"...a dollar fifty in poll tax is naught so cruel compared to a Scotsman’s rent..."

Blazing Reader,

In the 1800s, people fled Scotland for the New World to escape the tyranny of the lairds — landlords who extracted crippling rents from farmers and shepherds.

In contrast, the tax systems of 19th-century America and Canada seemed mild.

In Covid Disobedience, my forthcoming novella (a prequel to Much Ado About Corona), I explore how such extreme oppression is used to justify a milder version. 

Here's a short excerpt: 

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“Aye,” replied Albert with a weary edge to his voice, “God bless America.” He sniffed. “Aye, there are taxes here, right enough. But I’ll assure ye, a dollar fifty in poll tax is naught so cruel compared to a Scotsman’s rent. And here the siller disha vanish into some laird’s pouch — it goes to things we all enjoy havin’, like roads and schools.”

Thoreau nodded before saying, “It is not the amount of the poll tax that I’m protesting, but the darker purposes to which it is devoted. Roads, schools and caring for the downtrodden do not begin to redeem the state for the injustice it continues to commit.”

“Injustice?” cried Albert, “Ye maun be o’stating it, Mr. Thoreau. Ye no idea what kind of injustice a Scotsman bears. At best, he was a thrail to his laird; a’ worst his cottage would be burned, and he and his kin driven to the coast to gather fish and kelp.”

Thoreau took a deep breath, still holding his hat at his heart. “I will not presume to compare the Scottish Lowlands to the oppression of America—”

“Oppression!?” exclaimed Albert with a laugh. “Och! The oppression o’ America? Ye’ve been eating some queer mushrooms in those woods of yours, Mr. Thoreau.”

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Covid Disobedience (a wordplay on Thoreau's famous essay, Civil Disobedience) is coming soon. For more about the novella, check out: One brave baker, a "14-day" lockdown and the ghost of Henry David Thoreau

John C.A. Manley

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.