Warren, Joseph (1741-1775) physician, revolutionary A spokesman in the RESISTANCE MOVEMENT (1764-75) to imperial regulation, Joseph Warren died at the beginning of the REVOLUTIONARY War (1775-83).
Warren was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1741. In 1755, the same year his father died, Warren entered Harvard College. After graduation, he apprenticed with Dr. James Lloyd and became an established physician. During a smallpox epidemic in Boston in 1763, the new doctor quickly became known as a successful innoculator (see also DISEASE AND EPIDEMICS). Indeed, Warren became friends with a patient named JOHN Adams as a result of the epidemic. By 1769 he had emerged as one of Boston’s most celebrated physicians.
Warren also was active in politics, giving numerous speeches at Faneuil Hall alongside men like JOHN HANCOCK and Samuel Adams. In the aftermath of the Boston MASSACRE (March 5, 1770), Warren became a skilled propagandist, frequently urging military preparation. The BOSTON Tea Party (December 16, 1773) increased his standing in the Resistance Movement. In 1774 Warren led the committee that drafted the SuEEOLK RESOLVES. On April 18, 1775, Warren dispatched Paul Revere and William Dawes on their famous journeys. Warren served in three provincial congresses in Massachusetts, rising to president of the third.
On June 14, 1775, Warren was named a major general in the provincial army. Three days later, acting as a volunteer because his commission had not arrived, Warren was swept up in the Battle oe Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775). Warren moved to hold Breed’s Hill. Though resisting two waves of attack, Warren was caught in the third British charge. Among the last of the revolutionary forces left on Breed’s Hill, Warren was shot in the head and killed.
Further reading: John Cary, Joseph Warren: Physician, Politician, Patriot (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1961).
—Jay R. Dew
Warren, Mercy Otis (1728-1814) poet, playwright, historian, critic
As a historian, poet and dramatist, Mercy Otis Warren provided both fascinating political commentary and a valuable insider’s look at the events surrounding the American REVOLUTION. Born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1728, Mercy received little formal EDUCATION, except what she gleaned from her brothers’ tutoring sessions. Mercy’s brother, JAMES OTIS, was a leading political activist during the RESISTANCE MOVEMENT (1764-75), who publicly opposed various English measures, including the Stamp Act (1765). Relationships to prominent revolutionary figures, such as James Warren, Abigail Adams, and John Adams, gave Mercy expert knowledge of the turbulent events surrounding the American Revolution, which she subsequently applied to her creative works.
On November 14, 1754, Mercy Otis married James Warren, a Massachusetts political leader, and the couple resided mainly in Plymouth, Massachusetts, except for the 10 years in which they lived in Milton at the house once owned by Governor THOMAS HUTCHINSON. They had five sons, compelling Warren to juggle motherhood with her writing career. Warren held strong views on women’s roles in society. Although she believed in the importance of motherhood, she felt that women had the right to pursue other career interests. Women needed to manage their time wisely, thus allowing them to live in both the world of intellect and the world of domesticity. In letters she wrote to her friend Abigail Adams, Warren asserted that a good education proved critical to sharpening women’s minds and distracting them from frivolous pursuits. She recognized that domestic responsibilities often hindered a woman’s ability to challenge herself intellectually; however, it was worth the effort.
Warren applied her intellectual skills towards writing plays and recording the experiences of the revolutionary period. Her major works include The Adulateur (1773), The Group (1775), Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous (1790), and A History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution (3 volumes, 1805). In the political satires The Adulateur and The Group, Warren directed her attacks at the increasingly unpopular governor Thomas Hutchinson. She also predicted that a war against Great Britain would inevitably occur. The playwright maintained strong republican convictions and criticized those who exhibited “aristocratic” tendencies. Through personal correspondence, Warren offered her opinions on political matters to a number of major political figures, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, James Winthrop, John Dickinson, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Elbridge Gerry, and Henry Knox.
In her history of the Revolution, few people escaped Warren’s biting political commentary, including the second president of the United States, John Adams. For example, Warren questioned Adam’s ability to keep his passions and prejudices intact, and she noted his excessive “pride of talents” and ambition. Adams objected to Warren’s depiction of him, and consequently, a rift developed in their friendship that lasted for almost five years. Mercy Otis Warren’s influence waned as a new generation of politicians came into power in the early 19th century. However, through her literary contribution, her imprint on the Revolution remains firm. She died in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on October 19, 1814.
See also republicanism; women’s rights and status.
Further reading: Jeffrey H. Richards, Mercy Otis Warren (New York: Twayne, 1995); Rosemarie Zagarri, A Woman’s
Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution (Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1995).
—Linda English
World History
