The Smuggler’s Gambit, the first novel in the Adam Fletcher Series, takes place in late spring of 1765. While the novels, themselves, are not meant to be history lessons, readers should understand the context of the world in which the characters like Adam Fletcher were living and what it was that created an environment in which smuggling was to some degree an ordinary part of life.
I chose this period for this particular book series because I think it’s of great significance when we look at the origins the American Revolution, and the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and everything that flows out of that.
America hadn’t been long out of the French and Indian War when King George III began creating a whole slew of new taxes, and this time—unlike it had been in the past—he intended to enforce them. Of course the problem was that the new taxes were burdensome on the young colonies and by virtue of the fact that there was no real American colonial representation in Parliament, it made such legislation an even more bitter pill to swallow.
If you read through the articles here, you will get a quick, basic introduction to some of the key events that impacted our colonial American forebears, as well as what were ultimately their responses to them.
- What Started the American Revolution?
- What is Salutary Neglect and why was it a good thing?
- What is a Writ of Assistance and what does it have to do with the Fourth Amendment?
- The Sugar Act (1764)
- The Currency Act (1764)
- The Stamp Act (1765)
- The Quartering Act (1765)
- The Declaratory Act (1766)
- The Townshend Acts (1767)
For now, the articles will take you through 1767, but subscribe to this site below and you will be notified as new articles are posted.
Here is a selection of articles that are forthcoming . . .
- The Boston Massacre (1770)
- The Tea Act (1773)
- The Boston Tea Party (1773)
- The Coercive Acts, aka The Intolerable Acts (1774)
- The Edenton Tea Party (1774)
- The New England Restraining Act (1775)
- North Carolina’s Revolutionary Spirit
- The Sons of Liberty
- The Continental Congress
- The Declaration of Independence
- Key Battles of the Revolutionary War
- The Constitution of the United States