Ladies for Liberty: Women Who Made a Difference in American History

“The most remarkable woman who lived in the days of the Amer-
ican Revolution.” —19th-century historian Elizabeth Ellet

Throughout the 1760s revolutionary feelings were running high in the Thirteen Colonies; many Americans wanted independence from the British. The busiest port in the thirteen colonies was Boston, and it was very badly affected by taxes imposed by the British government. The resulting mood there was particularly febrile. Lawyer James “Jemmy” Otis, whose five-hour speech in court in 1761 was said by future second President John Adams to have sparked the American Revolution, led his intensely political family in openly agitating for independence and against the British. Tories, sympathetic to England, hated him and would confront him on the streets. One day in early September 1769, Jemmy entered a British coffee shop on State Street, knowing it was frequented by his enemies, and was instantly attacked by customs officer John Robinson—whom Jemmy had criticized in a newspaper

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