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
Samuel Adams form
Committees of Correspondence to inform the rest of the nation of injustices being committed in Boston:
"...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 and in response colonists had the B
oston Tea Party, December 16, 1773. In 1774, the British retaliated by
blocking Boston Harbor to starve the city into submission.
In 1775, when President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress,
Dr. Joseph Warren, was killed in the
Battle of Bunker Hill,
James Warren, who also fought there, was elected the next President.
As President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress,
James Warren approved the Resolution, June 16, 1775:
"It has pleased Almighty GOD in his Providence to suffer the Calamities of an unnatural War to take Place among 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...will be - That we repent and return everyone
from his Iniquities, unto him that correcteth us...
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...
It is therefore RESOLVED...by this
Congress...the People...throughout this Colony...pay a religious Regard
to that Day, and to the public Worship of God thereon."
James Warren, who died NOVEMBER 28, 1808, was husband of author
Mercy Otis Warren, called "the conscience of the Revolution" for her correspondence with many founding fathers.
Both
James and Mercy Warren 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 resisted the
dictator Nero.
On December 27, 1787, the
Independent Chronicle published an article by "Helvitius Priscus" in which
James Warren criticized the Constitutional Convention:
"...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..."
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James Warren referred to the
Lycian League, a thriving confederation of independent Greek city-states which existed from the 8th century BC until conquered by
Phillip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, in 338 BC:
"Everyone acquainted with ancient history...turn their thoughts to the miserable fate of the
Lycians...
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...
A people bearing a strong resemblance to a party in America had crept in among them, and...
an ambitious Phillip
had his emissaries in that body, who by political intrigue, and
well-timed plausible speeches, enabled him...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
tyrant alleged the same excuse for his encroachment, that we hear
hacknied in the streets of our capitals, for subjugating the
Americans..."
James Warren added:
"The application...is left for the consideration of every lover of his country.
America has fought for her liberties...purchased them by the most costly sacrifices...
And
shall...her freedom be sported away by the duplicity, and the
intrigues of those, who never participated in her sufferings?...mad
ambition of a mind ready to sacrifice...humanity for its gratification?
FORBID IT HEAVEN!..."
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James Warren warned further:
"
Let
the youth of America... 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
before they embrace the chains of servitude, let them scrutinize...if their pride...will suffer them
to lick the hand of a despotic master...
Let him be stigmatized with the odium...
the base betrayer of the rights of his country...though he may artfully have obtained an election...
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..
.impending danger."
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