Sunday, September 10, 2017

Comparing Mercy Otis Warren to Thomas Paine

I am working on a lesson for this week's Role of Women in History and I have decided to compare Mercy Otis Warren's writing with contemporary Thomas Paine.  Two quotes I am looking at:

Paine Thomas in Common Sense1776:
“Until an independence is declared the continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.”

“She [Mrs. Warren] sits at the table with me, will have a paragraph of her own; says you [Congress] 'should no longer piddle at the threshold. It is time to leap into the theatre, to unlock the bars, and open every gate that impedes the rise and growth of the American republic, and then let the giddy potentate send forth his puerile proclamations to France, to Spain and all the commercial world who may be united in building up an Empire which he can’t prevent.”

Observation - I should consistently refer to the authors by their last name or first names.  It is more common for women writers to be referred to by their first names.  There are just too many Thomas(es) or Warrens in Revolutionary literature.  
JJ

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