Otis was a mentor to Thomas Paine and co-wrote parts of Common Sense, which Amar notes Otis was never credited for.

Otis was a key organizer of the Boston Tea Party to whom Amar attributes coining the phrase “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Amar describes Otis, an early leader in protests against the Stamp Act, as the “Massachusetts” counterpart to the “Rabble Raising Patrick Henry.”

James Otis Jr. was the father of Mercy Otis Warren.