Major-General James Warren (September 28, 1726 – November 28, 1808) was an American merchant, politician and military officer who served as the speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1787 to 1788.

An advocate of colonial resistance to British parliamentary acts in the American Revolution, Warren served as the Continental Army's Paymaster-General during the Revolutionary War before pursuing a political career.

Born in Plymouth, Massachusetts to an affluent New England family, Warren studied at Harvard College from 1745 to 1747 before settling down in his hometown to a career as a businessman and gentleman farmer.

As tensions gradually increased between Great Britain and its American colonies, Warren soon became a prominent supporter of the Patriot cause, jointly forming a committee of correspondence in Massachusetts.

[5] This took place amidst a backdrop of increasing tensions between Great Britain and its North American colonies, with colonists protesting several unpopular acts passed by the British Parliament.

[7] The group agreed that selected representatives from each of the Thirteen Colonies should gather in New York City and write a petition to King George III requesting that he repeal the act.

[8] Warren continued to involve himself in efforts to resist British parliamentary acts targeting the colonies, assuming prominent roles in political and mercantile demonstrations by Patriots (such as the Boston Tea Party), writing that "the People should strike some bold stroke and try the Issue."

[10] He also served as a military officer in the Continental Army while they were stationed at Cambridge and Boston in 1775 and 1776, during a campaign which saw Patriot troops successfully compel British forces to evacuate from Massachusetts.

Warren was also appointed to the rank of major-general in the Massachusetts militia and was ordered to lead a Continental Army force into British-controlled regions in Rhode Island.

However, unwilling to accept the command of an officer of a lesser rank, Warren officially resigned from the militia on August 1777, bringing an end to his nascent military career.

During his one-year long tenure, Warren's popularity waned due to his stance on currency issues and criticism of the methods used by the federal authorities to suppress Shays' Rebellion.

[15] In 1788, Warren emerged as a leading opponent of the Constitution of the United States' ratification due to the lack of any bill of rights contained within the document, authoring several pamphlets which were published in Boston publicizing the issue; he also wrote several articles for the Independent Chronicle and the Massachusetts Centinel during this period.

Historian Murney Gerlach noted that Warren remained a "firm exponent of republicanism both during and after the period of government under the articles of confederation", visualizing his ideal political structure as being founded on "equal liberty and the happiness of mankind".