make sure the intaglio was not damaged. When he visited the site a couple of weeks ago, he saw stakes in place that marked the boundaries of the etching.
Various people and groups were actively working to make sure the Department of Homeland Security did not destroy the site, but it was all to no avail.
And we would not know it if not for the free press.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
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.
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.
“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.
It was on this date 156 years ago that African American men were given the right to vote when the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
You might be surprised to know that it was the Republicans who pushed for this amendment. Yes, the same party which today turns itself into a pretzel dreaming up ways to make it more difficult for citizens to vote is the party that fought to give black American men the right to vote in 1870. The irony!
The 15th Amendment did not address the fact that women of any skin color did not have the right to vote.
Section 1 of the 15th Amendment states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude–.”
Although ratified in 1870, it would take the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before many black people were registered to vote. Laws varied by state and state legislatures – much like today – resorted to creative ways and wording in laws to restrict voting rights.
Popular opinion is that it was only southern states that restricted voting to white people, so I decided to do a little research into state laws prior to 1870. (Keep in mind that women were not given the right to vote by the U.S. Constitution until the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.)
I wanted to know if black men were allowed to vote in states outside the South before passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870. Out of curiosity, I randomly looked at New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
In the State of New York, there was a mish-mash of voting rights for black men. In the 1820’s it was unlawful for a black person who did not own property valued at $250 or more to vote. Slave owners along the Hudson River (yes, even New Yorkers owned slaves!) did not let their slaves vote. Some black men in the state’s cities were able to vote.
Although the “Black Laws” in the state of Ohio were repealed in 1849, African Americans were still not allowed to vote. An informative article about the history of laws regarding African Americans in Ohio can be found here: https://eji.org/news/ohios-black-laws/.
What about Pennsylvania? Quoting from “The Disenfranchisement of Black Pennsylvanians in the 1838 State Constitution: Racism, Politics, or Economics? – A Statistical Analysis,” by David A. Latzko of Pennsylvania State University’s York campus, as found at https//:tupjournals.temple.edu: “In 1838, Pennsylvania’s voters approved a state constitution that restricted the right to vote to ‘white freemen.’ Blacks had voted for many years in some parts of the state, but under the new constitution Pennsylvania’s black males could no longer vote.”
I found the following information on https://libguides.njstatelib.org/votesforwomen/timeline: In 1807, a new law restricting voting was passed by the New Jersey General Assembly: “Whereas doubts have been raised, and Great diversities in practice obtained through-out the state in regard to the admission of aliens, females and persons of color, or negroes to vote in elections… Sec. 1. Be it enacted …That … no person shall vote in any state or county election… unless such person be a free, white, male … of the age of twenty-one years, worth fifty pounds proclamation money….”
New Jersey adopted a new State Constitution in 1844, and people of color were still not allowed to vote.
In the decades after the ratification of the 15th Amendment, racists in various states passed laws to make it hard for minorities to vote. Such things as poll taxes and literacy tests were codified.
This was still in the decades of Reconstruction following the Civil War. Most of the former slaves had not been allowed to learn how to read or write, so the passage of literacy laws was a not-so-subtle way to prevent many black people from voting.
My conclusion is that people of color have been discriminated against in every state in the United States of America. Our nation has a long and sorted history of dividing ourselves based on the color of our skin.
It is that 250-year history that has brought us to 2026 – a year in which the U.S. Constitution gives all citizens — regardless of skin color or gender – the right to vote. But women and people of color must remain vigilant in every State to guard our right to vote.
In 2026, various State legislatures and even the United States Congress are working behind the scenes as well as blatantly in public to make it more difficult for all citizens to exercise their right to vote. The so-called SAVE America Act is currently being batted back and forth between the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
A segment of our society has been convinced by Conservatives that there is rampant voting by undocumented immigrants. Under the guise of putting an end to that problem — which has been proven not to exist — through passage of the SAVE America Act the Conservatives in Congress are working very hard to codify wording that will once again make it more difficult for many women and many people of color to vote.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. White men in America continue to be afraid of losing their power. It is a history much older and more widespread than the United States of America.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
Today is World Storytelling Day. I recently learned about this day’s designation, and it led me to do a little research.
As a fiction writer, one of the hats I wear is storytelling, but I do not qualify or see myself as a storyteller – not in the true storytelling sense of the word.
Storytelling is an art form. It is a skill, and it is a gift. It is not an instrument in my toolbox. I would love to be a good storyteller, but I am not.
If called upon to tell a story, I will stammer, break out in the sweat, and present my audience with a lot of silent time. Unless those are attributes that a storyteller wants to incorporate into their presentation to enhance the experience for their audience, those behaviors have no place in storytelling.
The National Storytelling Network (https://storynet.org/) defines storytelling as follows: “Storytelling is the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination.”
Taking the definition a step further, the National Storytelling Network explains that, “Storytelling involves a two-way interaction between a storyteller and one or more listeners. The responses of the listeners influence the telling of the story. In fact, storytelling emerges from the interaction and cooperative, coordinated efforts of teller and audience.”
See? Storytelling is technically a whole different thing than writing fiction. The fiction writer rarely gets feedback from the audience before publication unless you count the responses given by beta readers.
Even that feedback does not meet the definition of storytelling. Storytelling is in the moment. The feedback is instantaneous and the storyteller feeds off the energy and emotions of the audience.
Storytelling also often involves hand motions and variations in volume and tone. I can use an occasional exclamation point in writing fiction. I can use words to convey such states as happiness, despair, or surprise, but the storyteller has an advantage over me there. They can demonstrate mood and state of mind through facial expression, volume and tone of voice, and body language.
When I think of a good storyteller, I think of someone who holds my attention in their hand. Their storytelling puts me on the edge of my seat and immerses me in another world.
That’s what a fiction writer strives to do, but without the real-time interaction between the writer and the reader, I believe that level of give-and-take is not possible.
The National Storytelling Network’s website lists five components of storytelling: It “…is interactive,” it “uses words” (including sign language), it “uses actions,” it “presents a story,” and it “encourages the active imagination of the listeners.” I invite you to visit the website for more details.
There is a calendar of events on the website, in case you want to look for storyteller performances and storytelling festivals in your area. Incidentally, in case you live in the Fairfax, Virginia area, a four-day Women’s Storytelling Festival began there yesterday.
The Patchwork Storytelling Guild is hosting a storytelling festival on Sunday in Philadelphia.
The Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival is coming up on April 10-11 in Hiawassee. If you are interested but cannot attend in person, tickets for online listening are available. (Go to http://gamountainstoryfest.org for more information.)
Southern Appalachian Storyteller Donald Davis is appearing in Indianapolis on April 11 at a Talk of the Town fundraiser. There are online livestreaming tickets if you cannot attend in person. (Go to https://storytellingarts.org/event/talk-of-the-town-featuring-donald-davis for details.)
According to https://calendarcute.com, the theme for the 2026 World Storytelling Day is “Light in the Dark.” Storytellers are encouraged to offer stories of “hope, wisdom, and human connection into moments of uncertainty, difficulty, or fear” in connection with this year’s celebration.
“The theme was chosen collaboratively by the global storytelling community…. At the narrative level, it refers to story archetypes that feature illumination – characters or communities who bring clarity, warmth, or guidance to situations of darkness or confusion.”
I did not know where today’s topic would take me, but now I will start looking for a storytelling event in my area!
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
Today’s blog post is about the Lend-Lease Agreement of 1941. Unless you are a history nerd, this topic probably holds little interest; however, as a bit of a history and political science nerd, I thought it worthwhile to mark the 85th anniversary of the passage of that agreement.
I am of the belief that we are bound to repeat history if we do not learn from it. I don’t know how it is in public schools today, but I did not get to study post-American Civil War history until I went to college. Much of 20th century history I’ve learned on my own or learned by living through half of it.
What follows is probably the most simplified description you will ever read of how the United States tried to stay out of World War II.
1920s and 1930s
Throughout the “Roaring Twenties,” the United States was still in debt over World War I. As a result, Neutrality Acts were passed by Congress in 1935, 1936, and 1937. In a nutshell, those acts made it unlawful for Americans to sell or transport arms or materiel to nations at war.
“Cash and Carry”
Then came World War II. Watching the aggression of Germany, Italy, and Japan, in 1939, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed amending the Neutrality Acts and following a “cash and carry” policy in which other countries could purchase arms from the United States but the US would not supply military personnel.
When I finally got to study World War II, I was shocked to learn how slow the U.S. was to jump into the fray and come to the aide of Great Britain.
During the Battle of Britain, in September of 1940, Britain sent a delegation of researchers to the United States to share secret radar technology. Britain’s energy and money had to focus on the war but, since the United States wasn’t fighting, it could give attention to research and development.
“Arsenal of Democracy” and Isolationism
Three months later, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent Roosevelt a 15-page letter asking for the U.S. to help them. In one of his famous “fireside chats,” Roosevelt responded by announcing that the U.S. would be the “Arsenal of Democracy” and would sell arms to Britain and Canada.
Isolationists in the U.S. maintained that the war was a European problem and that the U.S. should stay out of it. Gradually, more Americans agreed that their country should do more to back Britain but keep our military out of the conflict.
This is a stark example of hindsight being better than foresight. No doubt, if the United States had known what lay ahead over the next five years, it would have acted earlier and more forcefully. Being protected by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Americans were lulled into a false sense of security.
That false sense of security came back to bite us on December 7, 1941, (and again on September, 11, 2001) but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Lend-Lease Act of 1941
“An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States” was introduced and eventually enacted on March 11, 1941 in the “Lend-Lease Act.” That Act permitted the U.S. to supply the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, the Republic of China, and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel, free of charge, for the duration of the war.
In March of 1941, the U.S. was still trying to stay out of the war militarily, but the Lend-Lease Act made it clear that the United States recognized that it was in its best interest to aide Britain because defending Britain was, in effect, defending the U.S.
Of course, we know now that nine months later, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, thrusting the United States into the war in the Pacific. It would be January 26, 1942, before the first American troops would arrive in Great Britain.
The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 was strengthened by the Lend-Lease Act of February 23, 1942.
Lend-Lease officially ended on September 20, 1945. In that five-year period, $51 billion in supplies were shipped from the United States. That would be equivalent to approximately $700 billion in today’s dollars.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
I see you’re scratching your head over the topic of my blog post today. I don’t blame you. Unless you are a graduate of Dartmouth, a resident of New Hampshire, or an expert on contract law, you’ve probably never heard of this U.S. Supreme Court case.
I was tempted to just brush it off and blog about a story in my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories, but then I remembered the significance of the case and why learning about it is important for us today.
I’ll give a brief version of the story, for that’s really all you probably want to know. If you want to know more, you can dive into it.
In 1769, King George III of Great Britain issued a charter to Dartmouth College as a privately-funded school.
In 1816, the state legislature in New Hampshire decided to convert Dartmouth College into a state university. The legislators, as state legislators tend to do, thought they could just change Dartmouth’s charter by shifting control of the college to a board of trustees appointed by the governor. The school’s corporate seal, other corporate property, and record books were removed.
“Not so fast!” said the former trustees. Those earlier trustees filed a lawsuit against William H. Woodward, the secretary of the new board of trustees. They hired none other than Daniel Webster to represent them. He was a graduate of Dartmouth, but was yet to gain fame as a U.S. Senator and as the 14th and 19th U.S. Secretary of State.
It is reported that Mr. Webster made such an impassioned argument before the Supreme Court in Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward that Chief Justice John Marshall was nearly moved to tears.
Webster was apparently extremely convincing, for the Court handed down its decision in favor of Dartmouth on February 2, 1819. The actions taken by the New Hampshire Legislature were invalidated, and Dartmouth returned to being a privately-funded institution of higher learning.
The Court’s decision was based on the sanctity of a contract. The Dartmouth College’s corporate charter qualified as a contract between the King and the school’s trustees, and the United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 10 prohibits a state from passing laws to impair a contract.
In case you’re wondering why I thought it apropos to blog about Dartmouth today…
Dartmouth’s administration refused to sign the agreement that U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent to nine colleges and universities (Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University) on October 1, 2025.
In my October 15, 2025, blog post, Some good news from Massachusetts Institute of Technology!, I wrote about the agreement McMahon had put forth.
To refresh your memory, the agreement would dictate how the signing colleges and universities would change their admissions policies and the way faculty would be hired. As I stated in that blog post, “By signing the compact, the colleges and universities give up their right to make public a stance on societal or political events. They must be neutral, as in no opinion, no free thinking, no thoughts whatsoever. You know, sort of like operating in an authoritarian nation.
“They must also agree to define sex as ‘male’ and ‘female.’ They must do all this while they ensure there is ‘a broad spectrum of viewpoints’ on their campuses. I’m not sure how you can do that while meeting the other requirements. Some of the requirements appear to negate the others.
“In return for signing the compact, a college would receive preferential treatment for federal funding. It seems like a high price to pay.”
The ten-page agreement was called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which strikes me as a misnomer.
The President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was the first to refuse to sign the agreement, so that’s what I wrote about in that October 15 blog post.
Two days later, Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia joined MIT in rejecting the agreement.
Being from North Carolina, I don’t know a lot about Dartmouth, but Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward and the Dartmouth administrators’ October 2025 refusal to cave in to the blackmail deal offered by the Trump Administration tell me all I need to know.
Hurrah for college and university administrators with morals and courage to stand up to bullies!
Hurricane Helene Recovery Update
I haven’t given a Hurricane Helene recovery update since January 8, so I will do so today. The rest of the nation may have forgotten about Hurricane Helene, but North Carolinians have not forgotten.
Portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway have not reopened since Hurricane Helene damage in September 2024. I-40 at the North Carolina-Tennessee border remains just one lane in each direction with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit.
I was unable to find a detailed report from the North Carolina Department of Transportation about the roads still closed due to the hurricane. Friday’s report dealt with road closures due to ice and snow.
Governor Josh Stein and North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson continue to seek funding and reimbursement from the federal government, but the response lags behind the U.S. Government’s response to earlier national disasters. It is a sign of the times.
Repair work continues on the Lake Lure dam on the Broad River, and debris removal there also continues. It is hoped that the lake will be back to full pond and ready to reopen in May in time for the summer tourist season.
Local TV stations in Charlotte have hurricane recovery news items occasionally. They try to remind us that our lives in the piedmont went on after Helene, but our fellow citizens here and there in the mountains are still dealing with the loss of homes and businesses as well as transportation routes that were destroyed.
There was a news item from WLOS in Asheville last week celebrating the reopening of a Walgreen’s on Tunnel Road in Asheville. It was so heavily damaged by the flooding of the Swannanoa River during Helene that it closed for 16 months for a complete remodel. It reopened on January 22. The article noted that a U-Haul store had also reopened. That’s indicative of how long it has taken for life to return to normal in the mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee since the hurricane. Businesses – even national chain businesses – have struggled to rebuild. I have no idea how many small family-owned businesses will never recover.
Life has not returned to “normal” in portions of the mountains in North Carolina. I think the people are adjusting to a new normal. Hurricane Helene changed much of the landscape forever.
Janet
The government should be afraid of its citizens, not the other way around.
Five years ago today, Trump and his MAGA followers attempted a coup in Washington, DC. To call it anything else would not serve the truth or history.
The White House website tells a much different story of that day. It is a narrative that Trump and his minions have espoused since that day. No matter what you do, as long as Donald Trump is in the White House, do not believe one word that is on WhiteHouse.gov.
Trump and his followers think we will forget that Trump told the rioters on January 6, 2021, to march to the U.S. Capitol. He even claimed he was going with them. Of course, that was just part of the lie. They should have known that “President Bone Spurs” didn’t have the guts to enter the fray. He knew the Secret Service would never allow it. It was all bluster.
They think we will forget that Trump told the rioters, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
They think if they repeat the lies long enough and loud enough, the American people and the world will forget what they saw with their own eyes that day.
They think we will forget the Congressional testimony given under oath by witnesses, by the police officers who were beaten, crushed, and sprayed with bear spray and pepper spray that day.
They think we will doubt the words of the members of Congress who feared for their lives that day as they gathered to certify that Joe Biden had been lawfully elected United States President in November 2020.
They think we will forget that the rioters built a gallows on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol that day and chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.” Trump had turned on Vice President Pence because Pence refused to call the election rigged.
They think we will forget that Trump called them wonderful people and expressed his praise for them.
I watched live TV in absolute horror on January 6, 2021, as the rioters broke the windows of the U.S. Capitol, broke down doors, destroyed all manner of public property in that sacred building, broke into the offices of members of Congress, broke into the U.S. House Chambers, and rifled through papers.
It was a wholesale desecration of the seat of American democracy. The historian in me prays that history books will give a fair, true, and honest explanation of January 6, 2021.
More than 1,500 rioters were charged with breaking various laws on January 6, 2021.
Joe Biden was inaugurated U.S. President on a tense January 20, 2021.
Donald Trump was somehow elected U.S. President on November 5, 2024, with 51% of the popular vote,
Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2025, and immediately pardoned the rioters.
After campaigning on “America First” and not involving the U.S. in foreign wars or regime topplings, on Saturday he ordered the U.S. military to physically remove the dictator of Venezuela. On Sunday, he hinted that Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico might be next.
Yesterday, Assistant White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller questioned Denmark’s legal claim over Greenland.
Today, the White House Press Secretary said talks are taking place on how the U.S. will “acquire” Greenland and military action is “not off the table.”
Today Trump joked about possibly cancelling the next national election.
Trump’s modis operandi is to try to make a joke, then see how people respond. He continues to feed that “joke” by bringing it up again… and again… and pretty soon… he doesn’t present it as a joke but a possibility… and pretty soon… masked agents are in the streets snatching people, and military personnel are in Venezuela.
I continue to work on that historical novel I’ve told you I’m writing. Distractions will, no doubt, continue to try to derail that process. I will continue to keep up with politics and share my thoughts on my blog in 2026, but I will also keep writing that novel. Escaping to the 1760s in Virginia and North Carolina just might be what keeps me sane.
What a start to 2026!
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 