lution"
remarks, "political history says but little, and that vaguely and
incidentally, of the women who bore their part in the revolution," yet
that little shows woman to have been endowed with as lofty a
patriotism as man, and to have as fully understood the principles upon
which the struggle was based. Among the women who manifested deep
political insight, were Mercy Otis Warren, Abigail Smith Adams, and
Hannah Lee Corbin; all closely related to the foremost men of the
Revolution. Mrs. Warren was a sister of James Otis, whose fiery words
did so much to arouse and intensify the feelings of the colonists
against British aggression. This brother and sister were united to the
end of their lives in a friendship rendered firm and enduring by the
similarity of their intellects and political views. The home of Mrs.
Warren was the resort of patriotic spirits and the headquarters of the
rebellion. She herself wrote, "By the Plymouth fireside were many
political plans organized, discussed, and digested." Her
correspondence with eminent men of the Revolution was extensive and
belongs to the history of the country. She was the first one who based
the struggle upon "inherent rights," a phrase afterward made the
corner-stone of political authority. Mrs. Warren asserted that
"'inherent rights' belonged to all mankind, and had been conferred on
all by the God of nations." She numbered Jefferson among her
correspondents, and the Declaration of Independence shows the
influence of her mind. Among others who sought her counsel upon
political matters were Samuel and John Adams, Dickinson, that pure
patriot of Pennsylvania, Jefferson, Gerry, and Knox. She was the first
person who counseled separation and pressed those views upon John
Adams, when he sought her advice before the opening of the first
Congress. At that time even Washington had no thought of the final
independence of the colonies, emphatically denying such intention or
desire on their part, and John Adams was shunned in the streets of
Philadelphia for having dared to hint such a possibility. Mrs. Warren
sustained his sinking courage and urged him to bolder steps. Her
advice was not only sought in every emergency, but political parties
found their arguments in her conversation. Mrs. Warren looked not to
the freedom of man alone, but to that of her own sex also.

England itself had at least one woman who watched the struggle of
America with lively interest, and whose writings ai