Committed abolitionist, controversial Quaker minister, tireless pacifist, fiery crusader for women's rights--Lucretia Mott was one of the great reformers in America history. Her sixty years of sermons and speeches reached untold thousands of people. Yet Mott eschewed prepared lectures in favor of an extemporaneous speaking style inspired by the inner light at the core of her Quaker faith. It was left to stenographers, journalists, Friends, and colleagues to record her words for posterity.

Drawing on widely scattered archives, newspaper accounts, and other sources, Lucretia Mott Speaks unearths the essential speeches and remarks from Mott's remarkable career. The editors have chosen selections representing important themes and events in her public life. Extensive annotations provide vibrant context and show Mott's engagement with allies and opponents. The speeches illuminate her passionate belief that her many causes were all intertwined. The result is an authoritative resource, one that enriches our understanding of Mott's views, rhetorical strategies, and still-powerful influence on American society.

Lucretia Mott (1793–1880) was a prominent reformer who agitated against slavery and co-organized the 1848 Seneca Falls convention. Christopher Densmore is the curator of the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College and the author of Red Jacket: Iroquois Diplomat and Orator. Carol Faulkner is a professor of history at Syracuse University and the author of Lucretia Mott's Heresy: Abolition and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. Nancy Hewitt is Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University. Her books include Women's Activism and Social Change: Rochester, New York, 1822-1872. Beverly Wilson Palmer is a research associate at Pomona College and the editor or coeditor of numerous documentary editions, including Selected Letters of Lucretia Coffin Mott.

Introduction xi
Editorial Policies xxix
lucretia mott speaks: the essential
speeches and sermons
Twelfth Street Meeting, Philadelphia, 1818 3
Pennsylvania Hall, Philadelphia, May 16 and 17, 1838 3
New England Non-Resistance Society, Chardon Street
Chapel, Boston, September 25–27, 1839 4
Unitarian Chapel, August 9, 1840, Glasgow, Scotland 6
Marlboro Chapel, Boston, September 23, 1841 8
Rose Street Meeting, New York City, September 29, 1841 14
Manhattan Society, Asbury Church, New York
City, September 29, 1841 15
Unitarian Church, Washington, D.C., January 15, 1843 16
Hicksite Meetinghouse, Rochester, New York, July 21, 1844 27
Unitarian Christians Convention, First Unitarian
Church, Philadelphia, October 22, 1846 28
Anti-Sabbath Convention, The Melodeon, Boston, March 24, 1848 30
American Anti-Slavery Society, Broadway Tabernacle,
New York City, May 9, 1848 39
Women’s Rights Convention, Wesleyan Chapel, Seneca
Falls, New York, July 19–20, 1848 44
Women’s Rights Convention, Unitarian Church,
Rochester, New York, August 2, 1848 45
“Sermon to the Medical Students,” Cherry Street
Meeting, Philadelphia, February 11, 1849 48
American Anti-Slavery Society, Minerva Rooms,
New York City, May 8, 1849 55
Cherry Street Meeting, Philadelphia, November 4, 1849 56
Cherry Street Meeting, Philadelphia, November 6, 1849 64
“Discourse on Woman,” Assembly Buildings,
Philadelphia, December 17, 1849 68
Cherry Street Meeting, Philadelphia, March 31, 1850 81
Women’s Rights Convention, Brinley Hall, Worcester,
Massachusetts, October 23–24, 1850 87
Isaac T. Hopper Memorial Service, Broadway
Tabernacle, New York City, May 12, 1852 92
Women’s Rights Convention, Horticultural Hall, West
Chester, Pennsylvania, June 2–3, 1852 93
Women’s Rights Convention, City Hall, Syracuse,
New York, September 8–10, 1852 95
Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Horticultural Hall, West
Chester, Pennsylvania, October 25–26, 1852 100
Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Assembly Buildings,
Philadelphia, December 15–16, 1852 102
Women’s Rights Convention, Broadway Tabernacle,
New York City, September 6–7, 1853 104
Women’s Rights Convention, Melodeon Hall,
Cleveland, October 5 and 7, 1853 110
Rose Street Meeting, New York City, November 11, 1855 120
Women’s Rights Convention, Broadway Tabernacle,
New York City, November 25–26, 1856 122
Yardleyville, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1858 127
American Anti-Slavery Society, Assembly Rooms,
New York City, May 11, 1859 137
Anti-Slavery Sympathy Meeting, Assembly Buildings,
Philadelphia, December 16, 1859 138
Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Town-Hall,
Kennett Square, October 25–26, 1860 139
Fifteenth Street Meeting, New York City, June 1, 1862 142
30th Anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society,
Concert Hall, Philadelphia, December 3–4, 1863 144
American Anti-Slavery Society, Church of the Puritans and
Cooper Institute, New York City, May 10–11, 1864 148
Women’s Rights Convention, Church of the Puritans,
New York City, May 10, 1866 151
Fifteenth Street Meeting, New York City, November 11, 1866 153
Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Franklin Institute,
Philadelphia, November 22–23, 1866 160
American Equal Rights Association, Church of the
Puritans, New York City, May 9–10, 1867 163
Free Religious Association, Horticultural
Hall, Boston, May 30, 1867 166
Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, New
York, November 24, 1867 171
Pennsylvania Peace Society, Assembly Buildings,
Philadelphia, November 17–18, 1868 178
Race Street Meeting, Philadelphia, March 14, 1869 180
Women’s Suffrage Meeting, Academy of Music,
Brooklyn, New York, May 14, 1869 189
Pennsylvania Peace Society, Friends’ Meeting House,
Abington, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1869 191
Opening of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore,
Pennsylvania, November 10, 1869 195
Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Assembly
Buildings, March 24, 1870 196
American Anti-Slavery Society, Apollo Hall,
New York City, April 9, 1870 197
Reform League, Steinway Hall, New York City, May 9, 1871 199
Fifteenth Street Meeting, New York City, May 26, 1872 199
Funeral of Mary Ann W. Johnson, Home of Oliver
Johnson, New York City, June 10, 1872 201
Free Religious Association, Tremont Temple,
Boston, May 30, 1873 203
Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting, Race Street,
November 4, 1873 205
Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery,
Concert Hall, Philadelphia, April 14, 1875 207
Free Religious Association, Beethoven Hall, Boston,
May 28, 1875 207
Women’s Peace Festival, Institute Hall, Philadelphia,
June 2, 1875 209
Women’s Peace Festival, Mercantile Hall,
Philadelphia, June 2, 1876 211
30th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, Unitarian
Church, Rochester, New York, July 19, 1878 214
Acknowledgments 217
Index 219