Mercy Otis Warren

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American Theater Guide: Mercy Otis Warren

Warren, Mercy Otis (1728–1814), playwright. The sister of James Otis and the wife of James Warren, who was president of the Provisional Congress of Massachusetts, she did her share for the Revolution by writing two political satires: The Adulateur (1773) and The Group (1775). Both were printed and widely read, but neither appears to have been performed. In 1790 she published a pair of blank‐verse tragedies, The Sack of Rome and The Ladies of Castile. Other plays, notably The Blockheads (1776), have been attributed to her, though most modern scholarship finds the attributions suspect. Biography: First Lady of the Revolution: The Life of Mercy Otis Warren, K. Anthony, 1958.

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Biography: Mercy Otis Warren

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The American writer Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814), the first significant woman historian, wrote an eyewitness account of the American Revolution.

Mercy Otis was born at West Barnstable, Mass., on Sept. 14, 1728. She had no formal education, but the tutor of her elder brother, James Otis, permitted her to use his library. She married James Warren of Plymouth in 1754. Her husband became a distinguished political leader and served for a time as paymaster to George Washington's army during the Revolution.

During the Revolutionary period Warren became a poet and pamphleteer. Her particular enemy was Thomas Hutchinson, who had served as chief justice and governor of Massachusetts and had been prominent in the "writs of assistance" controversy. In 1773 she wrote a pamphlet, The Adulateur, and a play, The Defeat, based upon letters that Hutchinson and his lieutenant governor, Andrew Oliver, had written to England criticizing the colonists. In 1775 she wrote The Group, a satirical play. The Warrens took a consistently anticonstitution, pro-states'-rights position in the debates over ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788, and Warren even wrote a tract against the Constitution. Her Poems Dramatic and Miscellaneous was published in 1790.

Warren began writing the History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution (3 vols., 1805) during the Revolutionary War, and after the peace treaty was signed she continued to work on it. The first volume covers the period from the Stamp Act to Valley Forge, the second goes to the end of the Revolutionary War, and the third to 1800. She based her history on firsthand sources, which included her own observations, the Benjamin Lincoln papers, and John Adams's correspondence concerning his diplomatic attempts to involve the Dutch in the war.

The history is not parochial, as Warren included British domestic affairs and the war in other theaters as well as in the continental United States. Her Revolutionary nationalism showed in her praise of Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson and in her castigation of Hutchinson. Despite her opposition to the Constitution, she praised Washington. Her treatment of John Adams helped alienate a friendship, and her description of Alexander Hamilton as a "foreign adventurer" won her no support from his friends. Merrill Jensen (1966) characterized Warren's history by saying, "Her view of the revolution is simple and anticipates in every way the views of the 'Whig historians' of the latter part of the nineteenth century." She died in Plymouth on Oct. 19, 1814.

Further Reading

Alice Brown, Mercy Warren (1896), is dated, while Katherine Anthony, First Lady of the Revolution: The Life of Mercy Otis Warren (1958), is adulatory. The most complete evaluation of Warren as a historian is in William Raymond Smith, History as Argument: Three Patriot Historians of the American Revolution (1966). Merrill Jensen's "Historians and the Nature of the American Revolution" in Ray Allen Billington, ed., The Reinterpretation of Early American History (1966), places Warren in the larger context of Revolutionary historiography.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Mercy Otis Warren

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(born Sept. 25, 1728, Barnstable, Mass. — died Oct. 19, 1814, Plymouth, Mass., U.S.) U.S. poet, dramatist, and historian. The sister of James Otis, she received no formal education but nevertheless became a woman of letters and a friend and correspondent of leading political figures. She commented on the issues of the day in political satires, plays, and pamphlets. Though a defender of the American Revolution, she opposed the Constitution, arguing that power should rest with the states. Her most significant work, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution (3 vol., 1805), covered the period from 1765 to 1800.

For more information on Mercy Otis Warren, visit Britannica.com.

Columbia Encyclopedia: Mercy Otis Warren

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Warren, Mercy Otis, 1728–1814, American writer, b. Barnstable, Mass.; sister of James Otis and wife of James Warren, who was speaker of the Massachusetts house of representatives. An ardent patriot, she conducted a political salon during the pre-Revolutionary days and wrote two satirical plays, The Adulateur (1773) and The Group (1775), against the Tories. Well acquainted with many leaders of the Revolution, she urged, unsuccessfully, that equal rights for women be included in the U.S. Constitution, and outlined her objections to that document as originally drafted in Observations on the New Constitution...by a Columbian Patriot (1788). Many of her criticisms were met by the Bill of Rights and later amendments. Her history of the American Revolution (3 vol., 1805) is still important for factual information as well as for its sketches of contemporary figures.

Bibliography

See studies by K. S. Anthony (1958, repr. 1972) and J. Fritz (1972).

Works: Works by Mercy Otis Warren

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(1728-1814)

1773	The Adulateur. The Boston poet, dramatist, and historian makes her most noted contribution as a writer of political satires in dramatic form. Published in the manner of all her plays--anonymously in newspapers or as broadsides and not meant to be performed--the drama attacks the colonial government and especially Thomas Hutchinson, calling him Rapatio, a name that haunts him until he leaves Boston. She continues her attack on Rapatio in The Defeat, depicting Rapatio and his court as a faction of inept conspirators. To avoid libel and sedition laws, Warren writes anonymously and masks her targets with thinly veiled pseudonyms.
1774	"The Squabble of the Sea Nymphs; or, The Sacrifice of the Tuscaroroes." Demonstrating Warren's skill and importance as a satirist and critic during the Revolution, the poem commemorates the Boston Tea Party while critiquing the role of the British and the colonial government.
1775	The Group. Warren's best political satire from her early period. Warren criticizes the Massachusetts Government Act, one of the so-called Intolerable Acts, which for practical purposes suspended the existing provincial government.
1779	The Motley Assembly. This farce, which attacks Bostonians who oppose the Revolution, has been attributed to Warren, though the evidence for and against this attribution is inconclusive.
1782	"To a Young Gentleman, Residing in France." An instructional poem in which Warren offers advice to her son about avoiding the temptations young men from America may encounter when they are away from home.
1785	Sans Souci. A biting satire of elite society in Boston after the Revolution. This social critique of fashion and manners uses many of Mercy Otis Warren's literary hallmarks, though she never claimed authorship. Modern scholars remain divided over the attribution to Warren.
1790	Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous. In the first work printed under her own name, Warren produces verse tragedies and other poems extolling republican virtues and confirming women as moral authorities. The work renews Warren's position in the political and literary mainstream.
1805	History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution. A history whose merit lies in Warren's descriptions of participants in the war, many of whom she was acquainted with or corresponded with personally. Although less successful than expected during her lifetime, it would endure as a resource for later writers.

Wikipedia: Mercy Otis Warren

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Mercy Otis Warren, circa 1763, Oil on canvas by John Singleton Copley

Mercy Otis Warren (September 14, 1728 – October 19, 1814) was an American writer and playwright. She was known as the "Conscience of the American Revolution". Mercy Otis was America's first female playwright, having written unbylined anti-British and anti-Loyalist propaganda plays from 1772 to 1775, and was the first woman to create a Jeffersonian (anti-Federalist) interpretation of the Revolution, entitled History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, published in three volumes in 1805.

1 Early life
2 Marriage
3 Revolutionary writings and politics
4 Post-Revolutionary writings
5 Death and legacy
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links

Early life

Mercy Otis was the third child of thirteen born to Colonel James Otis (1702-1778) and Mary Allyne Otis (1702-1774)^[1] in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Mary Allyne was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Edward Doty. James Otis, Sr., was a farmer, merchant, and attorney, who served as a judge for the Barnstable County Court of Common Pleas and later won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1745. ^[2] He was an outspoken opponent and leader against British rule and against the appointed colonial governor, Thomas Hutchinson. The Otis children were "raised in the midst of revolutionary ideals". Although Mercy had no formal education, she studied with the Reverend Jonathan Russell while he tutored her brothers in preparation for college. One of her brothers was the noted patriot and lawyer James Otis, who is credited with the quote "taxation without representation is tyranny", the principal slogan of the American Revolution ^[3]

Marriage

In 1754, Mercy Otis married James Warren, a prosperous merchant and farmer from Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was a Harvard graduate and colleague of her brother.^[4] He was a descendant of the Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. They settled in Plymouth and had five sons, James (1757-1821), Winslow (1759-1791), Charles (1762-1784), Henry (1764-1828), and George (1766-1800).^[5]

Her husband James had a very distinguished political career. In 1765 he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, eventually he became speaker of the House and President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He also served as paymaster to George Washington's army, for a time, during the Revolutionary War. Mercy Warren actively participated in the political life of her husband. The Warrens became increasingly involved in the conflict between the American colonies and the British Government. Their home became a focal point of local politics where they hosted protest and strategy meetings for the Sons of Liberty, among whom was their friend, John Adams. Like Mercy's father and brothers, the first patriots disliked the colonial governor. Mercy accordingly became a strong political voice with views on liberty, democracy and independence for the American colonies. She wrote, "every domestic enjoyment depends on the impaired possession of civil and religious liberty." Mercy's husband James encouraged her to write, fondly referring to her as the "scribbler"^[6] and she became his chief correspondent and sounding board.^[7]

Revolutionary writings and politics

Warren formed a strong circle of friends with whom she regularly corresponded, including Abigail Adams, Martha Washington and Hannah Winthrop. In a letter to Catherine Macaulay she wrote: "America stands armed with resolution and virtue; but she still recoils at the idea of drawing the sword against the nation from whence she derived her origin. Yet Britain, like an unnatural parent, is ready to plunge her dagger into the bosom of her affectionate offspring." ^[8] Through their correspondence they increased the awareness of women's issues, were supportive, and influenced the course of events to further Americas cause. ^[7]

She became a correspondent and adviser to many political leaders, including Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and especially John Adams, who became her literary mentor in the years leading to the Revolution. In a letter to James Warren, Adams wrote, "Tell your wife that God Almighty has entrusted her with the Powers for the good of the World, which, in the cause of his Providence, he bestows on few of the human race. That instead of being a fault to use them, it would be criminal to neglect them."^[9]

Prior to the American Revolution, in 1772, during a political meeting at the Warren's home, they formed the Committees of Correspondence along with Samuel Adams. Warren wrote "no single step contributed so much to cement the union of the colonies". Since Warren knew most of the leaders of the Revolution personally, she was continually at or near the center of events from 1765 to 1789. She combined her vantage point with a talent for writing to become both a poet and a historian of the Revolutionary era. All Mercy Otis Warren’s work was published anonymously until 1790. ^[7] She wrote several plays, including the satiric The Adulateur (1772). Directed against Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, the play foretold the War of Revolution.

In 1773, she wrote The Defeat, also featuring the character based on Hutchinson, followed, and in 1775 Warren published The Group, a satire conjecturing what would happen if the British king abrogated the Massachusetts charter of rights. The anonymously published The Blockheads (1776) and The Motley Assembly (1779) are also attributed to her. In 1788 she published Observations on the New Constitution, whose ratification she opposed as an Anti-Federalist.

Post-Revolutionary writings

In 1790 she published Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous, the first work bearing her name. The book contains eighteen political poems and two plays. The two dramas, The Sack of Rome and The Ladies of Castille, deal with liberty, social and moral values that were necessary to the success of the new republic.^[7]

In 1805, she completed her literary career with a three-volume History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution. President Thomas Jefferson ordered subscriptions for himself and his cabinet and noted his "anticipation of her truthful account of the last thirty years that will furnish a more instructive lesson to mankind than any equal period known in history." ^[10] The book's sharp comments on John Adams led to a heated correspondence and a breach in her friendship with the Adamses that lasted until 1812.

Death and legacy

Mercy Otis Warren died in October, 1814, at the age of 86. She is buried at Old Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts. The SS Mercy Warren, a World War II Liberty ship launched in 1943, was named in her honor. In 2002, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

References

^ "Rootsweb". Sarah's Family. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1268180&id=I59857386. Retrieved on February 10 2008.
^ "Mass. Foundation for the Humanities". Mercy Otis Warren. http://www.massmoments.com/moment.cfm?mid=328. Retrieved on February 9 2008.
^ "Quotations from Encarta". Democracy. http://encarta.msn.com/quote_1861508913/democracy_taxation_without_representation_is_tyranny_.html. Retrieved on March 3 2008.
^ "Encyclopedia of World Biography on Mercy Otis Warren". Mercy Otis Warren Biography. http://www.bookrags.com/biography/mercy-otis-warren/. Retrieved on February 10 2008.
^ "Massachusetts Historical Society". Mercy Otis Warren Papers. http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0235. Retrieved on February 18 2008.
^ "American History for 21st Century Citizens: A Southern California Consortium". Biography (Virtual Re-enactments; Mercy Otis Warren ). http://streamer3.lacoe.edu/Americanhistory/enactments/Walters/Walters_biography.htm. Retrieved on February 10 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Mercy Otis Warren, conscience of the American Revolution". Introduction to the work of Mercy Otis Warren. http://www.samizdat.com/warren/generalintroduction.html. Retrieved on February 18 2008.
^ "The Women of the American Revolution by Elizabeth F. Ellet". Mercy Warren. http://threerivershms.com/amwomenmwarr.htm. Retrieved on February 3 2008.
^ "Heath Anthology of American Literature". Mercy Otis Warren. http://college.hmco.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/eighteenth/warren_me.html. Retrieved on February 12 2008.
^ "American Treasures of the Library of congress". Historian of the American Revolution. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm089.html. Retrieved on March 5 2008.

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Mercy Otis Warren

Overview of her life
Full Text of "History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution"(1805).
Works of Mercy Otis Warren by Richard Seltzer
Mercy Otis Warren's Gendered Melodrama of Revolution by Nina Baym

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