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Letters Between Catharine Macaulay and Mercy Warren

These eighteenth century letters are evidence of an extraordinary correspondence. Here the great historian of England and one of the first historians of the United States exchange their thoughts and ideas. And both individuals just happen to be women.

In the letters Catharine Macaulay and Mercy Warren wrote to each other over a twenty-year period, they shared strong convictions about politics, human nature, and the founding of the American republic. Macaulay and Warren also wrote historical works in an attempt to influence the political discourse and events of the revolutionary era. Macaulay, an Englishwoman, published nine volumes of history, two philosophical works, and several pamphlets. Warren, an American, published three volumes of history, two verse dramas, numerous lyric and dramatic poems, and several pamphlets.

The documents displayed in this exhibit are from the Catharine Macaulay Papers in the Gilder Lehrman Collection, and courtesy of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Much of the material is unpublished, and several of the letters shown in the exhibit are being exhibited for the first time.