阿比盖尔·亚当斯因在1776年3月31日给丈夫约翰的信而闻名, 渴望听到大陆会议, 约翰代表马萨诸塞州, “宣布独立?,和“在我认为你有必要制定的新法典中” “记住女士们”. Abigail’s sentiments were not unique; in the spring of 1776 in Massachusetts talk of independence was in the air. 阿比盖尔给约翰写信的八天前, 詹姆斯·鲍登 had written 给默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦 about the necessity of declaring independence and referring "objectors" to such a declaration to "that excellent Pamphlet intitled ‘常识.’"

In his letter 詹姆斯·鲍登 described a declaration of independence as a preliminary step in securing "mutual independance" from the mother country. Much of his letter is devoted to speculating about whom peace commissioners appointed by Great Britain to negotiate with the colonies might be and when they would arrive in America. 他不认为声明仅仅是一种谈判策略, but as essential to force the ministerial government to understand that they were treating with equals, especially after the recent "disgraceful precipitate flight of their troops from Boston"—the town had been evacuated on 17 March 1776.

“是时候分手了”

詹姆斯·鲍登在信中似乎推荐了托马斯·潘恩的书 常识 给默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦, in an earlier letter (28 February 1776) he acknowledged the loan of a copy of the pamphlet from her. Correspondence in the Massachusetts Historical Society’s Warren-Adams Papers among and between James and 默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦; James and Elizabeth Erving Bowdoin; John and Abigail Adams; and 塞缪尔·亚当斯 and Hannah Winthrop shows how news—and copies—of 常识 在1776年初的几个月来到马萨诸塞，以及潘恩的信息, 正如托马斯·潘恩的目录学家理查德·金贝尔所写的那样, 像燎原之火一样席卷全国.潘恩写道，是时候脱离英国了:“是时候分手了。."

“利记APP官网手机版我的D ' s到达的报告是一个错误."

詹姆斯·鲍登’s letter 给默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦 ends with a postscript: while he hoped that her husband James was "perfectly recovered" from an illness, he had sad personal news—reports that his daughter Elizabeth had returned from Great Britain were false. In 1767 Elizabeth had married John Temple, a Boston-born member of the Board of Customs for America. 在殖民时期的波士顿，爱情短暂地战胜了政治, but Temple’s marriage to the daughter of a leader in the patriot movement probably contributed to his removal from office in 1770. Elizabeth and John Temple settled in England and would not return to America until 1778 when John embarked upon a doomed peace mission to the United States. 他们于1781年再次回到美国, and yet again in 1785 when John was appointed the first consul general to the new nation.

詹姆斯·鲍登

詹姆斯·鲍登 (1726-1790)—often called "詹姆斯·鲍登 II" to distinguish him from his father and his son of the same name--graduated from Harvard College in 1745. 从他父亲那里继承了一大笔遗产, 一个富有的商人, 和伊丽莎白·欧文结婚, 另一个波士顿商人的女儿, 鲍登有能力将自己的一生奉献给科学调查和公共服务. His interests in electricity and astronomy brought him into contact with Benjamin Franklin and they became life-long correspondents and friends. In 1780, Bowdoin became a founder and the first president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

在公共生活中, Bowdoin was elected first to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and then to the Governor’s Council, but over time he fell out of favor with the royal government and became active in the patriot movement. In 1770, Boston chose him to serve on the committee to prepare a report on the Boston Massacre published as 波士顿恐怖大屠杀的简短叙述. 在革命前的几年里, Bowdoin was moderator of the Boston town meeting and the head of the town’s Committee of Safety.

In 1775, 波士顿围城开始的时候, Bowdoin moved to the country town of Middleborough where illness kept him from an active role in the early stages of the Revolution. 1776年3月，他写信给默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦(默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦)时，正在那里养病, but he soon returned to a public role and was elected president of the Massachusetts Council, 使他实际上成为殖民地革命政府的首脑. He served on the committee to write the Massachusetts Constitution (1779-1780) and was governor under the new state government at the time of Shays’s Rebellion (1786-1787). 退休回到私人生活, Bowdoin lived on to participate in the ratification of the federal Constitution and welcome newly-elected President George Washington to Boston in 1789. 鲍登于次年去世. Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine (then part of Massachusetts), founded in 1794, is named for him.

默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦

詹姆斯·鲍登的记者, 梅西·奥蒂斯·沃伦(1728-1814), 是她那个时代的奇迹:诗人, satirist (a playwright when the public theater still was illegal in colonial Massachusetts), 政治评论员, 社会评论家, and historian—all when women were restricted or prevented from participating in any of these roles. 一位爱国领袖(詹姆斯·奥蒂斯)的妹妹，另一位爱国领袖(詹姆斯·沃伦)的妻子。, Mercy Otis played her own significant part in Massachusetts revolutionary politics through her writings and network of correspondents.