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Catharine Macaulay’s most substantial work was the eight-volume A History of England from the Accession of James I. to that of the Brunswick Line, the first volume of which was published in 1763, but the last not until twenty years later. This history, which began with the accession of James 1, and told the history of the English Civil War as the outcome of the struggle of the Commons to retain their liberties against the absolutist tendencies of the Stuarts, affirmed the right of the people to depose their monarch. She wrote a further history, in letters, covering the period after 1688, as well as political pamphlets, refuting the monarchism of Hobbes, and the political conservatism of Burke. She criticized the policy of the British Government in the lead up to the American War of Independence, and was welcomed by the Americans, after Independence, as an important advocate of the principles on which the United States was founded. In her pamphlets she defended the right to petition and argued for copyright. Her most philosophical work, A Treatise on the Immutability of Moral Truth (1783), developed the doctrine of the will that she called “moral necessity”; this work was partly reproduced in her Letters on Education (1790), which was, in turn, reviewed by, and profoundly influenced, Mary Wollstonecraft.
Applying the principle that rights, if they exist at all, are universal, it is not surprising that Macaulay attempted to get her fellow country-men to see that injustice of taxing the colonies, while they were not given any representation in the British Parliament. In her Address to the people of England, Scotland and Ireland on the present important crisis of affairs, she called on the British people to support the rights of the Americans, and to join with them in order to protect themselves from the encroachment of their own liberties. She held out to Britons what a loss it would be if, as a result of a war of Independence they were to be deprived of all the commercial advantages that flowed from the Empire, and were left possessing only their own “foggy islands” (Macaulay 1775, 27). But her fundamental appeal is not to the self-interest of her country-men, who she suspects may think that their own burden of taxation is lightened by that placed on the Americans, but to the principle that it is only by supporting the rights of others that one can in the long run support one’s own rights. For her pains she was represented in the Westminster Magazine as a dagger-wielding hybrid of Roman matron and Indian chief, about to plunge her weapon into Britannia’s breast (Davies 2005, 152).
During this period she corresponded with John and Abigail Adams, James Otis and Mercy Otis Warren, Benjamin Franklin and Sarah Prince-Gill, among numerous other colonists (Davies 2005, 127–9; Letzring 1976; Macaulay 2019). In the second edition of her Loose Remarks she printed an exchange of letters with Benjamin Rush, in which he praised her political principles as well as offering some minor criticisms. Macaulay concludes her response to him by promoting to the Americans “the general principles of the rights of mankind inculcated in my great work” (Macaulay 1769, 35). Indeed, it is clear that the first five volumes of her eight volume history very clearly spell out the principles that justified the War of Independence, and she was feted when she travelled through nine of the thirteen states with her second husband. Despite her support for the Americans, as the actual Constitution was developed, she was not convinced that it would not be corrupted, and in a correspondence with Mary Otis Warren the two women expressed, with some prescience, their concerns that the arrangements did not sufficiently protect against tendencies which would allow aristocratic wealth, and the consequent corruption of the principles of liberty, to re-emerge (Hay 1994, 314).
Source: Green, Karen, "Catharine Macaulay", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/catharine-macaulay/.
Plymouth N E August 24 1775
At a time when all Europe is interested in the state of America, you will forgive me, dear madam, if I lay aside the ceremony usually observed when there is no attachment that arises either from affection or esteem & again call at your attention when I have not been assured of the welcome reception of my last, in that I hinted that the sword was half drawn from the scabbard, soon after which this people were obliged to unsheathe it to repel the violence offered to individuals, & the insolence of an attempt to seize the private property of the subjects of the king of England. And thereby put it out of their power to defend themselves against the corrupt ministers of his court. You have doubtless, Madam, been apprised of the consequences of this hostile movement which compiled the Americans to fly to arms in defense of all that is held dear & sacred among mankind. And the public papers as well as private accounts have witnessed to the bravery of the peasants of Lexington, & the spirit of freedom breathed from the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. You have been told of |
the distresses of the people of Boston, And the shameful violation of faith which will leave a stain on the memory of a certain general officer so long as the obligations of honor & truth are held sacred among men. He, after sporting with the miseries of the wretched, suffered till famine & pestilence began to rage in the city, permitted the most of them to depart leaving their effects behind, & to quit their elegant & convenient habitations in the capital & fly naked into the hospitable arms of their brethren in the country. And the conflagration of Charlestown will undoubtedly reach each British ear before this comes to your hand. Such instances of wanton barbarity have been seldom practiced even among the most rude & uncivilized nations, the ties of gratitude which were broken through by the kings troops in this base translation greatly enhances their guilt. it was the inhabitants of that town who prompted by humanity generously opened their doors to the routed corps on the nineteenth of April, & poured balm into the wound; of the exhausted & dying soldiers after their precipitant retreat. Had they observed a different conduct on that memorable day, Had they assisted in cutting [off] Lord Percy's retreat, it might not have been in the power of General Gage to have wrapped that town in flames & driven out the miserable inhabitants the prey of poverty & despair. But a particular detail of [the] sufferings of the Massachusetts you will have from other hands. I shall therefore only give a short account of the present situation of American affairs in the environs of Boston.
We have a well-appointed brave & high spirited Continental Army, Consisting of about twenty-two thousand men, commanded by the accomplished George Washington, Eqr. A Gentleman of one of the first fortunes in America. A man whose military abilities, & public & private virtues place him in the first class of the good & brave & are really of so high a stamp as to do honor to human nature, this army is to be occasionally reunited & to be supported & paid at the expense of the united colonies of America. And were Britain powerful & infatuated enough to send out a force sufficient to cut off to a man this little resolute army. Less than the compass of a week would exhibit in the field thrice their numbers ready to avenge the stroke & to call down the justice of Heaven on the destroyers of the peace, Liberty & Happiness of Mankind.
In compliance with the recommendation of the Continental Congress, the Massachusetts have at last reassumed the power of Government. the provincial Congress sent out a writ for calling a House of Representatives & agreeable to the charter of Wm & Mary, they proceeded to elect 28 counselors. And considering the Governor & Lieutenant as absent the supreme authority of of [sic] the province was vested in any sixteen of the number.
Thus after living without government, without law, and without any regular administration of justice for more than 12 months, we are just returning from a state of nature to the subordinations of civil society., The Grand Counsel of America have once more petitioned his Majesty to revise some methods of reconciliation this is a final proof with what reluctance the progeny at Britain draw forth the sword against their unnatural parent. Both the Ministerial & the American armies seem at present to be rather on the defensive as if each were wishing for some benign hand to interpass & heal the dreadful contest without letting out the blood from the bosom of their brethren.
But fond as this people are of the restoration of that Harmony which has added riches & strength to the power of Britain, yet so tenacious are we of the birthrights of nature & the fair possession of freedom which no power on Earth has a right to curtail, that we shall never give up the invaluable claim. But with the warm currant which plays round the heart & illuminates the breast to resist the arm of tyranny.
Our good friend Mr Adams has just left us to return to Philadelphia & with my very good husband desire you would accept their respectful compliments And highest esteem appears with the olive branch in the one Hand. The other holds forth A Radical Redress of Grievances Stamped with such a signet as may not be broken either by the corrupt practices of openly abandoned men or the machinations of perfidious traitors who profane the heavenly name of virtue by putting on the guise that they may more securely perpetrate every species of iniquity.
I fear notwithstanding the efforts of a virtuous & sensible minority, the Ministerial hirelings will pursue their mad projects till the scepter drops from the hands of royalty, & the mistress of the flag sits solitary & alone, till she becomes the derision of nations & the contempt of her enemies.
But [illegible] not their confusion be inexpressable when disappointed in every visionary scheme, when perhaps ere long they may see the ports of America thrown open to every foreign power & the mart of the whole world be fix’d in the western regions. What were the United provinces when the contest began with Spain in comparison with the united colonies of this wide extended continent.
Although I have already detained you longer than I designed, I cannot close without observing to you dear madam that the protest of the dissenting Lords and the conduct of several members of both Houses with regard to American affairs is never mentioned but with every expression of approbation & applause. The Noble Example of Lord Ellingham will be remembered in the historic pages, but at the same time that it transmits His Name with honor to posterity it will evince to future ages the corruption of the times that such an instance of disinterested merit should have recorded almost more, one who has heretofore been viewed with your correspondence subscribes with the highest esteem a daughter of America,
Mercy Warren
We have a well-appointed brave & high spirited Continental Army, Consisting of about twenty-two thousand men, commanded by the accomplished George Washington, Eqr. A Gentleman of one of the first fortunes in America. A man whose military abilities, & public & private virtues place him in the first class of the good & brave & are really of so high a stamp as to do honor to human nature, this army is to be occasionally reunited & to be supported & paid at the expense of the united colonies of America. And were Britain powerful & infatuated enough to send out a force sufficient to cut off to a man this little resolute army. Less than the compass of a week would exhibit in the field thrice their numbers ready to avenge the stroke & to call down the justice of Heaven on the destroyers of the peace, Liberty & Happiness of Mankind.
In compliance with the recommendation of the Continental Congress, the Massachusetts have at last reassumed the power of Government. the provincial Congress sent out a writ for calling a House of Representatives & agreeable to the charter of Wm & Mary, they proceeded to elect 28 counselors. And considering the Governor & Lieutenant as absent the supreme authority of of [sic] the province was vested in any sixteen of the number.
Thus after living without government, without law, and without any regular administration of justice for more than 12 months, we are just returning from a state of nature to the subordinations of civil society., The Grand Counsel of America have once more petitioned his Majesty to revise some methods of reconciliation this is a final proof with what reluctance the progeny at Britain draw forth the sword against their unnatural parent. Both the Ministerial & the American armies seem at present to be rather on the defensive as if each were wishing for some benign hand to interpass & heal the dreadful contest without letting out the blood from the bosom of their brethren.
But fond as this people are of the restoration of that Harmony which has added riches & strength to the power of Britain, yet so tenacious are we of the birthrights of nature & the fair possession of freedom which no power on Earth has a right to curtail, that we shall never give up the invaluable claim. But with the warm currant which plays round the heart & illuminates the breast to resist the arm of tyranny.
Our good friend Mr Adams has just left us to return to Philadelphia & with my very good husband desire you would accept their respectful compliments And highest esteem appears with the olive branch in the one Hand. The other holds forth A Radical Redress of Grievances Stamped with such a signet as may not be broken either by the corrupt practices of openly abandoned men or the machinations of perfidious traitors who profane the heavenly name of virtue by putting on the guise that they may more securely perpetrate every species of iniquity.
I fear notwithstanding the efforts of a virtuous & sensible minority, the Ministerial hirelings will pursue their mad projects till the scepter drops from the hands of royalty, & the mistress of the flag sits solitary & alone, till she becomes the derision of nations & the contempt of her enemies.
But [illegible] not their confusion be inexpressable when disappointed in every visionary scheme, when perhaps ere long they may see the ports of America thrown open to every foreign power & the mart of the whole world be fix’d in the western regions. What were the United provinces when the contest began with Spain in comparison with the united colonies of this wide extended continent.
Although I have already detained you longer than I designed, I cannot close without observing to you dear madam that the protest of the dissenting Lords and the conduct of several members of both Houses with regard to American affairs is never mentioned but with every expression of approbation & applause. The Noble Example of Lord Ellingham will be remembered in the historic pages, but at the same time that it transmits His Name with honor to posterity it will evince to future ages the corruption of the times that such an instance of disinterested merit should have recorded almost more, one who has heretofore been viewed with your correspondence subscribes with the highest esteem a daughter of America,
Mercy Warren
Guiding Questions
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