Mercy Otis Warren: First Historian of the Revolutionary War

 Two hundred fifty years ago America declared its independence from Great Britain.  Battles were fought, new governments were formed, and plenty of people made sacrifices in the name of the new nation. While some men were fighting in the war and others were making laws, many women were running businesses, dealing with shortages of food and goods, and sustaining the home fronts. One of these women was Mercy Otis Warren.  But Mercy was not relegated to staying on the farm and raising children. She was an outspoken political activist in favor of independence, and one of the great pamphleteers of the revolution. She is also credited with being the first American historian.

Born in 1728 in Barnstable, Massachusetts, Mercy had an atypical upbringing for a woman in 18^th century New England.  Her father, James Otis was an outspoken supporter of revolution long before the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord.  He wanted each of his 13 children to form their own political ideals, with each of them receiving an education. Mercy became a voracious reader, reading anything she could get her hands on. Her brother James attended Harvard and would often tell Mercy of his studies. She took a special interest in the political theories of John Locke which would influence her throughout her life.

She married James Warren in 1754 and was immediately thrust into the middle of Massachusetts’ political sphere. The Warren family farm in Plymouth became a meeting location for the Sons of Liberty and hosted both John and Samuel Adams. It was also the birthplace of the Committee of Correspondence.

It’s important to note the Mercy was not always against the British crown.  However, with the passing of the Sugar and Stamp Acts, along with the arrival of British troops in Boston in October 1768, Mercy realized that there were no prospects for reconciliation between Britain and its American colonies. Of particular disdain was the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, who would later be the inspiration for the villain in many of Mercy’s writings.

In the early 1770s Mercy began publishing political satire and pamphlets in the Massachusetts Spy and Boston Gazette, both papers that appealed to patriot readers. Her early published plays attacked colonial injustice and later those in Boston who continued to support the crown.

During this time Mercy maintained a robust personal correspondence.  She exchanged letters with Abigail and John Adams, British historian Catherine Macaulay, and many other prominent figures of the era.  In short, Mercy was at the epicenter of revolutionary Boston.

She wrote, “It is time to leap into the theatre to unlock the bars, and open every gate that impedes the rise and growth of the American republic.”

As Americans debated the new Constitution in 1787, Mercy and her husband became staunch Anti-Federalists. Forever loyal to Massachusetts, they believed that most of the governing rights should stay with the states.  Under the pseudonym “A Columbian Patriot,” she argued that the Constitution should not be ratified until it contained the republican ideals of free press, trial by jury, freedom from military oppression and local control over taxation. The Warren’s Anti-Federalist beliefs also fractured their personal relationship with the Adamses.  They publicly professed that John Adams and other Federalists had abandoned the principles for which the Revolution had been fought in exchange for personal power. Mercy stayed steadfast in these ideals for the remainder of her life, later identifying as a Jeffersonian-Republican.

Mercy had written six plays and countless pamphlets, none of which contained her name.  Her works were always published anonymously or under a pseudonym. It was not until 1790 with the publication of her book Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous that she was credited as the author. It collected two decades of her work, including Revolutionary-era satires and two new plays with strong female characters. She received praise from many founders including President Washington.  Alexander Hamilton even called her a “genius.”  But her greatest work was yet to come.

Mercy had been writing  History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution for almost thirty years before in was published in 1805. Originally intended to be comprehensive history of the of the war and its moral legacy, Mercy decided to extend it through the election of 1800 to show her support for Thomas Jefferson.

Martha J. King, senior editor of the Thomas Jefferson Papers wrote,

“In the introductory observations in her first chapter, she lamented that her Puritan ancestors and many who ‘first stepped forth in the vindication of the rights of human nature’ had all been forgotten.  Moreover, the reasons of the war had been lost, ‘amidst the rage of accumulation and the taste of expensive pleasures.’ She deemed it her duty to help the young nation recall its true past.”

Mercy’s 1,300-page opus was well researched but contained some bias.  While she did use her personal recollections, she also relied on publications, passed legislation, and published speeches.  She documented the progress of the war, including generals and military campaigns.  She noted the lack of goods and the hardships on wives and mothers.  She even added appendixes with notes on all the major treaties and documents ratified during the war, with harsh critiques for the Articles of Confederation. A fervent Jeffersonian, Mercy praised Washington’s leadership during the war but was judgmental of his presidential administration. Warren was most critical of Washington’s actions surrounding the Jay Treaty which in her view were “not conducive to the prosperity of the nation.” She highly criticized when he appointed John Jay “to act in the double capacity of a negociator [sic] abroad and the first officer of justice [i.e. the Supreme Court's chief justice] at home.” 

She also had little good to say about her former friend John Adams.  The booked praised his skill as a diplomat but accused him of abandoning his principles for power in the new government.

As the head of the Republican Party, President Jefferson applauded the work and encouraged others to buy it.  He required all the members of his cabinet to purchase it. John Adams on the other hand felt different.  He remained silent on the subject initially, but in the summer of 1807, he wrote ten letters to Mercy attacking her skills as a historian, refuting her claims, and challenging her family’s reputation. She responded with six letters, but the two were never able to resolve their differences. 

The former president did not stop there.  He made it his personal mission to “right” the perceived inaccuracies about him and his administration in Mercy’s book.  From April 1809 to May 1812 the Boston Patriot published 137 letters Adams wrote defending himself and his presidency.

In response, Mercy took a direct quote from her book,

“The veracity of a historian requires, that all those who have been distinguished, either by their abilities or their elevated rank, should be exhibited through every period of public life with impartiality and truth.  But the heart of the annalist may sometimes be hurt by political deviations which the pen of the historian is obligated to record.”

Mercy Otis Warren was a revolutionary woman.  She was not a feminist.  She did not promote women’s suffrage, but she did promote women participating in political discourse.  She held her own set of firm beliefs and sought to communicate and defend them when necessary.   When she disagreed with the establishment, she made her feelings known and demanded change. Two hundred fifty years later, Mercy Otis Warren is still showing us what it means to be an American.