James Warren (September 28, 1726-November 28, 1808) was the president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, following Joseph Warren's death. He was a Major-General in the Provincial Militia; a member of the Navy board for the Eastern Department, a member of the Governor's Council, 1792-94; and a presidential elector from Massachusetts, 1804. He was married to Mercy Otis Warren, 1724-1814, a remarkable author of the Revolutionary period, whose correspondence with numerous founding fathers has granted invaluable insight into our nation's history. In 1805, Mercy Otis Warren wrote the History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, in 3 volumes.
Following the hated Stamp Act of 1765, the British committed the Boston Massacre in 1770, firing into a crowd, killing five. In 1773, James Warren proposed that Sam Adams form Committees of Correspondence to inform the rest of the nation of injustices being committed in Boston, that: "the rights of the colonists, and of this province in particular, as men, as Christians, and as subjects; to communicate and publish the same to the several towns in this province and to the world as the sense of this town."
The British increased taxes on the colonies and in response colonists had the Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773. In 1774, the British retaliated by blocking Boston Harbor to starve the city into submission. In 1775, when the President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, Dr. Joseph Warren, was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill, James Warren, who also fought in that battle, was elected next President.
On June 16, 1775, as President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, James Warren signed the resolution:
<In Provincial Congress, Watertown, June 16th, 1775.
As it has pleased Almighty GOD in his Providence to suffer the Calamities of an unnatural War to take Place among us, in Consequence of our sinful Declensions from Him, and our great Abuse of those inestimable Blessings bestowed upon us. And as we have Reason to fear, that unless we become a penitent and reformed People, we shall feel still severer Tokens of his Displeasure.
And as the most effectual Way to escape those desolating Judgments, which so evidently hang over us, and if it may be obtain the Restoration of our former Tranquility, will be-That we repent and return every one from his Iniquities, unto him that correcteth us, which if we do in Sincerity and Truth, we have no Reason to doubt but he will remove his Judgments-cause our Enemies to be at Peace with us-and prosper the Work of our Hands.
And as among the prevailing Sins of this Day, which threaten the Destruction of this Land, we have Reason to lament the frequent Prophanation of the Lord's-Day, or Christian Sabbath; many spending their Time in Idleness and Sloth, others in Diversion, and others in Journeying of Business, which is not necessary on said Day:
And as we earnestly desire that a Stop might be put to this great and prevailing Evil:
It is therefore RESOLVED, That it be recommended by this Congress, to the People of all Ranks and Denominations throughout this Colony, that they not only pay a religious Regard to that Day, and to the public Worship of God thereon; but that they also use their Influence to discountenance and suppress any Prophanations thereof in others.
And it is further RESOLVED, That it be recommended to the Ministers of the Gospel to read this Resolve to their several Congregations, accompanied with such Exhortations as they shall think proper.
And whereas there is great Danger that the Prophanation of the Lord's- Day will prevail in the Camp:
We earnestly recommend to all the Officers, not only to set good Examples; but that they strictly require of their Soldiers to keep up a religious Regard to that Day, and attend upon the public Worship of God thereon, so far as may be consistent with other Duties.
A true Copy from the Minutes, Attest. SAMUEL FREEMAN, Secry. By Order of the Congress,
JAMES WARREN, President.> 1726JW001
James Warren's wife, author Mercy Otis Warren, was called "the conscience of the Revolution" for her correspondence with many founding fathers. Both James and Mercy were Anti-Federalists, opposing the new U.S. Constitution as they did not think there were enough limits to prevent the Federal Government from becoming a totalitarian dictatorship.
James Warren submitted essays to the local newspaper under the name "Helvitius Priscus," which was the name of a Roman republican who withstood dictators.
On December 27, 1787, the Independent Chronicle published an article by "Helvitius Priscus" in which James Warren criticized the Constitutional Convention (Jon L. Wakelyn, Birth of the Bill of Rights-Encyclopedia of the Anti-Federalists, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, p. 110-112):
<...that assembly, who have ambitiously and daringly presumed to annihilate the sovereignties of the thirteen United States; to establish a Draconian Code; and to bind posterity by their secret councils?...> 1726JW002
James Warren referred to the Lycian League, a thriving confederation of independent Greek city-states existing from the 8th century BC until conquered by Cyrus of Persia in 546 BC, then again by Phillip of Macedon in 338 BC, then finally by the Romans beginning in 81 BC:
<Neither Rome, nor Britain, nor Switzerland, or Holland, bear much resemblance to the newly fabricated federal republic. - And that he cannot find a precedent anywhere for the Heterogeneous Monster, unless it may be admitted in the Lycian League of the Amphictionic Council.
It is here natural for every one acquainted with ancient history to turn their thoughts to the miserable fate of the Lycians. They were a sober, virtuous people, who maintained their independence, and their freedom, for several centuries; and supported their own simple institutions, under twenty-three district sovereignties, until the reign of Leomitian, when they fell under the Roman yoke, with the other cities of Greece, while the tyrant alleged the same excuse for his encroachment, that we hear hacknied in the streets of our capitals, for subjugating the Americans to the arms of power because they were no longer capable of enjoying their liberties.
Nor is Mr. Wilson more fortunate in calling our attention to the ruin of the Amphictionic union?> 1726JW003
James Warren continued by describing the period when the Lycian League was infiltrated then dominated by Phillip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great:
<Everyone will recollect the Locrians, (a people bearing a strong resemblance to a party in America) had crept in among them, and that an ambitious Phillip had his emissaries in that body, who by political intrigue, and well-timed plausible speeches, enabled him by the aid of a standing army, to set himself at the head of the Grecian States; to annihilate their constitutions, and to degrade them to the most abject submission to the will of a despotic tyrant.
The application and semblance is left for the consideration of every lover of his country. America has fought for her liberties; she has purchased them by the most costly sacrifices; she embarked in the enterprise with a spirit that gained her the applause of mankind; and procured her emancipation from tyranny by the blood of her heroes, and her friends.
And shall her honor, her character, her freedom, be sported away by the duplicity, and the intrigues of those, who never participated in her sufferings? Or by the machinations of such as have no pole star for their guide, but the mad ambition of a mind ready to sacrifice the finest feelings of humanity for its gratification? FORBID IT HEAVEN!
And may the people awake from a kind of apathy which seems to pervade them, before they are aroused by the thunder of arms, or the insolence of dragooning parties, to arrest from the peasant, and the mechanic, the last farthing of their hard earnings, to support the splendid fabric of Mr. Wilson's Federal Republic. What an insidious term! But this people are too wise to be long deceived by the extortion or misapplication of words?> 1726JW004
James Warren continued with a warning:
<Let the youth of America, who are yet ignorant of the characters, and the causes that occasioned the dismemberment of the United States from the crown of Britain, read for themselves the many excellent publications, on the origin of government, and the rights of human nature, that appeared between the year 1763 and 1775.
And instead of indulging a rapturous admiration for the modern superficial speechifyers in favor of an American monarchy; let them examine the principles of the late glorious revolution, and see how far they comport with the opinions in vogue. And before they embrace the chains of servitude, let them scrutinize their own hearts, and inquire, if their pride and their independency of spirit, will suffer them to lick the hand of a despotic master.
And may the delegates for the ensuing convention consider well the importance of their decision. They will be applauded by the admiring world for making a stand at this critical conjuncture; or they will be execrated by all posterity for co-operating with the ambitious and intriguing spirits, who wish for the sake of their own advancement, to manacle a free and independent people, who have made the most astonishing and successful exertions to support their own rights, and to establish their rank among the nations.
And when they shall have time to look around and be convinced, even Mr. Wilson acknowledges, "They will then spurn at every attempt to shackle them with despotic power." Let them call for the name of the audacious man, who dared to say to his associated, in the late convention, "That unless they hurried the constitution through before the people had time for consideration there was no probability that it would ever be adopted."
And let him be stigmatized with the odium that is due to the base betrayer of the rights of his country, and not absurdly trusted, though he may artfully have obtained an election, to decide a second time on a question in which he is so manifestly interested. It is obvious that there is not the smallest propriety that any of the members of that body, who have held out a system for the people to judge of, should themselves set in any of the State conventions, and have a voice to enforce their own alarming proceedings.
Let the old Patriots come forward, and instead of secretly wrapping up their opinions within their own breasts, let them lift up the voice like a trumpet, and show this people their folly, and the trembling Columbia, her impending danger.> 1726JW005
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1726JW001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). James Warren, June 16, 1775, in a Resolution of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, James Warren, president. Copied from original, printed courtesy Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts. Verna M. Hall, The Christian History of the American Revolution (San Francisco, CA: Foundation For American Christian Education, 1976), p. 410.
1726JW002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). James Warren, December 27, 1787, the Independent Chronicle published an article by "Helvitius Priscus," the pen name of James Warren. Jon L. Wakelyn, Birth of the Bill of Rights-Encyclopedia of the Anti-Federalists, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, p. 110-112.
1726JW003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). James Warren, December 27, 1787, the Independent Chronicle published an article by "Helvitius Priscus," the pen name of James Warren. Jon L. Wakelyn, Birth of the Bill of Rights-Encyclopedia of the Anti-Federalists, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, p. 110-112.
1726JW004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). James Warren, December 27, 1787, the Independent Chronicle published an article by "Helvitius Priscus," the pen name of James Warren. Jon L. Wakelyn, Birth of the Bill of Rights-Encyclopedia of the Anti-Federalists, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, p. 110-112.
1726JW005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). James Warren, December 27, 1787, the Independent Chronicle published an article by "Helvitius Priscus," the pen name of James Warren. Jon L. Wakelyn, Birth of the Bill of Rights-Encyclopedia of the Anti-Federalists, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, p. 110-112.