Abigail Adams is rightly famous for writing to her husband John on 31 March 1776, longing to hear that the Continental Congress, in which John represented Massachusetts, had "declared an independency," and "in the New Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make" to "Remember the Ladies". Abigail’s sentiments were not unique; in the spring of 1776 in Massachusetts talk of independence was in the air. Eight days before Abigail wrote to John, 詹姆斯·鲍登曾写信给默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦(Mercy Otis Warren)，谈到宣布独立的必要性，并将反对这一宣言的人称为“那本名为‘常识’的优秀小册子”.’"

詹姆斯·鲍登在信中称，宣布独立是确保从母国中“相互独立”的初步步骤. 他在信中花了大量篇幅猜测英国任命的与殖民地谈判的和平专员可能是谁，以及他们何时抵达美国. He did not see a declaration merely as a negotiating tactic, 但同样重要的是，要迫使部长级政府明白，他们是平等对待的, 特别是在最近的“他们的军队从波士顿可耻的仓促逃亡”之后——1776年3月17日，波士顿已经被撤离.

"TIS TIME TO PART"

While in his letter, James Bowdoin appears to recommend Thomas Paine’s Common Sense to Mercy Otis Warren, 在早前的一封信(1776年2月28日)中，他承认从她那里借了一本小册子. Correspondence in the Massachusetts Historical Society’s Warren-Adams Papers among and between James and Mercy Otis Warren; James and Elizabeth Erving Bowdoin; John and Abigail Adams; and Samuel Adams and Hannah Winthrop shows how news—and copies—of Common Sense came to Massachusetts in the early months of 1776 and how Paine’s message, as Thomas Paine bibliographer Richard Gimbel wrote, "swept the country like a prairie fire." It was time, Paine wrote, to separate from England: "TIS TIME TO PART."

"The report of my D’rs arrival is a mistake."

詹姆斯·鲍登(James Bowdoin)给默西·奥蒂斯·沃伦(Mercy Otis Warren)的信以附言结尾:虽然他希望她的丈夫詹姆斯(James)已经“完全康复”, 他说，有关他女儿伊丽莎白从英国回来的个人新闻报道是假的. 1767年，伊丽莎白嫁给了约翰·坦普尔，一个波士顿出生的美国海关委员会成员. Romance briefly had triumphed over politics in colonial Boston, 但邓波儿与一位爱国运动领袖的女儿的婚姻可能导致了他在1770年被免职. 伊丽莎白和约翰·邓波儿在英国定居，直到1778年约翰开始了前往美国的注定要失败的和平使命，他们才回到美国. They returned to America again in 1781, 1785年，约翰被任命为新国家的首任总领事.

James Bowdoin

詹姆斯·鲍登(1726-1790)——通常被称为“詹姆斯·鲍登二世”，以区别于他的父亲和同名的儿子——于1745年毕业于哈佛学院. Through a large inheritance from his father, a wealthy merchant, and marriage to Elizabeth Erving, the daughter of another Boston merchant, Bowdoin had the means to devote his life to scientific investigation and public service. 他对电学和天文学的兴趣使他结识了本杰明·富兰克林，并成为一生的通信和朋友. In 1780, 鲍登成为美国艺术与科学院的创始人和首任院长. 

In public life, 鲍登先是被选为马萨诸塞州众议院议员，后来又被选为州长委员会成员, 但随着时间的推移，他失去了皇家政府的青睐，开始积极参与爱国运动. In 1770, 波士顿选他为委员会成员，准备一份利记APP官网手机版波士顿大屠杀的报告 A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston. In the years before the Revolution, 鲍登是波士顿镇会议的主持人，也是镇安全委员会的负责人.

In 1775, when the Siege of Boston began, 鲍登搬到了乡村小镇米德尔伯勒，在那里，疾病使他无法在革命早期发挥积极作用. He was convalescing there when he wrote to Mercy Otis Warren in March 1776, 但他很快就回到了公众角色，并当选为马萨诸塞州议会主席, making him in effect the head of the colony’s revolutionary government. 他是马萨诸塞宪法起草委员会的成员(1779-1780)，并在谢斯叛乱时期(1786-1787)担任新成立的州政府的州长。. Retiring to private life, 鲍登后来参与了联邦宪法的批准，并于1789年欢迎新当选的总统乔治·华盛顿来到波士顿. Bowdoin died the following year. 缅因州布伦瑞克的鲍登学院(当时是马萨诸塞州的一部分)成立于1794年，以他的名字命名.

Mercy Otis Warren

James Bowdoin’s correspondent, Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814), was a wonder of her age: a poet, 讽刺作家(当公共剧院在马萨诸塞殖民地还是非法的时候的剧作家), political commentator, social critic, 以及历史学家，都是在女性被限制或阻止参与这些角色的时候. The sister of one patriot leader (James Otis) and wife of another (James Warren), 梅茜·奥蒂斯通过她的作品和通讯网络在马萨诸塞州的革命政治中发挥了重要作用.