Women Who Wrote: Mercy Otis Warren
Mercy Otis Warren wrote and published the tragic play, The Adulateur: A tragedy as it is now acted in Upper Servia in 1772 to call out the alleged crimes of the British government during the Boston Massacre and to openly criticize Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson. Otis Warren wrote the famous play under a pseudonym so that it could be published.
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NARRATOR: At a time when the British ruled over the 13 colonies of North America with an iron fist, poet, playwright and whistleblower Mercy Otis Warren used her words to throw serious shade their way.
Born in Barnstable, Massachusetts in 1728, Mercy was greatly influenced by her father, James Otis, a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and outspoken critic of oppressive British rule. He encouraged his daughter to follow her intellectual interests, and she was tutored at home at a time when very few women received any education at all.
In 1754, Mercy Otis married James Warren, a lawyer and revolutionary activist. But Mercy Otis Warren soon became a leading political voice in her own right. She wrote passionately about American freedom, equality, and religious tolerance in letters exchanged with leading American patriots—including Abigail and John Adams.
But it was her explosive play, The Adulateur, that caused a public sensation. Published anonymously to avoid gender bias and British retribution, the play satirized the colonial governor, Thomas Hutchinson, as an egocentric tyrant and foretold the outbreak of the war against the British—publicly fanning the flames of revolution.
Warren also became one of America's first whistleblowers, when she leaked letters that proved Hutchinson was double-dealing with the British—through her next play, The Defeat. By 1783, the colonies had won independence from Great Britain, and Warren was finally able to receive the recognition she deserved for her work—a Citizen Journalist of the revolution, who is today celebrated with a place in the National Women's Hall of Fame for her contributions to American Independence.
Do modern-day Citizen Journalists and whistleblowers have positive or negative influences upon democracy?
