March 16-20, 2009 - Mercy Otis Warren on Obedience
Mercy Otis Warren on Obedience to
Government (1805)
In her pioneering history of the American Revolution (1805) Mercy
Otis Warren (1728-1814) reflected upon the propensity of human
beings to
obey authority out
of old habits of obedience until they have been pushed to the limits
by despotic masters:
[T]here is a certain supineness which generally overspreads the multitude,
and disposes mankind to submit quietly to any form of government,
rather than to be at the expense and hazard of resistance.
They become attached to ancient modes by habits of obedience,
though the reins of authority are sometimes held by the most rigorous hand.
Thus we have seen in all ages the many become the slaves of the few; preferring
the wretched tranquillity of inglorious ease, they patiently yield to despotic
masters, until awakened by multiplied wrongs to the feelings of human nature;
which when once aroused to a consciousness of the native freedom and equal
rights of man, ever revolts at the idea of servitude.
The full paragraph from which this quotation was taken can be be viewed below (front page quote in bold):
It is indeed true, that resentment had in several instances arisen to outrage,
and that the most unwarrantable excesses had been committed on some occasions,
which gave grounds for unfavorable representations. Yet it must be acknowledged,
that the voice of the people seldom breathes universal murmur, but when the
insolence or the oppression of their rulers extorts the bitter complaint.
On the contrary, there is a certain supineness which generally overspreads
the multitude, and disposes mankind to submit quietly to any form of government,
rather than to be at the expense and hazard of resistance. They become attached
to ancient modes by habits of obedience, though the reins
of authority are sometimes held by the most rigorous hand. Thus we have seen
in all ages the many become the slaves of the few; preferring the wretched
tranquillity of inglorious ease, they patiently yield to despotic masters,
until awakened by multiplied wrongs to the feelings of human nature; which
when once aroused to a consciousness of the native freedom and equal rights
of man, ever revolts at the idea of servitude.
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