Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) used her writing to help fuel a revolution. As a playwright, poet and satirist, her work inspired early American Patriots, and set the stage for the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) used her writing to help fuel a revolution. As a playwright, poet and satirist, her work inspired early American Patriots, and set the stage for the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
This month, we’re highlighting Women of Resistance. Whether fighting tyranny, oppression, sexism, racism, reproductive control, or any number of other ills, these women created paths for change.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
This month on Womanica, we’re highlighting women who led extraordinary lives of resistance. Whether fighting tyranny, oppression, sexism, racism, or reproductive control these women created paths for change.
Our womanican today used her writing to help fuel a revolution. A playwright, a poet, and a satirist, her work inspired early American Patriots, and set the stage for the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
Let’s talk about Mercy Otis Warren.
Mercy Otis was born in 1728, on the coast of Massachusetts. She was the third of 13 children, and the family’s first girl. In many ways, she grew up as one of the boys.
When her father read aloud to her brothers, Mercy was there, too. When her uncle led her brothers in lessons, Mercy listened in. In an era when most women could barely read or write, she loved books. She devoured important works: classics, Shakespeare, Milton, and even translations of Moliere, the great comedic playwright.
When she was 26 years old, Mercy married James Warren, a merchant and a farmer.
Growing up, Mercy and her family hadn’t minded the fact that she was living in a British colony. But as restrictions grew tighter, Mercy became increasingly resentful of the crown. Her husband, James, entered local politics, and James and Mercy became friends with many of the American revolutionaries. Their house became a meeting place for patriots, who dreamed of independence.
At first, Mercy stayed on the political sidelines. She was busy parenting her five sons, and when she had time, she wrote poems about family and nature.
In 1769, her brother, James Otis, was hit in the head during a bar fight with Thomas Hutchinson, the royal governor of Massachusetts. James had been a popular lawyer and activist. The attack left him with permanent brain damage.
Mercy was heartbroken. So she fought back with her mightiest weapon: her pen.
In 1772, she finished her first satirical play, called “The Adulateur.” It was published anonymously in the Massachusetts Spy newspaper. And the story featured a dictator, who was a thinly veiled version of the royal governor. Mercy named the governor’s character Rapatio, a play on the word, “rape.” The American Revolution was still several years away, but in the play, Mercy described a time when, “murders, blood and carnage/Shall crimson all these streets.”
Mary’s writing swept through Boston’s community of patriots. As the revolutionaries plotted in letters and correspondence, they would use characters from the play to refer to their real-life counterparts.
The next year, when word spread of Governor Hutchinson’s attempts to limit colonialist freedom, Mercy once again took up her pen. This time, she wrote a sequel to her first play. It was called The Defeat. Rapatio, she said, was a danger to liberty, to truth, and to mankind.
Though she continued to publish anonymously, patriots in the colonies found out she was the woman behind the plays.
After the Boston Tea Party protest in 1773, John Adams asked Mercy for a poem. She wrote “The Squabble of the Sea Nymphs. ” The poem ends with rebel goddesses throwing tea into the ocean, “In spite of heroes, demi gods, or kings.”
When the British handed down the Intolerable Acts of 1774, as punishment for the tea party, Mercy wrote poems urging women to boycott British goods. As tensions heightened, she wrote a play mocking British loyalists. Two weeks later, the Battles of Lexington and Concord broke out – which marked the start of the Revolutionary War.
While her husband, James, was away during the war, Mercy ran their farm and worked as his secretary. When James wrote to John Adams, telling him to stop trying to reconcile with the crown, Mercy added her own paragraph at the bottom of the letter. She wrote:
“You should no longer piddle at the threshold. It is time to leap into the theatre to unlock the bars, and open every gate that impedes the rise and growth of the American republic.”
Mercy continued to be outspoken streak, even as her own beliefs chafed with more mainstream politics. In the 1780s, she published an essay under the pseudonym A Columbian Patriot – arguing against the Constitution. She pointed out that there was no bill of rights – no freedom of conscience, no guarantee of a free press, no right to a trial by jury. What would stop officials from entering your house and taking whatever they wanted?
Her words ripped through the new country. A year later, under pressure, Congress passed… the Bill of Rights.
Mercy finally stepped out of anonymity in 1790, when she published a collection of her work from the previous two decades. After reading the collection, Alexander Hamilton praised the work. He wrote to her:
“In the career of dramatic composition at least, female genius in the United States has outstripped the Male.”
In 1805, at the age of 77, Mercy published a sprawling masterwork: a 1,200-page history of the American Revolution, making her the first woman to be a published American historian.
Mercy lived to be 87 years old, and died in the place she’d spent her life defending: Massachusetts.
All month, we’re highlighting women of resistance. For more information, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!