Politics & Power Quote by Mercy Otis Warren

The line reads like a victory lap with a raised eyebrow: not just independence declared, but legitimacy manufactured in real time. Mercy Otis Warren, a playwright with a propagandist's instincts, understands that revolutions don’t survive on adrenaline alone. They need paperwork. Her emphasis on the Declaration’s “new and more respectable footing” is a deliberate reframing of what the document actually did. It didn’t merely announce separation; it laundered rebellion into statecraft.

The phrasing sharpens the politics inside the politics. “Dreaded by the foes” is expected, but “for a time doubtfully viewed by many of the friends of America” is the real tell. Warren is quietly calling out the wobblers: the cautious elites, the merchants with divided loyalties, the moderates who feared that committing to independence would burn the bridges they secretly hoped to keep. She uses that hesitation to make the eventual turn feel inevitable, even morally clarifying. If even friends doubted it, then the Declaration’s success becomes proof of its necessity.

Her split focus on “operations of war” and “negotiations with foreign powers” is the strategist’s point. Armies need allies; allies need a sovereign partner, not a squabbling set of colonies claiming temporary outrage. The Declaration becomes a diplomatic instrument, a signal to France and other powers that America is a credible counterweight to Britain. Warren’s intent is to elevate the Revolution from improvised insurgency to respectable nationhood - and to suggest that respectability, not just valor, is what wins wars.