By Nancy Rubin Stuart
Beacon Press
Beyond the apocryphal sewing skills of Betsy Ross and the best supporting roles of Abigail Adams and Martha Washington, too little has been offered about the important roles, influences, and contributions of women in the founding of the United States. Author Nancy Rubin Stuart has meticulously researched the life of American writer, poet, pamphleteer, playwright, historian and pro-liberty advocate, Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814), and in these 300+ pages, Stuart effectively presents an absorbing reminder that the Founding Fathers did not give birth to the American Revolution by themselves.
Sprinkled generously throughout with quotes from original source correspondence, journal entries, and historical documents, this comprehensive biography capably paints a portrait of the woman (known as the "Conscience of the American Revolution") who chronicled the Revolution, improved the U.S. Constitution, campaigned for and influenced the Bill of Rights, and successfully confronted a male-privileged, male-controlled society. Our s/hero was a witness to, an influence on, and a chronicler of some of the most important events in the formation of this new nation.
Little-known (until now!), Mercy Otis Warren satirized both British and American Loyalists in her popular poems and plays, and authored an influential critique of the U.S. Constitution, which was later incorporated into the Bill of Rights as now-familiar principles. Her challenging, thought-provoking writings made her an exception among the fundamentally voiceless women of her time. When Warren wrote, the men and women of her day listened.
Her father, an elected member to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and an outspoken leader against British rule and the Crown-appointed colonial governor, raised his children “…in the midst of revolutionary ideals." He surprisingly allowed Mercy to be tutored with her older brothers - including James Otis, the noted patriot who is credited with declaring "Taxation without representation is tyranny!” (the most influential slogan to inspire the American Revolution).
Mercy married James Warren, who became Speaker of the Massachusetts House and Paymaster General of the Continental Army. As mother to five sons, she also served as her husband's private secretary where she was privy to news about the Revolution and actively participated in political life and the growing conflict between the American colonies and the British government. The Warren home became a safe haven for local politics where protest and strategy meetings were hosted for the Sons of Liberty. Warren became a strong political voice with views on liberty, democracy, and independence for the American colonies. Mercy's husband encouraged her to write and she became his chief correspondent and sounding board.
She formed a strong circle of friends with whom she regularly corresponded, including Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Hannah Winthrop, and others. Through their mutual correspondence, they increased awareness of women's issues and were supportive of and helped to influence the course of events which furthered America’s cause. Warren was also a correspondent and adviser to many influential political leaders and American history notables - including Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Elbridge Gerry, Henry Knox, and especially John Adams, who became her literary mentor in the years leading to the Revolution.
In this well-researched biography of the first female historian of the American Revolution and our first woman playwright, Nancy Rubin Stuart depicts Warren's life and patriotic achievements and reminds us that the ideals of independence resonated as strongly with American women as they did with American men. In their book on exceptional women, s/heroes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony hailed Founding Mother Mercy Otis Warren for championing not only "the freedom of man alone, but . . . that of her own sex also." Nancy Rubin Stuart’s book The Muse of the Revolution now persuasively argues for Mercy's legacy to be appreciated by an entirely new generation. She was truly a revolutionary Revolutionary!
Review by Linda Sternhill Davis
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