Mercy Otis Warren and the Republican Moment (2002)

Mercy Otis Warren is not a well-known figure in American history, despite the fact that she was this country's first female political activist, propagandist and historian. Well respected by the political leaders of the American Revolution, Warren has faded into obscurity in modern times. One possible explanation for the absence of work on this remarkable woman is the very fact of her uniqueness. Mercy Otis Warren does not fit easily into basic conceptions of revolutionary America. She was the sole woman to write publicly on politics and history during this time and she was the one woman to participate equally in revolutionary thinking. In a society divided in the historiography between political men and domestic women, Warren alone inhabits the hazy middle ground between the two, but is never fully accepted into either. Her life, activities and prominence are not easily explained because they are a produce of a times in which she lived and the people with whom she lived them, but her contributions are too important to be ignored.

Mercy Otis Warren was the sister of James Otis, the first Boston revolutionary, the wife of James Warren, also a radical Boston leader, and friends with noted figures like John Adams and Elbridge Gerry. But Warren was so much more than the sum of her acquaintances--she is a remarkable figure in her own right. As a political propagandist, poet, dramatist and historian, Mercy Otis Warren tread ground previously reserved for men two-hundred years before the advent of feminism. The pinnacle of her career was reached with the publication of her massive History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution , a historical work that is still a source of knowledge and inspiration for those studying her generation's moment in history.

Once the breadth and depth of Mercy Otis Warren's accomplishments are understood, the compelling questions become how and why--how and why was this woman able to become a respected, self-confident political writer, thinker and historian? The answers, like Mercy herself, are complex. She was financially and socially advantaged, and born into an unusual family that supported her education and political involvement. Moreover, her brother, husband and male friends included Warren in their political discussions and actions, and encouraged her writing. Finally, and most importantly, Mercy and her circle were ardent republicans in the early years of the Revolution. Adherence to those beliefs, centered on virtue and equality, made the previously unthinkable inclusion of a woman in politics eminently possible. That ideology--republicanism--transformed the world in which Mercy Otis Warren lived and enabled her to change her own place within it.

 

Revised July 23, 2003 (MD)