On this date 356 years ago, Benjamin Waite, the protagonist of my upcoming novel, Hatfield 1677, was discussing strategy with Major John Pynchon of Springfield, Massachusetts. Ben is seeking Pynchon’s help in order to cut through a bureaucratic tangle of red tape and rescue his family.
The sheer number of government figures Ben negotiated with is staggering, and was necessitated by the fact that New England wasn’t very unified. This created obstacles for him and his friend, Stephen Jennings. Travel between colonies involved many rules and regulations, since they were all separately governed despite England’s claim to them. One could not just set off to travel between them without permission.
I found it ironic that the colonial governments created nearly as many obstacles for Ben and Stephen as did the Native Americans they pursued, the uncharted wilderness they traversed, or the onset of winter.
The next time you are dealing with your Homeowners’ Association, School Board, Department of Motor Vehicles, or City Council, console yourself that it has always been the American way for our government of, by, and for the people to somehow make our lives more complicated.
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