"MERCY TO THE PATRIOT"
The Ordeal of James Otis and
the American Revolution
by
Charles Deemer
TIME & P.LACE: 1761-1783, Boston
CAST
Mercy Otis Warren (poet, sister)
James Otis (lawyer, House)
Thomas Hutchinson (Lt. Gov.)
Col. Otis (Speaker of House, father)
Ruth Otis (wife)
Sam Adams (tax collector)
John Adams (lawyer)
James Warren (House, M's husband)
Andrew Oliver (Secretary)
Gov. Francis Bernard (Governor)
The Crowd
Quartet
(songs, poem)
cdeemer@teleport.com
(503) 452-8277
SONG 1 (POEM): WARREN
"Taxation of America" by Peter St.
John
WARREN:
While I relate my story / Americans give ear; /
Of
Britain's fading glory / You presently shall hear; /
I'll give you true relations, / Attend to what I say /
Concerning the taxation / Of North Ameri-kay
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: This is the story of my brother, James
Otis. Among those who have been forgotten, there is no
more important figure in the American Revolution.
WARREN:
The cruel lords of Britain / Who glory in their
shame, / The project they have hit on / They joyfully
proclaim; / Tis what they're striving after / Our right
to
take away / And rob us of our charter / In North
Ameri-kay
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: I'm Mercy Otis Warren, a poet, a
playwright -- the first American playwright, historians
call me now. I had hoped to be the editor of my brother's
collected writings, but history had other plans for
Jemmy and his papers never got published. This is why
you
know so little about him today. The story of how
this came to be begins in a courtroom in Boston, on a
blustery day in November, 1761. Thomas Hutchinson, Lt.
Governor of the Province of Massachusetts, presided over
an
extraordinary case.
SCENE 1: HUTCHINSON, OTIS
HUTCHINSON:
The Court now will hear James Otis...Junior.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: After the death of King George II,
legal papers had to be replaced with new ones bearing
the
seal of King George III. The Writs of Assistance
were documents that gave customs officials the authority
to
search for contraband. When the new Writs arrived,
however, more than an official seal had been changed.
The
wording of these new documents had become much
broader and more general in scope. Specific searches for
specific contraband no longer had to be specified. The
Writs upset my brother so much that he resigned as
King's Advocate because in that position he would have
to
defend them.
HUTCHINSON:
Or does Otis, Junior, need more time?
2.
OTIS:
I'm ready, your honor ... I would like to remind
the
Court that my duty, as King's Advocate, was to
defend these Writs of Assistance, and that I have
resigned my position with this Court in order to argue
in
behalf of the inhabitants of Boston against them. I
have accepted no fee in this case. Nor do I argue for
personal gain or from personal bias. I argue as I do
because I oppose, and shall oppose to my dying day, all
such instruments of slavery and villainy as this Writ of
Assistance is. It appears to me to be the worst
instrument of arbitrary power ever found in an English
law
book. This Writ is a general power that places the
liberty of every man, every subject in the King's
dominions, in the hands of every petty officer. A person
with this Writ may enter, in broad daylight, all houses
and
shops and buildings at will, and command all to
assist him.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: The case was well argued on both
sides, but Hutchinson decided to confer with England
before making a decision. After court was adjourned,
Jemmy was approached by a young admirer, John Adams.
SCENE 2: JOHN ADAMS, OTIS
JOHN
ADAMS: Your argument was very moviing, sir.
OTIS:
But perhaps not logical enough to convince Mr.
Hutchinson. He has to ask England what to do.
JOHN
ADAMS: I think you won, sir.
OTIS:
And I think a delay is as good as defeat.
JOHN
ADAMS: I planned to take notes but was so captured
by
your eloquence I took no notes at all.
OTIS:
Are you a lawyer?
JOHN
ADAMS: Just beginning, sir.
OTIS:
If you let yourself be so distracted by eloquence,
Mr.
Adams, that you neglect a cold look at the logic of
a
plea, you'll find yourself swept along by every
ignorant honeymouth in the Province.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: Our father, Colonel James Otis, Sr.,
was
the Speaker of the House and the leading candidate
to
be appointed as the new Chief Justice by Gov. Bernard.
Father did not approve of Jemmy's resignation as King's
Advocate.
3.
SCENE 3: OTIS, COL. OTIS
OTIS:
I cannot defend tyranny.
COL.
OTIS: That is hardly the intention of--
OTIS:
The Writ itself, not the intention. It compromises
the
liberty of us all. Not even the Speaker of the House
is
immune.
COL.
OTIS: The Speaker of the House merely came forward
to
compliment his son on a well-spoken plea.
OTIS:
Then you've changed your mind about the Writ?
COL.
OTIS: I do not have to agree with a plea in order to
admire its execution.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: England decided against Jemmy, refusing
to
rescind the new Writs of Assistance. At about the
same time, Hutchinson himself, not father, was appointed
Chief Justice. Once again Jemmy was outraged. This time
he
resigned his seat in the House. He then wrote a
scathing piece in the Gazette against Hutchinson,
arguing that no man should occupy positions in both the
executive and judicial branches of government. This
article
inspired another young Adams who admired my
brother, John's cousin Samuel, the local tax collector.
SCENE 4: SAM ADAMS, OTIS
SAMUEL
ADAMS: Why are you resigning on the eve of victory?
You
under-estimate the force of your own pen. The piece
in
the Gazette is brilliant.
OTIS:
What victory was that? I lost the case.
SAMUEL
ADAMS: But you've alerted the people! Anyone using
the
Writ now would risk facing a mob ready to snatch it
from his hands.
OTIS:
None of my colleagues in the House agrees with you.
They condemn my article. And threats of violence,
Samuel, solve nothing.
SAMUEL
ADAMS: When the people are outraged, they speak as
best they can.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: Then England levied new taxes on the
colonies, and Hutchinson appointed Andrew Oliver, the
Secretary of the Province, to be the Stamp Master to
administer them.
4.
SCENE 5: OLIVER, HUTCHINSON
OLIVER:
I have too many duties already. Where would I
find time to administer these damned stamps?
HUTCHINSON:
The Crown has given us a Stamp Master, and I
prefer someone I can trust. I don't like these new taxes
any
more than you do, but they are the law.
OLIVER:
Thomas, please find someone else. I'll be at the
mercy of every drunken ruffian in town.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: The people of Boston did not welcome
these new taxes. Meetings and rallies against them were
held, and usually Jemmy was the leading speaker.
SCENE 6: OTIS, CROWD
CROWD:
No taxes! No taxes! No taxes!
OTIS:
Gentlemen, we meet here tonight to discuss the
Stamp Act which is soon to reach our shores, the Stamp
Act
that will transfer money from our pockets to
Britain's purse. We also are here because as free
citizens we are obliged to be here. The God-given
natural rights which are the foundation of government
are
also the foundation of the Constitution of Britain
and
of our Colonial Charter. Let us not forget for a
single moment, as we list our grievances here tonight,
that we are not here to criticize the Constitution but
to
defend it. We are against the Stamp Act because it is
unconstitutional.
CROWD:
No taxes! No taxes!
OTIS:
Is it right that in order to raise revenue a people
be
taxed who have no say in the very form those taxes
take? For example, would it be right for the House of
Representatives in the Province of Massachusetts to pass
a
measure that taxed the merchants of London, who have
no
representation in our House? Of course not. And so
London cannot tax our Boston merchants, who have no
representation in Parliament in London. There can be no
taxation without representation.
CROWD:
No taxation! No taxes!
OTIS:
Therefore, the Stamp Act is without effect in
Massachusetts. It does not exist because it cannot exist.
The
Constitution does not permit it. Parliament has no
alternative but to repeal it, and immediately. For
taxation without representation is tyranny!
CROWD:
No taxation without representation! No taxes!
5.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: If father was not pleased with Jemmy's
continued rebellion, my sister-in-law Ruth was even more
upset. Jemmy's marriage had shocked us all. All the
Otis' belonged to the Whig Party -- and Ruth was an
aristocratic High Tory, born and bred.
SCENE 7: RUTH, OTIS
RUTH
OTIS: Did you know your loyalty is being questioned?
OTIS:
Loyalty to whom?
RUTH
OTIS: To the Crown.
OTIS:
That's ridiculous. I'm defending the
Constitution!
RUTH
OTIS: Tonight Secretary Oliver confided to me that
the
question of your loyalty has been raised in
Parliament itself. He asked me to talk to you.
OTIS:
I've never given anyone reason to question my
loyalty.
RUTH
OTIS: James, I'm becoming an object of pity. You
should hear how people are beginning to talk.
OTIS:
What do you want from me?
RUTH
OTIS: I know we have different opinions about many
things, dear, but at least in the past you've given no
one
reason to doubt your loyalty to the Crown.
OTIS:
I am so loyal to the Crown that I defend its
Constitution! What else can I do? Am I to watch the best
document on earth whittled at until it is no more than
the
thorn of tyranny?
RUTH
OTIS: No one understands that this is what you're
doing. Some think the worst, dear. The very worst.
SONG 2 - THE QUARTET
Loyalist song: "The Rebels" by
Captain Smythe (Tune: Black
Joak)
Ye brave honest subjects who dare to be
loyal,/ And have
stood the brunt of every trial,/ Of hunting
shirts and rifle
guns;/ Come listen awhile and I’ll tell you
a song;/ I’ll
show you those Yankees are all in the
wrong,/ Who, with
blustering look and most awkward gait,/
‘Gainst their lawful
sovereign dare for to prate,/ With their
hunting shirts and
rifle guns.
6.
Forgetting the mercies of Great Britain’s
King,/ Who saved
their forefathers’ necks from the string,/
With hunting
shirts and rifle guns,/ They renounce all
allegiance and
take up their arms,/ Assemble together like
hornets in
swarms,/ So dirty their backs, and so
wretched their show,/
That carrion-crow follows wherever they go,/
With their
hunting shirts and rifle guns.
Come take up your glasses, each true loyal
heart,/ And may
every rebel meet his due desert,/ With his
hunting shirt and
rifle gun./ May Congress, Conventions, those
damned
inquisitions,/ Be fed with hot sulphur from
Lucifer’s
kitchens,/ May commerce and peace again be
restored,/ And
Americans own their true sovereign lord./
Then oblivion to
shirts and rifle guns.
GOD SAVE THE KING!
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: At Ruth's insistence, Jemmy finally
made an appointment to see Governor Bernard.
SCENE 8: HUTCHINSON, BERNARD, OTIS
HUTCHINSON:
With all due respect, Governor, if the people
refuse to pay these taxes--
GOV.
BERNARD: Of course they'll pay them.
HUTCHINSON:
In today's Gazette, Samuel Adams suggested
that the people of Massachusetts follow the example of
Virginia and refuse to pay them.
GOV.
BERNARD: Adams! I'm going to take care of him, as
well as Otis. Adams has never collected the taxes! He
must be putting the money in his own pockets.
HUTCHINSON:
I just feel that with so much popular support
against--
GOV.
BERNARD: I said, Bring me Otis!
HUTCHINSON:
Yes, sir.
A beat.
OTIS:
Governor ...
GOV.
BERNARD: What is it you want?
OTIS:
I am here to pronounce and clarify my loyalty to
the
Crown.
7.
GOV.
BERNARD: Then what is all this constant nitpicking
and
finding fault with this administration's running of
things? Do we not get our power from the Constitution
and
Charter?
OTIS:
If I ever seem critical, sir, it is only because I
love the Constitution so much that I abhor anything that
violates it.
GOV.
BERNARD: I trust you've seen these resolves out of
Virginia, that Samuel Adams has insisted on publishing.
OTIS:
I've seen them.
GOV.
BERNARD: And how do they mix with your love of the
Constitution?
OTIS:
I must confess that I find them, a few portions of
them, close to treason.
GOV.
BERNARD: Really? I'm surprised to hear you say that.
OTIS:
One does not respond to an unconstitutional act by
advocating other unconstitutional acts. The proper
course is for the Stamp Act to be repealed.
GOV.
BERNARD: But if it isn't?
OTIS:
It must be. It's unconstitutional.
GOV.
BERNARD: The citizens of Virginia have been asked by
their own legislature to disobey the law, have they not?
And
Virginia would declare something close to war on
those of us who accept the law. What then would you have
the
citizens of Massachusetts do?
OTIS:
I advocate the quick repeal of the Stamp Act.
GOV.
BERNARD: Do we obey it or not?
OTIS:
It must be repealed.
GOV.
BERNARD: But obeyed or disobeyed in the meantime?
OTIS:
Governor, I have never been disloyal to the Crown.
GOV.
BERNARD: Until repealed, should the Stamp Act be
obeyed or not? Is it the law or not?
OTIS:
For the moment, it is law. But it is not a
constitutional law and will certainly be repealed.
GOV.
BERNARD: But at this hour, Otis, it is the law. Am I
correct?
8.
OTIS:
Yes.
GOV.
BERNARD: Good. If you would be willing to publicly
clarify your views, just as you've clarified them now, I
think you would go far in proving your loyalty.
OTIS:
Are you asking me to publish something on the matter?
GOV.
BERNARD: A clarification, yes. A vindication,
perhaps, to remove the suspicion of those who do not
realize that you advocate compliance with the law.
OTIS:
I will write such a vindication.
GOV.
BERNARD: Excellent. One other thing. I want to
apologize for not appointing your father as Chief
Justice. I was new to the Province and more familiar
with Hutchinson's qualifications than his.
However, I do
plan to nominate him for appointment to the Governor's
Council.
OTIS:
Father will be very pleased.
GOV.
BERNARD: I also want to reinstate you as King's
Advocate. You're a brilliant lawyer.
OTIS:
I would have to think about it.
GOV.
BERNARD: Does a man who is loyal to the Crown refuse
honor by the Crown?
OTIS:
I am not disloyal.
GOV.
BERNARD: Then you accept?
A beat.
OTIS:
Yes.
GOV.
BERNARD: The Crown will be pleased to be represented
by
the best lawyer in Boston.
SONG 3 - THE QUARTET
Loyalist song: "God Save the King"
("My Country Tis of Thee"
uses this tune)
God save great George our King,/ Long live
our noble King,/
God Save the King!/ Send him victorious,/
Happy and glorius,/
Long to reign over us,/ God Save the King.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
9.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: People were shocked by the publication
of
Jemmy's Vindication. He became an object of sudden
ridicule.
SONG 4 (POEM) - THE QUARTET, CROWD
POEM - Anonymous
QUARTET
#1: As Jemmy is an envious dog
QUARTET
#2: And Jemmy is ambitious
QUARTET
#3: And rage and slander, spite and dirt
QUARTET
#4: To Jemmy are delicious
QUARTET
#2: So Jemmy rail'd at upper folks
QUARTET
#1: While Jemmy's dad was out
QUARTET
#3: But Jemmy's dad now has a place
QUARTET
#4: So Jemmy's turn'd about!
CROWD:
Turnabout Jemmy! Turnabout Jemmy! Turnabout Jemmy!
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: (overlapping) All over Boston,
likenesses of Oliver, the Stamp Master, were being hung
in
effigy.
SCENE 9: OTIS, SAM ADAMS
OTIS:
Samuel, did you do this?
SAMUEL
ADAMS: Unfortunately, no, I can only congratulate
its
author on an excellent likeness.
OTIS:
Cut it down.
SAMUEL
ADAMS: Why have you suddenly forgotten the
Constitution you loved so well?
OTIS:
I've not forgotten it.
SAMUEL
ADAMS: You're going to argue for the Crown again.
OTIS:
It's the Crown's Constitution.
SAMUEL
ADAMS: The Governor wants me in jail. You are now
the
agent to get me there.
OTIS:
Your case will be decided by the facts and by the
law.
10.
SAMUEL
ADAMS: The people will decide the case before then.
They're going to demand Oliver's resignation as Stamp
Master.
OTIS:
They must be patient. The Stamp Act will be repealed.
SAMUEL
ADAMS: Maybe so. In the meantime, they'll repeal
it
themselves.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: And indeed, Oliver, facing a mob and
fearing for his life, resigned as Stamp Master. The
crowd then gathered outside of Hutchinson's home to
celebrate.
But, as will happen with a mob, things soon
got
out of hand ...
SCENE 10: HUTCHINSON, OLIVER, COL. OTIS, OTIS
CROWD:
Get Hutchinson! Down with Hutchinson! Get
Hutchinson! Down with Hutchinson!
HUTCHINSON:
The hellish crew fell upon my house with the
rage of devils! They gutted everything. Destroyed my
furniture and emptied my wine cellar. Robbed my strongbox.
Broke my windows, destroyed my drapes, vandalized my
fine paintings. They would not quit until they had
removed the slate from my roof!
OLIVER:
They threw the manuscript of your History of
Massachusetts into the streets and trampled upon it. A
neighbor retrieved what he could.
HUTCHINSON:
Then it's all I have left.
OLIVER:
They thought we plotted the Stamp Act ourselves.
HUTCHINSON:
As God is my witness, I have striven as much
as
any man to prevent it. I've never thought it fair or
constitutional. But it is the law, and it's my duty to
uphold the law.
CROWD:
No taxes! No taxes! No taxes!
COL.
OTIS: James! See what your inflammatory rhetoric
leads to?
OTIS:
Father, I did not lead the mob!
COL.
OTIS: You're the one who started stirring up the
people over this.
OTIS:
I only meant to defend the Constitution!
COL.
OTIS: Inflammatory rhetoric leads to inflammatory
acts!
11.
CROWD:
No taxes! No taxes!
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: Boston was in mourning after the
violence. But then news came that the Stamp Act was
repealed. Of course, there was much celebrating in the
streets. For my part, I celebrated by starting to write
a
play, a political satire, about the recent events.
SCENE 11: RUTH, MERCY
RUTH
OTIS: I would think you'd let a dead horse rest in
peace.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: Dead horses can be the most fun to
ride. And just because England has come to her senses,
doesn't mean that Boston has.
RUTH
OTIS: The recent election proves that! To put so
many Whigs in office is hardly good sense ...
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: My husband, James Warren, led a Whig
campaign for reform. Following Jemmy's earlier arguments,
he
gathered support in the House to prevent Hutchinson
from serving both in the judicial branch as Chief
Justice and in the executive branch on the Governor's
Council. John got the votes to remove the Lt. Gov. from
the
Council. But this victory, such as it
was, was
brief. Once again the Crown levied new taxes on the
colonies, and this time sent a Commissioner from London
to
collect them.
SCENE 12: HUTCHINSON, BERNARD
GOV.
BERNARD: The Commissioner tells me that London is
abuzz with talk of Otis.
HUTCHINSON:
It's Samuel Adams who puts his Mohawks in the
street. Otis is mostly wind.
GOV.
BERNARD: Then we'll have a tornado on our hands when
he
learns I vetoed his nomination as Speaker of the House.
HUTCHINSON:
It won't be the first Otis tornado. But it's
still Adams who worries me most.
GOV.
BERNARD: The problem in Boston has always been with
the
North End and South End street gangs. They used to
be
satisfied with beating each other up on Pope Day.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: Once again, my brother was leading the
fight against the new taxes.
12.
SCENE 13: OTIS, JOHN ADAMS
OTIS:
Be it resolved: that for a period of one year,
beginning this Fall of 1767, we will not send for or
import from Great Britain, any kind of goods or
merchandize except the following: salt, coals, fishhooks
and
lines, hemp, duck, bar-lead and shot, wool-cards and
card-wire. Only the repeal of the Townshend duties can
in
turn repeal this resolution.
JOHN
ADAMS: Sir, I'm John Adams.
OTIS:
I remember you.
JOHN
ADAMS: I don't think we're going far enough.
OTIS:
How do you mean?
JOHN
ADAMS: Since we have no representation in Parliament--
OTIS:
Representation in Parliament should be our next
step. It's the only way to resolve this.
JOHN
ADAMS: No, I think there's another way. You're the
one
who first convinced me of this. "Taxation without
representation is tyranny." We should put the whole
argument on the table: they have no jurisdiction over
us,
period.
OTIS:
John, when you enter politics--
JOHN
ADAMS: Which is never!
OTIS:
--you'll learn you have to compromise. We have to
get
all the colonies together on this, and the southern
colonies would never support a position that strong.
JOHN
ADAMS: It seems to me they just keep replacing one
tax
with another. Where does it end?
OTIS:
With colonial representation in Parliament.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: But this, of course, didn't happen.
What happened was an escalation of the conflict, and the
beginning of the history that you study in school. Today
no
one knows about James Otis but everyone knows that
Samuel Adams and his Mohawks held a Boston Tea Party.
SONG 5 - THE QUARTET
"Revolutionary Tea", traditional
13.
There was an old lady lived over the sea/
And she was an
Island Queen./ Her daughter lived off in a
new countrie,/
With an ocean of water between;/ The old
lady's pockets were
full of gold/ But never contented was she,/
So she called on
her daughter to pay her a tax/ Of three
pence a pound on her
tea,/ Of three pence a pound on her tea.
"Now mother, dear mother," the
daughter replied,/ "I shan't
do the thing you ask./ I'm willing to pay a
fair price for
the tea,/ But never the three penny
tax."/ "You shall,"
quoth the mother, and reddened with rage,/
"For you're my
own daughter, you see,/ And sure, 'tis quite
proper the
daughter should pay/ Her mother a tax on her
tea,/ Her
mother a tax on her tea."
And so the old lady her servant called up/
And packed off a
budget of tea;/ And eager for three pence a
pound, she put/
In enough for a large family./ She order'd
her servants to
bring home the tax,/ Declaring her child
should obey,/ Or
old as she was, and almost woman grown,/
She'd half whip her
life away.
The tea was conveyed to the daughter's
door,/ All down by
the ocean's side;/ And the bouncing girl
pour'd out every
pound/ In the dark and boiling tide./ And
then she called
out to the Island Queen,/ "O mother,
dear mother," quoth
she,/ "Your tea you may have when 'tis
steep'd enough/ But
never a tax from me."
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: Protest against the taxes increased so
much that England stationed troops in Boston to maintain
law
and order. What resulted was more tension than ever.
Then, on the snowy night of March 5, 1770, a growing
crowd began taunting soldiers at the Custom House.
Finally British troops fired into the crowd, killing
four men. Today you call this "the Boston Massacre." The
soldiers
were arrested and put to trial and, to the
surprise of many, the lawyer defending them was John
Adams.
SCENE 14: JOHN ADAMS
JOHN
ADAMS: I have the example of James Otis, who would
insist that every man in the Province has the right to a
fair trial and to fair legal representation. Therefore,
though there be no less popular task in Boston, I agree
to
defend the British soldiers in the trial of the so-
called masacre.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: When the soldiers were found innocent,
Samuel
Adams was outraged. More tension than ever filled
the
streets.
CROWD:
No justice! No justice! No justice!
14.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: All of this depressed my brother.
Everywhere Jemmy looked, he saw his beloved Constitution
being violated, and as the conflict between England and
the
colonies escalated, so did Jemmy's frustration and
instability. He started swearing at strangers on the
streets. He fell into fits, destroying furniture and
breaking windows. And he would say the oddest things at
the
oddest times, even in the House ...
OTIS:
The Lt. Governor claims that I destroyed his slate
roof! Can anything be more patently absurd? Think of the
logic of such a statement. The Lt. Governor admits that
a
mob of furies ransacked his home, destroying almost
everything. If a house is destroyed, then of what use is
its
roof? But let me assure my colleagues that I did not
destroy the Lt. Governor's slate roof or, for that
matter, any slate roof in the Province. I could never
destroy a slate roof because, in fact, I adore them! I
have never uttered a sentiment in this hallowed hall
more sincere than what I will tell you now: that I wish
my house had a slate roof! If I had not
become a lawyer,
surely I would have taken up the trade of manufacturing
slate roofs!
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: When Jemmy started picking fights in
the
House of Representatives, sometimes coming to blows,
it
was the last straw.
SCENE 15: COL. OTIS, RUTH, HUTCHINSON
COL.
OTIS: My son, James Otis, Jr., has behaved so
erratically in public as to endanger himself, his
family, his friends, and all the citizens of America. It
is
because of this that I must, as his father, and in
behalf of all who love him, and all who mourn the loss
of
the fine intellect once uniquely his -- I must
request that he be declared non compos mentis, and
further request that he be removed from Boston, by
whatever means necessary, so he may be cared for in the
country, where we hope he will be free of those personal
and
political pressures that have contributed to his
breakdown.
RUTH
OTIS: There's nothing else we can do.
HUTCHINSON:
Therefore, be it declared that on this day,
December 3, 1771, James Otis, Jr., shall be bound hand
and
foot and removed from Boston.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: So Jemmy spent the war in exile in the
country. I convinced him to organize his manuscripts.
When
the war was over, I would edit and publish them, a
project that would require many volumes and would
establish my brother's place in history.
15.
Beat.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: But after we'd won the war and the
colonies struggled to piece together a new government,
many of us wondered if Jemmy hadn't been right all along.
Majority opinion was moving in the direction of replacing
a
King with an aristocratic President, of proposing a
Constitution without including written guarantees of
personal rights. Then what had we gone to war for? Often
after the war, my husband and I debated this question
with Jemmy.
SCENE 16: OTIS, WARREN, MERCY
OTIS:
Must we tear government down before we can repair
its
deficiencies?
WARREN:
England left us no choice.
OTIS:
England? Or ourselves?
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: England, I think.
OTIS:
Look at the government they want to give us now.
WARREN:
I know. We have a new generation to educate.
Where was Jefferson in '61? Studying Latin -- and
probably using Jemmy's textbook!
OTIS:
This new Constitution grants fewer liberties than
the
one you overthrew.
WARREN:
Some of us are demanding that a Bill of Rights be
amended to it.
OTIS:
Our liberty was secure in the Constitution we
already had. If only they'd granted us representation in
Parliament ...
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: John Hancock declared a James Otis
Day, to honor the man John Adams called "the First
Patriot." It was a glorious celebration, but somehow it
only depressed Jemmy further. He kept saying Hancock was
carrying on like a High Tory, that the revolution had
replaced one conservative aristocracy with another.
A beat.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: Afterwards we all came home. A
thunderstorm was approaching. Jemmy excused himself to
take a walk. What happened next was beyond belief.
16.
SCENE 17: WARREN, MERCY
WARREN:
Jemmy was standing in the doorway, after his
walk, leaning on his cane and watching the storm. He was
still depressed, thinking the war had been for naught.
Suddenly there was a deafening crash of thunder, blinding
lightning -- and Jemmy fell to the ground, dead.
Apparently the lightning had hit the chimney, run along
a
rafter and down the doorpost, to where he was waiting
for
it.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: When God in anger saw the spot / On
Earth to Otis given / In thunder as from Sinai's mount /
He
snatch'd him back to heaven.
WARREN:
Jemmy died as quickly as one blows out a flame.
MERCY
OTIS WARREN: A few days later I went to get his
manuscripts, to continue editing them for publication. I
couldn't find them. Finally I saw the remains of a page
in
the fireplace and, seeing the pile of ashes there,
realized what had happened. In his depression, Jemmy had
burned his life's work. Now there would be little
historical record of the accomplishments of James Otis.
His
name would not be sung in the songs of victory. And
history would all but forget him.
SONG 6 - THE QUARTET
"Jefferson and Liberty"
The gloomy night before us Dies,/ The reign
of terror now is
o'er;/ Its gags, inquisitors, and spies,/
Its herds of
harpies are no more!
CHORUS: Rejoice, Columbia's sons, rejoice!/
To tyrants never
bend the knee,/ But join with heart, and
soul, and voice,/
For Jefferson and liberty!
No lordling here, with gorging jaws/ Shall
wring from
industry the food;/ Nor fiery bigot's holy
laws/ Lay waste
our fields and streets in blood!
Here strangers from a thousand shores/
Compelled by tyranny
to roam,/ Shall find, amidst abundant
stores,/ A nobler and
a happier home.
Here Art shall lift her laurelled head,/
Wealth, Iudustry,
and Peace, divine;/ And where dark, pathless
forests spread,/
Rich fields and lofty cities shine.
THE END