Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren (September 14, 1728 – October 19, 1814) was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts. She married James Warren in 1754 and moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Mercy had five sons. She felt it was her duty to participate in the Patriot cause during the American Revolution. Her brother was the noted patriot lawyer James Otis, and they were descended from Mayflower passenger Edward Doty. Her husband James was a descendant of fellow Mayflower passenger Richard Warren. In 1772, she published her play, The Adulateur. After the war, in 1790, Mrs. Warren published a volume of poetry in her name. In 1805, she wrote History of the American Revolution. She died in Plymouth in 1814.

Mercy Otis Warren has been called one of the most literate American women of the 18th century. Prior to the American Revolution, she hosted political meetings in her home. In addition, she was close to both John Adams and Abigail Adams until a political difference left them estranged. Mercy Otis Warren was likely responsible for anti-federalist newspaper contributions under the pseudonym "A Columbian Patriot."

References

• Cohen, Lester H. "Mercy Otis Warren: the Politics of Language and the Aesthetics of Self." American Quarterly 1983 35(5): 481-498. ISSN 0003-0678 Fulltext online at Jstor
• Friedman, Lawrence J. and Shaffer, Arthur H. "Mercy Otis Warren and the Politics of Historical Nationalism." New England Quarterly 1975 48(2): 194-215. ISSN 0028-4866 Fulltext online at Jstor
• Gelles, Edith B. "Bonds of Friendship: the Correspondence of Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren" Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 1996 108: 35-71. ISSN 0076-4981
• Lane, Larry M. and Lane, Judith J. "The Columbian Patriot: Mercy Otis Warren and the Constitution." Women & Politics 1990 10(2): 17-32. ISSN 0195-7732
• Oreovicz, Cheryl Z. "Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814)" Legacy 1996 13(1): 54-64. ISSN 0748-4321 Fulltext online at Swetswise
• Richards, Jeffrey H. Mercy Otis Warren. (Twayne's United States Authors Series, no. 618.) Twayne, 1995. 195 pp.; reviewed at William and Mary Quarterly 1997 54(3): 659-661. Fulltext of review in Jstor
• Wood, Gordon S. "The Authorship of the Letters from the Federal Farmer" (in Notes and Documents). "William and Mary Quarterly," 3rd Ser., Vol. 31, No. 2. (Apr., 1974), pp. 299-308.
• Zagarri, Rosemarie. A Woman's Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution. Harlan Davidson, 1995. 187 pp.; reviewed at William and Mary Quarterly 1997 54(3): 659-661. Fulltext of review in Jstor

Warren, Mercy Otis, The Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, Interspersed with Biographical, Political and Moral Observations, Ed. and Ann. by Lester H. Cohen (2 vols.) Liberty Classics, 1988 (modern reprint of orig. 1804 edition).

Links

Full Text of "History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution"(1805).

See also

• SS Mercy Warren - World War II Liberty ship launched in 1943

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