Celebrate Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814), a Plymouth resident, was the first woman to write a history of the American Revolution and to advocate for a Bill of Rights. An outspoken commentator, historian, and mother of five sons, Mrs. Warren was the leading female intellectual of the Revolution and early republic. In an era when politics was considered the exclusive domain of white men, she published plays, poems, and tracts about current issues.

Born in West Barnstable, Cape Cod, she was the third of thirteen children born to James Otis and Mary Allyne Otis whose ancestor, Edward Doty, was a passenger on the Mayflower. In 1754 Mrs. Warren wed the politically active James Warren, a classmate of her brother at Harvard, who encouraged her to pursue writing.

In 1757 the young couple moved into the Winslow House at 65 Main Street in downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts.  The house was originally constructed in 1726 by British General John Winslow (1703-1774), the great grandson of Edward Winslow, the famous Diplomat of the Pilgrims, and a three term Governor of the colony.

As friends of John and Abigail Adams the Warrens often hosted secret meetings of the Sons of Liberty in their downtown Plymouth home. So impressed was John Adams with Mrs. Warren’s literary abilities, that he encouraged her to write the three-volume History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution which was published in 1805.

Mercy Otis Warren lived to be 86 years old and died in 1814 in her home in Plymouth, MA. She is buried there at the Burial Hill Cemetery.