Mercy Otis Warren, conscience of the American Revolution

This edition Copyright © 2002 Richard Seltzer. Permission is granted to make and distribute complete verbatim electronic copies of this item for non-commercial purposes provided the copyright information and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. All other rights reserved. Please contact us first if you are interested in making copies for commercial purposes, seltzer@samizdat.com Comments welcome.

Works by Mercy Warren, plus other books and documents related to the American Revolution are available on CD:

What do Mercy Otis Warren, Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Paine have in common? They all wrote about the American Revolution and/or the Early Republic and their works are on the same American Revolution CD, in plain text, with software that lets you listen as well as read.

If you would rather read Mercy's history of the American Revolution on your palm, for $5 you can buy a zipped file with that entire book formatted for Palm Reader (.pdb), TomeRaider (.tr) and Microsoft Reader (.lit) at www.palmgear.com 

Plays

• The Adulateur, a five-act play, published in 1773
• The Defeat, excerpts from a play, published 1773
• The Group, a three-act play, published in 1775
• The Blockheads, a three-act play, published  in 1776, shortly after the British withdrew from Boston
• The Motley Assembly, a farce, published in 1779.

Chronology of Mercy Otis Warren 1728 - 1814 by King Dykeman, Philosophy Department, Fairfield University

Introduction to the work of Mercy Otis Warren 1728 - 1814 by King Dykeman, Philosophy Department, Fairfield University

Introduction to Observations on the New Constitution by Mercy Otis Warren by King Dykeman, Philosophy Department, Fairfield University

The Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution

"Mercy Warren: Conscience of the American Revolution" a detailed review of this book by Richard Seltzer

The original 3-volume work is 1317 pages long. Mercy wrote early drafts of this work near the time of the events described, and completed the work about four years before it appeared in 1805. She explains the delay as due to health problems, temporary bouts of blindness, and grief at the death of one of her five sons.

Mercy writes in the third person even when dealing with events involving her immediate family. Keep in mind that James Otis (early advocate of the rights of the colonies) was her brother, James Warren (speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives) was her husband, and Winslow Warren (would-be diplomat) was her son.

• Volume 1 -- from the origins to Valley Forge in 1778
• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2 -- The Stamp Act. A Congress convened at New York, 1765. The Stamp Act repealed. New grievances. Suspension of the legislature of New York.
• Chapter 3 -- Cursory Observations. Massachusetts Circular Letter. A new House of Representatives called. Governor Bernard impeached. A riot on the seizure of a vessel. Troops arrive. A Combination against all commerce with Great Britain. A General Assembly convened at Boston, removed to Cambridge. Governor Bernard after his impeachment repairs to England.
• Chapter 4 -- Character of Mr. Hutchinson. Appointed Governor of Massachusetts. The attempted Assassination of Mr. Otiose. Transactions of the March 5, 1770. Arrival of the East India Company's Tea Ships. Establishment of Committees of Correspondence. The Right of Parliamentary Taxation without Representation urged by Mr. Hutchinson. Articles of Impeachment resolved on in the House of Representatives against Governor Hutchinson and Lieutenant Governor Oliver. Chief Justice of the Province impeached. Chief Justice of the Province impeached. Boston Port Bill. Governor Hutchinson leaves the Province.
• Chapter 5 -- General Gage appointed Governor of Massachusetts. General Assembly meets at Salem. A proposal for a Congress from all the Colonies to be convened at Philadelphia. Mandamus Counselors obliged to resign. Resolutions of the General Congress. Occasional Observations. The Massachusetts attentive to the military discipline of their youth. Suffolk Resolves. A Provincial Congress chosen in the Massachusetts. Governor Gage summons a new House of Representatives.
• Chapter 6 -- Parliamentary divisions on American affairs. Cursory observations and events. Measures for raising an army of observation by the four New England governments of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Battle of Lexington. Sketches of the conduct and characters of the governors of the southern provinces. Ticonderoga taken. Arrival of reinforcements from England. Proscription and characters of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Battle of Bunker HIll.  Death and character of General Joseph Warren. Massachusetts adopts a stable form of government.
• Chapter 7 -- Continental Army. Mr. Washington appointed to the command. General Gage recalled, succeeded by Sir William Howe. Depredations on the sea coast. Falmouth burnt. Canadian affairs. Death and character of General Montgomery.
• Chapter 8 -- Dissensions in the British Parliament. Petition of Governor Penn rejected. Boston evacuated. Sir Henry Clinton sent to the southward., followed by General Lee. His character. Sir Peter Parker's attack on Sullivan's Island. General Howe's Arrival at Sandy Hook. General Washington leaves Cambridge. Observations on the temper of some of the colonies.
• Chapter 9 -- Declaration of Independence. Lord Howe's arrival in America. Action on Long Island. Retreat of the Americans through the Jerseys and the loss of Forts Washington and Lee. Affairs in Canada. Surprise of the Hessians at Trenton. Various transactions in the Jerseys. General Howe's retreat. Makes headquarters at Brunswick. His indecisions. Some traits of his character.
• Chapter 10 -- Desultory circumstances. Skirmishes and events. General Howe withdraws from the Jerseys. Arrives at the River Elk. Followed by Washington. The Battle of Brandywine. General Washington defeated, retreats to Philadelphia. Obliged to draw of his army. Lord Cornwallis takes possession of the city. Action at Germantown, Red Bank, etc. The British Army take winter quarters in Philadelphia. The Americans encamp at Valley Forge. General Washington's situation not eligible. De Lisle's letters. General Conway resigns. The Baron de Steuben appointed Inspector General of the American army.
• Volume 2 -- from Saratoga in 1778 to the eve of Yorktown in 1781
• Chapter 11 -- Northern Department. General Carleton superseded. General Burgoyne vested with the command for operations in Canada. Ticonderoga abandoned by General St. Clair. Affair of Fort Stanwix. Of Bennington and various other important movements of the two armies, until the Convention of Saratoga. General Burgoyne repairs to England on parole. His reception there. Reflections and observations on the events of the Northern Campaign
• Chapter 12 -- Observations on the conduct of the British Parliament, previous to the capture of Burgoyne. The ineffectual efforts of the commissioners sent to America in consequence of Lord North's Conciliatory Bill.  Their attempts to corrupt individuals and public bodies. Negotiation broken off.  Manifesto published by the commissioners. Counter Declaration by Congress. Sir William Howe repairs to England
• Chapter 13 -- Evacuation of Philadelphia. Battle of Monmouth. General Lee censured. General Clinton reaches New York. The Count de Estaing arrives there. Repairs to Rhode Island. Expedition unsuccessful. French Fleet rendezvous at Boston to refit after damages sustained by a storm. Lord Howe leave the American Seas. Marauding exploits of General Grey. Destruction of Wyoming. Expedition into the Indian Territories.
• Chapter 14 -- Foreign negotiations. Dissensions among the American commissioners. Deane recalled. Mr. Adams appointed. Mr. Lee and Mr. Adams recalled. Spain declares war against England. Mr. Jay sent to the Court of Madrid. Sir George Collier's expedition to Virginia. His sudden recall.  Ravages on the North River.  Depredations in the state of Connecticut, in aid of Governor Tryon and his partisans. General Washington seizes Stoney Point. Recovered by the British. Penobscot expedition. Destruction of the American navy.
• Chapter 15 -- A retrospect of some naval transactions in the West Indies 1778 and 1779. Affairs in Georgia concisely reviewed. General Lincoln sent to take the command at the southward.  The Count de Estaing's arrival in Georgia. Savannah closely besieged by the combined forces of France and America. Repulsed by General Prescott. The Count of Estaing leaves the southern clime.  The Count Pulaski slain in Georgia. Some anecdotes of Count Kosciusko.
• Chapter 16 -- Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot sail for South Carolina. Charleston invested. Capitulates. General Lincoln and his army prisoners of war. General Clinton returns to New York. Lord Cornwallis's command and civil administration in Charleston. Mr. Gadsden an other gentlemen suspected and sent to St. Augustine. Much opposition to British authority in both the Carolinas. The Count de Rochambeau and the Admiral de Tiernay arrived at Newport. British depredations in the Jerseys. Catastrophe of Mr. Caldwell and his family. Armed neutrality. Some observations on the state of Ireland. Riots in England. Cursory observations.
• Chapter 17 --Distressed situation of the army and the country from various causes. General Gates sent to the southward. Surprised and defeated at Camden by Lord Cornwallis. Superseded. General Greene appointed to the command in the Carolinas. Major Ferguson's defeat. Sir Henry Clinton makes a diversion in the Chesapeake in favor of Lord Cornwallis. General Arnold sent there. His defection and character. Detection, trial, and death of Major Andre. Disposition of the Dutch Republic with regard to America. Governor Trumbull's character and correspondence with Baron Van de Capellen. Mr. Laurens appointed to negotiate with the Dutch Republic.
• Chapter 18 -- Revolt of the Pennsylvania line. Discontents in other parts of the army Paper medium sunk. Some active movements of Don Bernard de Galvez in America. War between Great Britain and Spain opened in Europe by the siege of Gibraltar. Short view of diplomatic transactions between America and several European powers.  Empress of Russia refuses to treat with the American States.
• Chapter 19 -- General Gates surrenders the command of the southern army to General Greene, on his arrival in South Carolina. Action between General Sumpter and Colonel Tarleton. General Morgan's expedition. Meet and defeats Colonel Tarleton. Lord Cornwallis pursues General Morgan. Party of Americans cut off at the Catawba. Lord Cornwallis arrives at Hillsborough. Calls by proclamation on all the inhabitants of the state to join him. Battle of Guilford. Americans defeated. Lord Cornwallis marches towards Wilmington. General Greene pursues him. General Greene returns towards Camden. Action at Camden. Lord Rawdon evacuates Camden and returns to Charleston. Barbarous state of society among the mountaineers, and in the back settlements of the Carolinas.  Attack on Ninety-Six. Repulse.  General Greene again obliged to retreat. Execution of Colonel Hayne. Lord Rawdon leaves the state of South Carolina and embarks for England. Action at the Eutaw Springs. General Greene retires to the high hills of Santee.  Governor Rutledge returns to South Carolina and resumes the reins of government.
• Chapter 20 -- Lord Cornwallis marches to Wilmington. Marquis de la Fayette sent to Virginia. Death of General Phillips. Lord Cornwallis moves from Petersburg to Williamsburg. Dissonant opinions between him and Sir Henry Clinton. Crosses James River.  Takes post at Portsmouth. Indecision of Sir Henry Clinton. Meditates an attack on Philadelphia. The project relinquished.
• Volume 3 -- from Yorktown in 1781 to the Treaty of Paris in 1783, plus a few subsequent events and observations about the Constitution (1787), the French Revolution (1789), and the presidencies of Washington and Adams (up to 1801)
• Chapter 21 -- A first view of the forces of the contending parties. The Generals Washington and Rochambeau meet at Weathersfield. Attack on New York contemplated. The design relinquished. Combined armies march toward Virginia. Count de Grasse arrives in the Chesapeake. Sir Samuel Hood arrives at New York. Sails to the Chesapeake. Naval action. Lord Cornwallis attempts a retreat. Disappointed. Offers terms of capitulation. Terms of surrender agreed on. Lord Digby and Sir Henry Clinton arrive too late. Comparative view of the British commanders. General exchange of prisoners.
• Chapter 22 -- General Wayne sent to the south. Embarrassments of General Greene in that quarter. Recovery of Georgia and evacuation of Savannah by the British. Death and character of Colonel Laurens. Character of General Greene. Consequent observations.
• Chapter 23 -- General observations on the conduct of the British King and Parliament after the intelligence of the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his army. King's speech. Address of thanks opposed. Proposition by Sir Thomas Pitt to withhold supplies from the Crown. Vote carried in favor of granting supplies. General Burgoyne defends the American opposition to the measures of the Court. Variety of desultory circumstances discussed in Parliament.
• Chapter 24 -- Naval transactions. Rupture between England and France opened in the Bay of Biscay. Admiral Keppel. Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough captured by Paul Jones. The protection given him by the States-General resented by the British Court. Transactions in the West Indies. Sir George Bridges Rodney returns to England after the capture of St. Eustatia. Sent out again the succeeding year. Engages an defeats the French squadron under the command of the Count de Grasse. Capture of the Ville de Paris. The Count de Grasse sent to England. Admiral Rodney created a peer of the realm on his return to England.
• Chapter 25 -- Continuation of naval rencounters. Affair of Count Byland. Sir Hyde Parker and Admiral Zeutman. Commodore Johnstone ordered to the Cape of Good Hope. Admiral Kempenfelt. Loss of the Royal George. Baron de Rullincort's expedition to the Isle of Jersey. Capture of Minorca. Gibraltar again besieged, defended, and relieved.  Mr. Adams's negotiations with the Dutch provinces.
• Chapter 26 -- General uneasiness with ministerial measures in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Loud complaints against the Board of Admiralty. Sir Hyde Parker resigns his commission. Motion for an address for peace by General Conway. Resignation of Lord George Germaine. Created a peer of the realm. Lord North resigns. Some traits of his character. Petition of the city of London for peace. Coalition of parties. A new ministry. Death and character of the Marquis of Rockingham. Lord Shelburne's administration. Negotiations for peace. Provisional articles signed. Temper of the loyalists. Execution of Captain Huddy. Consequent imprisonment of Captain Asgill. Asgill's release.
• Chapter 27 -- Discontents with the provisional articles. Mr. Hartley sent to Paris. The definitive treaty agreed to and signed by all parties. A general pacification among the nations at war. Mr. Pitt, Prime Minister in England. His attention to East India affairs. Some subsequent observations.
• Chapter 28 -- Peace proclaimed in America. General Carleton delays the withdraw of the the troops from New York. Situation of the loyalists. Efforts in their favor by some gentlemen in Parliament. Their final destination. Their dissatisfaction and subsequent conduct.
• Chapter 29 -- Conduct of the American army on the news of peace. Mutiny and insurrection. Congress surrounded by a part of the American army. Mutineers disperse. Congress removes to Princeton. Order of Cincinnati. Observations thereon.
• Chapter 30 -- A survey of the situation of America on the conclusion of the war with Britain. Observations on the Declaration of Independence. Withdraw of the British troops from New York. A few observations on the detention of the western posts. The American army disbanded, after the commander in chief had addressed the public and taken leave of his fellow soldiers. General Washington resigns his commission to Congress.
• Chapter 31 -- Supplementary observations on succeeding events, after the termination of the American Revolution. Insurrection in the Massachusetts. A general convention of the states. A new Constitution adopted. General Washington chosen President. British treaty negotiated by Mr. Jay. General Washington's second retreat from public life. General observations

"Warren, Mercy (1728-1814), American writer, sister of James Otis, was born at Barnstable, Mass., and in 1754 married James Warren (1726-1808) of Plymouth, Mass., a college friend of her brother. Her literary inclinations were fostered by both these men, and she began early to write poems and prose essays. As member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1766-1774) and its speaker (1776-1777 and 1787-1788), member (1774 and 1775) and president (1775) of the Provincial Congress, and paymaster-general in 1775, James Warren took a leading part in the events of the American revolutionary period, and his wife followed its progress with keen interest. Her gifts of satire were utilized in her political dramas, The Adulator (1773) and The Group (1775); and John Adams, whose wife Abigail was Mercy Warren's close friend, encouraged her to further efforts. Her tragedies "The Sack of Rome" and "The Ladies of Castile," were included in her Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous (1790), dedicated to General Washington. Apart from their historical interest among the beginnings of American literature, Mercy Warren's poems have no permanent value. In 1805 she published a History of the American Revolution, which was colored by somewhat outspoken personal criticism and was bitterly resented by John Adams (see his correspondence, published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1878). James Warren died in 1808, and his wife followed him on the 19th of October 1814."

This two-act historical comedy is based on the lives of Mercy Otis Warren and General Johnny Burgoyne. A recent biography of Burgoyne, entitled The Man Who Lost America, focuses on his defeat and surrender at Saratoga in 1777. A recent biography of Mercy Warren, entitled First Lady of the Revolution, indicates that she was intimately connected with principal actors and actions of the Revolution.

Both Burgoyne and Mercy Warren were playwrights. After the Revolution, Burgoyne wrote several "hit" plays for the London stage. In 1775, during the British occupation of Boston, he wrote The Blockade of Boston. Mercy replied with a play entitled The Blockheads.

These two historical figures are natural antagonists who should be made to meet on the stage. 

This two-act historical play was written for Columbia, Pennsylvania, where it was performed December 1-4, 1976, as part of that town's bicentennial celebration. The events of the play take place in December 1777 and center around the Conway Conspiracy.

The action focuses on the strategic importance of the ferry crossing that would one day become Columbia; situated between Congress in York and the army in Valley Forge. The fates of the town-to-be and the nation-to-be are interwoven, with local historical figures playing significant roles in a plausible confrontation with Conway and Mifflin.

Conway, plotting to overthrow Washington, tries to seize the ferry. But he underestimates the determination and resourcefulness of old Susannah Wright, the owner of the ferry, and her nephew Sam, the future founder of the town of Columbia.

Please send your comments and related suggestions to seltzer@samizdat.com

What do Mercy Otis Warren, Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Paine have in common? They all wrote about the American Revolution and/or the Early Republic and their works are on the same American Revolution CD, in plain text, with software that lets you listen as well as read.

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