Mercy Otis Warren: The Pen That Pressed for the Bill of Rights
Description
We trace the life and ideas of Mercy Otis Warren, the writer who helped secure a culture of liberty—and a Bill of Rights—without a seat at the Convention. From a rare classical education to salons with the Sons of Liberty, her pen shaped policy and public virtue.
• Mercy Otis Warren’s early education and family background
• Hosting and influencing the Sons of Liberty network
• Friendship with John Adams and first published poem
• Plays, poems, essays, and a pioneering Revolution history
• Anti‑Federalist critique and Observations on the New Constitution
• Locke’s influence, individual rights, and the need for a Bill of Rights
• Liberty’s dependence on civic virtue and moral restraint
• Recommended readings and biographies to go deeper
• The Otis siblings’ partnership and James Otis Jr.’s curtailed role
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School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership
United States
