Minds and Hearts: The Story of James Otis, Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren by Jeffrey H. Hacker

Abstract

Reviewed by: Minds and Hearts: The Story of James Otis, Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren by Jeffrey H. Hacker Rachel Tamar Van (bio) Mercy Otis Warren, James Otis Jr., American Revolution Minds and Hearts: The Story of James Otis, Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren. By Jeffrey H. Hacker. (Amherst, MA: Bright Leaf, an Imprint of the University of Massachusetts Press, 2021. Pp. 216. Paper, $22.95; cloth, $90.00.) "Siblings," wrote C. Dallett Hemphill, "are humanities' great shock absorbers, especially in times of accelerated change."1 Of the siblings that might provide a test case for such a dynamic, James Otis, Jr. and Mercy Otis Warren certainly fit the bill. Otis and Warren were two of the leading voices of the American Revolution in Massachusetts. James Otis, Jr. is best known for his 1761 denunciation of writs of assistance before the Massachusetts Superior Court. The writs case rendered Otis an "instant hero with restive Bostonians" (17). He served in the state legislature and became renowned for his oratory against imperial overreach. Unfortunately, Otis's career shined bright, but short. By 1773, Otis's listing as a founding member of Boston's Committee of Correspondence was seen as a tribute to previous service (134). For modern readers, Mercy Otis Warren, more than James and even nephew Harrison Gray Otis, might well be the most notable figure of the Otis political dynasty. Warren's prolific publication of satirical plays gave [End Page 181] voice to frustrations common to leading Massachusetts patriots. In 1805 she published her three-volume History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution. The books proved influential from the start. A first customer? Then-president Jefferson purchased volumes for his own library and for the members of his cabinet. In 1850, in The Women of the American Revolution, Elizabeth Ellett touted Warren's influence. "Seldom," Ellett wrote, "has one woman in any age, acquired such an ascendancy over the strongest, by the mere force of a powerful intellect."2 The first full-length biography of Warren appeared in 1896 with Alice Brown's Mercy Warren, but scholarly interest flourished with the field of women's history. In a new dual biography, independent scholar Jeffrey Hacker analyzes the pair with a focus on "the mutually inspiring bond between James and Mercy—fraternal, political, and intellectual" (3). This is no small task, as Hacker is well aware. In 1783, James burned many of his personal documents. According to letters between John Adams and Otis's daughter, Otis may have destroyed papers earlier as well (179). Similarly, much of Mercy's correspondence comes from the 1770s and later, from her forties on. Rosemarie Zagarri notes in her biography of Warren that the ostensibly prolific writing between the two were casualties of these burnings.3 Pairing the siblings allows for a gendered story of the American Revolution and the Otis family's personal travails. Hacker traces Mercy's publications to suggest that she wrote not just for the cause, but also to exorcise the demons that befell her family. James in particular prevails as the figure of "Brutus" in The Adulateur in 1772 and in numerous mentions in her History volumes (128, 211). Warren's repeated defense of her brother's reputation underscores Hacker's argument of the importance of the sibling bond. To Hacker, Warren continued her brother's legacy. But it may be more apt to say that Otis shaped her thinking than that they shared a trajectory. Otis's advocacy was revolutionary in ways that Warren's was not. In the Rights of the British, Otis embraced Parliament's prerogatives, but with limits—such as taxing unrepresented subjects. But he also denounced slavery in unequivocal terms, as contrary to natural law: "Does it follow that [End Page 182] 'tis right to enslave a man because he is black? . . . Nothing better can be said in favor of a trade that is the most shocking violation of the law of nature." And at another point, "Are not women born as free as men?" (81). Hacker's treatment explicitly analyzes Warren as a woman. He builds on Rosemarie Zagarri's framing: Warren's activism battled with her faith and embrace...