Quick Quiz: What were the first
and last American states to ratify the Constitution?
Answer: Delaware and Rhode Island.
(Yeah, I didn't know either until I started doing research
for my books.)
Right at Home in
Rhode Island
 |
| Willing Love |
However, we still shouldn't take their eventual acquiescence
lightly. Had they not ratified, they would have essentially remained another country in the midst of These United States. I suppose the
little colony didn't look forward to forever fighting their larger neighbors
for the right to exist. That said, the unanimity of ratification also spoke
volumes across the Atlantic. For better or worse, these states were now united.
When I was looking for a setting for Willing Love, Rhode
Island naturally sprang to mind. Prudence is definitely the most stubborn
heroine I've written yet, and she felt right at home there.
Delaware Votes to
Move On
The novel I'm currently working on is set in Wilmington,
Delaware. My reasons for choosing Wilmington are far less thought-out. Someone
mentioned it in passing, and I thought, "Hey, why not set my next novel
there?" I also thought it would be kind of nice to give a hat tip to one
of the smaller states. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, etc. seem to get
all the glory!
I've been working on this story for months, and the more
research I do, the happier I am with the location. You see, it occurred to me
that we tend to look back on the American Revolution as though everything was
obvious. We ignore the fact that many colonists, even many of the founding
fathers, did not actually want independence from England. And, despite all the
attention our schoolbooks give to the Sons of Liberty and the horrors of
tarring and feathering, a good many early Americans were not violent people.
I shudder when I think that had the right sentiments not
prevailed we could have gone down the same path that the French eventually took
in their Revolution. So, for this next novel, I decided to create a hero who is one
of the rebels, yet his ultimate aim is to keep violence from breaking out.
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| Lafayette wounded in the Battle of Brandywine. (Lafayette was a secondary character in Le Chevalier.) |
Although I didn't know it when I chose Delaware, it turns
out the small state is one of the more moderate states. The people there
weren't necessarily sheep, but nor were they activists, and only one
Revolutionary battle was fought in Delaware. (Although many were fought in nearby Pennsylvania including one very notable one at Brandywine.)
I could be wrong, but it seems to me this moderate attitude may be one of the reasons Delaware was the first to ratify. They just wanted everyone to get along.
Historians, amateur and otherwise, please feel free to
correct my assumptions. I would love to get your take. As for the rest of
you...Happy reading!
MJ
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