Mercy Otis Warren
Both Mercy Otis and her husband James Warren were able to trace their maternal ancestry back to the Mayflower. Both came from wealthy households in Massachusetts, and Mercy had a good education from Reverend Jonathan Russell despite never attending a formal school. Mercy was given permission by the Reverend to attend tutoring sessions while he prepared her two brothers for admission to Harvard College with the help of Mercy's father.
She applied what she had learned to produce satirical plays, pamphlets, and poetry that were published anonymously, as was the custom of the day. Throughout the protests against the Stamp Act, the Intolerable Acts, and the deployment of British troops in Boston, she supported the increasing Patriotic cause in each one of them. She routinely hosted Patriot gatherings in Boston before and throughout the war, writing to all of the Revolutionary leaders and expressing her opinions in open detail.
She kept in touch with a few of the Founders after the war, especially during the Constitutional Convention. She wrote a brochure criticizing the ratification of the Constitution without the immediate adoption of a bill of rights after it was put up for vote. She published one of the first histories of the American Revolution in the early 19th century. Nearly all of her works, including letters to George Washington while he served as America's first President, are still accessible today. Few ladies throughout the American Revolution left a more enduring legacy.
- Born: Mercy Otis, September 28, 1728Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay, British America
- Died: October 19, 1814 (aged 86), Massachusetts, U.S.
