Mercy Otis Warren’s Narrative The Historyof The American Revolution

Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) was a famous female playwright, political writer and historian in18th century’s American. She witnessed the rise, progress, and termination of the American Revolution. Warren was personally involved in the American Revolution, and produced her revolutionary narrative text as a observer. As one of the advocates of the American Revolution, she had been following the trend of political reality closely, resorting her personal observation and thinking of American politics to writing the "History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution". The complexity of Warren’identities makes her narrative on the revolutionary history a special historical and research value to us.As an18th-century woman, Warren was not allowed to participate in the open political discussion formally, writing became the main means to express her personal political views. Virtue and liberty were highly respected by Warren, which made her political language had a strong moral tone. Moral persuasion was always the key point both in her plays and historical writing. Warren’s imagination and definition of the revolution was affected by the political experiences of British history. She believed that the American Revolution was to protect the rights and freedoms from being harmed. Moreover, Warren considered the principles of the American revolution as ideological foundation of the new republic and national character. She advocated the moral persuasion of the history in her revolutionary narrative, and emphasized the moral significance of the American Revolution. When the American society deviated from the revolutionary principles, Warren proposed women to rebuild the public virtue, hoping women to shoulder the duty of "republican mother".