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The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation

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In Muse of the Revolution, author Nancy Rubin Stuart creates a vivid portrait of Mercy Otis Warren, an extraordinarily influential American woman of her time who had personal relationships with people such as George and Martha Washington, and Elbridge Gerry, a post-revolutionary ambassador to France. Through use of personal letters, family papers, and contemporaneous newspaper accounts, Ms. Stuart re-creates the life and times of Mrs. Warren, whose poems, satirical plays, and pamphlets helped shape the course of events surrounding the birth of the United States.

In her prescient play "The Group," Mrs. Warren accurately predicted the Battles of Lexington and Concord. She also published a pamphlet after the Revolution, ten points of which were incorporated into the Bill of Rights. And for 35 years she labored over a three-volume history of the Revolution and its aftermath, which was published late in her long life. Although it was initially heavily criticized and had few buyers, Mercy Otis Warren lived long enough to see her history vindicated.

Through meticulously annotated research--there are over 20 pages of endnotes and references--Ms. Stuart gives the reader intimate insight into Mercy's family life. Mercy's supportive husband James was first paymaster general of the Continental Army and a delegate to the Provincial Congress during the Revolution. At that time, Mercy was a long-suffering wife, as James was frequently away from home and vulnerable to the dangers of the conflict.

Mercy found a soulmate in another long-suffering wife, Abigail Adams, wife of John, with whom she became lifelong friends and exchanged extensive letters. Mercy also corresponded extensively with John Adams, who initially encouraged her to write but became infuriated with her in later years for her portrayal of him in her history. Ms. Stuart gives us an entertaining flavor of their virulent correspondence on this subject, a clash between a strong, highly intelligent woman and a blunt, irascible former president of the United States.

Some of the most touching portions of Muse of the Revolution involve the relationship between Abigail and Mercy. Both women had children in harm's way, and both women lost children to either illness or war. Abigail and Mercy console each other and ultimately rise above their political differences. They become fond of each other's family. Mercy becomes especially close to Abigail's daughter Nabby when the teenager spends a summer at her home. As a result, Mercy is nearly as heartbroken as Abigail when Nabby dies of breast cancer at age 47.

Ms. Stuart also does a good job of bringing to life the historical events through which Mercy lives. Readers will identify many of their own concerns with those of American citizens in revolutionary Massachussetts, including economic upheaval, government chaos, political polarization, and fear of inflation.

Beware, this is not a book for the casual reader. The eighteenth century vernacular takes a little getting used to, and the large number of characters is, at times, difficult to keep straight.

That said, I highly recommend Muse of the Revolution as a well-told, extraordinary story of an intellectually gifted woman whose writings had a significant impact on the Founding Fathers at a time when females were largely relegated to homemaking.

We make much of the Founding Fathers of our nation, with barely a nod to any founding mothers. There is the legendary composition of the American flag by Betsy Ross, but even if Ms Ross did so, no one pays attention to her ideas or opinions. We have Abigail Adams, whose recommendation to history was not just that she was married to John Adams, but also that she was a clear thinker and did not confine her frequent letters to domestic or matrimonial issues. And then we have Mercy Otis Warren. Who? Mrs. Warren is little known to our time, although she was well known in her own (and was known as "Mrs. Warren") for publishing plays and poetry with political and revolutionary themes, even though she had to do so anonymously, and for having close acquaintances among other writers and among the leaders of the age. She also wrote one of the first histories of the American Revolution, which, if it is not regarded as a classic, is still consulted by historians specializing in the era. That a woman of her time could have the confidence, perhaps the presumption, of writing history was a surprise to her contemporaries, and argues that she had some sort of greatness and is worth knowing about. _The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation_ (Beacon Press) by Nancy Rubin Stuart is a fine introduction to Mrs. Warren's life, and to the domestic and civil concerns of Revolutionary patriots.

Warren was born in 1728, and besides getting the domestic education all girls got, she was exposed to the books of her brothers, and succeeded when she begged to accompany them to school. Her love of reading, and her introduction to Pope, Dryden, Shakespeare, and others would affect her eventual writing style, but of course she didn't get to go on to Harvard as her brothers did. She married James Warren in 1754. He was a gentleman farmer and politician who was well known by all the more famous leaders of the Revolution. Mrs. Warren became known in her own way, and chief among her friends was John Adams, who would be a mentor and correspondent to her for decades. Adams introduced his young wife Abigail to Mrs. Warren, and the correspondence between the three forms much of the quoted material within this book. Warren's works included plays, satires of the times lacerating the Britons in authority who were oppressing the citizens. It's not fair to say she was a feminist, or even a proto-feminist. Though she thought a great deal about the news of the day, she was deferential. In a letter to her great friend John Adams, having mentioned the subject of patriots opposing Britain, she wrote, "I ask pardon for touching on war, politicks, or anything relative thereto, as I think you gave me a hint in yours not to approach... anything so far beyond the line of my sex." In writing about Mrs. Warren's reactions through the years, Stuart provides delightful insight to the sorts of day-to-day matters that were on her mind. We get to follow, for instance, her involvement in the daunting inoculation process against smallpox, a cure that had many of the aspects of the fearsome disease itself. Mrs. Warren reminds us that no matter how much we cherish our Revolutionary heroes, she spied during the war "a total change of manners" among the rising materialistic class of her countrymen with a new vogue in "profusion, pride and servility and almost every vice," and she was shocked at the "privateering" by those who made their profits in the war.

It is also refreshing to understand that many of the heroes in our bronze statues were but humans, as Mrs. Warren saw them. She was disgusted, for instance, by the ostentation of John Hancock in 1777, as he made his official travels in his gold coach accompanied by fifty horsemen from his private corps of cadets. This sort of throwback to the trappings of royalty was also to offend her when John Adams took power, and Adams was especially upset with Mrs. Warren's depiction of him in her _History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution interspersed with Biographical, Political and Moral Observations_ (1805). The rift was severe, and Stuart summarizes their sixteen letters back and forth on the issue. Only the year before her death in 1814 did Adams deign to correspond again and the friendship was renewed. Mrs. Warren's story is also a reminder that the Constitution that we take for granted was a controversial document even among American patriots. She did not like it, and although her authorship was not known for 140 years, she wrote a treatise critiquing the document. The treatise played a role in the eventual drafting of the Bill of Rights. Stuart's book shows a woman of her times, but one with self-made erudition and with ambitions and influence outside the domestic sphere. It is an excellent summary of the life of an important patriot who made a difference during the times of the Founding Fathers.

A fascinating & entertaining account about one of America's forgotten outstanding women. I learned far more about the American Revolution and how it affected ordinary poeple by reading The Muse of the Revolution than I ever learned in my American history class.

L.S.
Manhattan

This a great story about a woman who witnessed the era of the Amercian Revolution and penned several articles for the newspapers of the day.

What a discovery! I never knew Mercy Otis Warren existed, let alone that she was the "Muse of the Revolution". An amazingly well-rounded talented woman, a delight to get to know her.

The Secret Garden of the Mind. This review covers more of the "method" than of simply the book contents, because the same theme seems to run through most of the accounting of the best of history as it broke through daunting barriers.

Secret Societies, Secret Meetings, Secret Pens - much of the best work of the universe of men and women has, of necessity, been carried out in "secret". There were a multitude of different reasons for this, but it all came down to fear of public opinion even as they strove to change it. From the Free Masons to the rebel pens of the Revolutionists - indeed, the very initial stirrings of the Revolution for American Independence formed behind closed doors, so tightly closed in fact, that the exact accounting will never be known because, according to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, no notes were taken. From the tongue-in-cheek romps of "Silence Do Good" (Benjamin Franklin) to the covert writings of a female (Mercy Otis) who dared to bring her political thoughts before public perusal (but only because they were initially shrouded in secrecy). Pamphlets and plays became ours, all magnificently accomplished through a degree of fine deception; the great works somehow were recognized behind the veil of censorship, recognized though it's authors feared exposure even as they wrote for the people who would persecute them had their real names been revealed.

These writings, some that began as covert and metamorphosed into revealing true identities at last are not only lessons in history, they tell a broader tale about the psyche of those who read the work of others. Almost everyone wants to read; and read truthful, detailed, newsworthy accountings of current events from those individuals whose unique talents can put "everyman's thoughts" into words - yet what a struggle those people endured in the early days to bring light to subject!

That's the undertow of what I found most fascinating while reading of those turbulent times - the method used as the means. They obviously took fear and apprehension seriously, but they would not be silenced because of it. As I think of it, I personally marvel over it, feel grateful for, and wonder still at the courage level of such leaders "of encouraged thought" of the mind, in a time where darkness was preferred by the powerful, where even home and family often voiced a stern disapproval.

This particular biography notes the important contributions of Mercy Otis Warren - to both the American Revolution and the Women's movement of the time. She took a different tack than most early femnists - through her pen and her wits rather than through physical presence but there is no denying her involvement or her worth to both movements. That she has not been afforded her true measure save for a scant handful of historians is regrettable, but it has happened to more than one early hero/heroine. Perhaps she was considered "radical", as was James Jr., but oftentimes, it is those types of individuals who will not be put asunder as their ideas are questioned or suppressed, and therefore, were the building blocks of our new nation, attaining their objective under nom de plume until eventually, they came forward in their own right. It is a very interesting subject.

Some of the best I have found thus far regarding nom de plume (and without doubt, there are many more):

** Mercy Otis Warren - the Muse of the Revolution
** The first American (Benjamin Franklin)
** A Woman's Dilemma (Mercy Otis Warren)
** The Adams-Jefferson Letters (mention of pen names)

Nancy Rubin Stuart is a phenomenal writer. I've read 2 of her other books ("American Empress" and "The Reluctant Spiritualist") and she has an amazing way of synthesizing masses of historical research, including rare personal correspondence, into a compelling read.

"The Muse of the Revolution" takes you into the life of a woman who lived during the time of the American revolution and rubbed elbows with many prominent figures. It was fascinating seeing John Adams, George Washington and John Hancock portrayed as real human beings, rather than iconic Founding Fathers, and to hear about the challenges faced by the first Americans during those extraordinary, but challenging times.

If you're interested in revolutionary history, this is a great book to read.