Freedom to print things and publish things. It is not a freedom for what we now refer to institutionally as the press. Lectures in history, on American History tv on cspan 3. Every saturday, at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Lectures in history is also available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. In 1848 a convention was held in seneca falls, new york to discuss the state of womens rights in the country. The gathering was seen by many as the beginning of the womans Suffrage Movement. However, it took until 1920, over 72 years later, for women to earn the right to vote. During those years organizations such as the National American womans Suffrage Association, and National Womans Party would form. Creating a national movement. Yet it was women in every community who led the effort in their towns and states to demand rights. Through the work of cspan cities tour well introduce you to some of these women who dedicated their lives to this cause. From a prosuffrage newspaper publisher in oregon to a 23yearold montanan arrested for protesting on the white house lawn, why western territories and states were on the leading edge of the movement and youll hear how a letter from a mother to her son would lead to the ratification of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. We begin in seyracuse, new york where the author talks about one of the movements lesser known figures lieu cree sha not. The most important white female abolitionist and one of the most important women in American History. She has not received the same amount of historical attention as one like Elizabeth Katy stanton has for for example whether abolitionists or feminists. She advised reformers to stand out in our heresy, to confront social injustices, political injustices, legal injustices, and not be afraid to be labeled a heretic or an infidel, or, you know, a nonconformist, someone who was willing to go against the tides of society for their beliefs. And thats what Lucretia Mott did. She was a 19th century american abolitionist, womens rights activist and quaker minister. She lived from 1793 to 1880. So she lived a very long life. She was born on the island of nantucket but she lived most of her adult life in philadelphia, and that was the city from which she based her activism, which stretched across the United States and the atlantic as well. Lucretia mott definitely defined herself as a feminist in womens rights activist and she traced her commitment to womens rights to her childhood, really, on the island of nantucket. It was a Community Based on the whaling industry so the men in the community would often go off on three, four, fiveyear voyages, leaving the women to manage the household, do the household finances, and a lot of them on nantucket ran businesses. So for mott womens independence and capability was selfevident. She as the quakers, the society of friends were also one of the first denominations to allow women to preach. So she had always seen female ministers in her childhood and she eventually became one herself in 1821. So i think that sort of capacity for religious authority also informed her commitment to womens rights. She got married to her husband james mott in 1811, and in the 18 teens and early 1820s there was nothing necessarily to indicate she would become a great activist. You know, she eventually had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood. She taught in a quaker school. She became a quaker minister but none of this was unusual. I think the key moment in lieu cree sha nots life that turned her into an activist was the hiksite controversy in the society of friends that occurred in the 1820s and by 1827 the society of friends in the United States had split into two competing hostile groups known as the hicksite and the she wash named after their leader elias hicks. They believed the leadership of the society of friends had become complacent on the issue of slavery. Theyd done away with their ownership of slaves long before, and they viewed that as enough, right, to have removed themselves from direct contact. But elias hicks and Lucretia Mott believed you had to sever all ties from slavery and for wealthy merchants in philadelphia that was asking quite a lot. They all had economic ties to the south. They all dealt in cotton and even james mott, he struggled for a while to find a profession, to find a career that would support his family and eventually he succeeds, but its as a cotton merchant. And so Lucretia Mott puts a lot of pressure on him, actually, to give up that business and eventually he became a wool merchant by 1830. That was a radicalizing issue for her. Speaking on womens issues and antislavery when she became a minister and that was a formative period for her. But i think in the early 1830s in philadelphia, philadelphia had the largest population of free blacks in the north, Lucretia Mott would have known them and interacted with them in free produce societies, for example, and probably tried to speak in africanamerican churches and otherwise connected with them. And there were a lot of race riots in philadelphia in the early 1830s. So the intensity of northern racism was very visible to her. And so when she attended the founding meeting of the American Antislavery Society in 1833, and then thereafter founded the philadelphia female antislavery society, she believed that their goal should be not only fighting slavery, but also racial prejudice. It was basically a twopronged a i proech. One of the things she did frequently whenever she met a slave holder, you know as she did when she was traveling abroad, or around the United States she would often speak in delaware, virginia, you know, slave holding states, kentucky she spoke. She would engage. She would try to convince that slave holder that slavery was wrong, you know, and whether they were being polite or, you know, just tolerating this lady, you know, poking them in the ribs, she seemed to have had some individual personal success, you know, that she said, oh, this one slave holder i met told me to send them some pamphlets when i got home, im going to send them some pamphlets, you know, so i think thats, you know, again she was not afraid of confrontation and engagement and she was going to try to persuade people that slavery was wrong, you know, no matter where she was and who they were. Lucretia mott was not particularly interested in politics or the political process but she did speak on multiple occasions in washington, d. C. , and at one point she was supposed to speak in congress, but because she would not agree not to talk about slavery, if thats clear, they wouldnt let her speak and so instead she spoke in a unitarian church, and all sorts of politicians, including southern congressmen attended and of course she spoke about slavery because that was always what she was compelled to speak about. But during that particular trip to washington, d. C. In 1843 she also met president tick tyler and his line about Lucretia Mott was, you know, i think ill turn mr. Calhoun over to you. You know, you can negotiate with john c. Calhoun for me. So that was sort of the level of her ferocity and really intransigence on the issue of slavery. Lucretia mott first met Elizabeth Katy stanton in 1840. Elizabeth katy stanton was younger than her, 22 years younger than her. And when they met, they met in sort of unlikely place, which was at the worlds Antislavery Convention in london, england in 1840. So you have, you know, two americans meeting in london. And they you know, they had other connections. But Lucretia Mott was there as a delegate from various American Antislavery Society. So she was officially there to attend the worlds Antislavery Convention. Elizabeth katy stanton was there on her honeymoon, just married an abolitionist named henry stanton, it was a European Tour versus a political journey as it was for Lucretia Mott but the two women, i think, instantly connected and Elizabeth Katy stanton later described Lucretia Mott as a revelation of womanhood, i had never met a woman like this before and i didnt know it was possible for women to be so outspoken and independent so she really became an admirer of Lucretia Mott. Elizabeth katy stanton referred to Lucretia Mott as the moving spirit of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 but it was actually a label that Lucretia Mott rejected she said, oh, no, elizabeth, you should claim that for yourself. It was really your idea. But, you know t fact is that it was the fact that Lucretia Mott was in the area but the convention was held and her presence was advertised to draw attendees. So her sister lived in auburn, new york, not far from seneca falls so she would come up to Central New York regularly. When she came up in 1848 she was actually engaged in a number of different activities. She attended an annual quaker meeting, the yearly meeting. She traveled to ontario, canada to visit former slaves there, american slaves who had fled to canada. She went to the seneca reservation, and witnessed them writing their constitution. So shes actually engaging in all these very interesting activities in the summer of 1848. Native american rights, africanamerican rights. And then womens rights. So before the Seneca Falls Convention in july 1848 she meets up with her old friend elizw eElizabeth Katy stanton, and other areas. She decided to social and religious condition and they advertise that Lucretia Mott will be there and she will be the principal speaker. I think the Public Perception of her is very interesting. One newspaper once called her a grizzled caesar of the movement, that shes somehow shed her femininity by engaging in this kind of acted vichl. But the womens Rights Movement and the Antislavery Movement held her up as a paragon of womanhood and they would basically say, see, Lucretia Mott is an example that you can do both. You can be an excellent wife, mother, grandmother, and you can also have a public life. You could also be an activist. I think for her the activism and the family life blended seamlessly because her husband was also an abolitionist, and active in a lot of the same organizations that she was. You know, he attended the first Womens Rights Convention at seneca falls and chaired the convention. And her children also became involved in the philadelphia female antislavery society, and other organizations for womens rights and womens suffrage in philadelphia. So in many ways her activism was a Family Affair and there wasnt a lot of conflict. At her funeral someone said there was silence, as is appropriate for a quaker funeral, but someone said who can speak, the preacher is dead. That sort of how much a void had been left by Lucretia Motts death because she always had something to say. And i think thats made her in some ways too good, right, shes become, you know, almost what Elizabeth Katy stanton made her, a kind of saint. And, you know, in actuality she was a deeply radical person for her time and was not afraid to speak her beliefs. In 1869 in new york city Elizabeth Katy stanton and susan b. Anthony founded the National WomensSuffrage Association to advocate for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. However, much of the womens Rights Movements early progress came in the west where states and territories adopted more favorable rights for women. In oregon Abigail Scott duniway who established a after her husbands business failed. Benjamin duniway was a very good husband and father to the children. He didnt have the maybe the level of business skill that somebody should have in managing a farm, and because of his kindness and generosity he cosigned a loan for a friend, and that friend defaulted on that loan, and so as a result the duniways lost their farm. That was in the mid60s, i believe. After that benjamin was involved in a farming accident so he became disabled. It therefore fell to abigail to be the breadwinner for the family. She did some teaching again. But eventually decided to move down to albany, oregon, a little town further south in the valley and she set up a millnerry shop, a hat shop. And apparently she was quite successful in that business. She even traveled to San Francisco to get supplies for her business. But an important thing happened when she interacted with the women who came into her hat shop, she became aware of the difficulties that women led in their lives. She realized they had no life, no standing in the community, they could not own property. They were dependent on their husbands, and their husbands good will to lead a good life. And she saw a lot of women who were suffering because of that. So at one point she realized, well, if women could vote, then they could enact change themselves. And change laws. To benefit women and all women. And all people. And so she turned her attention to the Suffrage Movement. She moved her family back up to portland so this was in the early 1870s, and her first effort was to start her own newspaper. And that was called the new northwest. So this was the vehicle that she used to communicate about her equal suffrage efforts. And i believe the whole family was or many members of her family were involved in producing this newspaper. One of her sons was a printer. So it was kind of like a family enterprise. So she communicated through the northwest, that was an important part of her developing skill, and becoming a suffrage leader in the northwest. But she also communicated with National Suffrage leaders. And in 1871 she coordinated a visit by susan b. Anthony out to the west, and she traveled with her on a speaking tour in california. So in very short order, i think its pretty remarkable, in very short order she all the sudden had a significant standing and presence in the Suffrage Movement. Harvey scott was her brother. Of course he traveled with the family on the oregon trail. Apparently he had been abusive to his siblings, and there are accounts of him beating up the sisters when they were growing up. And he kind of continued that tradition when he when the family came to oregon, eventually he became an editor at the portland oregonian, the largest newspaper in oregon and one of the largest in the Pacific Northwest. And he was an antisuffragist. He wrote editorials against it, he continued to beat up on abigail even as they were adults. Theres in the 1900 campaign i believe suffrage for women would have passed had it not been for harvey scotts editorials in the portland oregonian. Because if you tabulate the number of votes cast primarily in multnoma, what suk sunk the passage of suffrage that year. Heres a letter, abigail is writing to her son clyde, and so this is the 1900 campaign, and they were waiting for the returns to come in. Last night after anxious waiting for runs during which oregonian and your mad uncle have came to me with the cheering news that the returns showed 45 of the vote to be in the affirmative. With the four counties we depend most upon to be heard from. And then she says i was quite sick till i got some returns besides the awful indecent abuse of the oregonian. Now i shall set the coward up and i think shes referring to her brother harvey. One of the interesting things about the effort to pass suffrage in oregon, and duniways involvement in that effort was the change that came about in the way that measures could be presented to the citizenry for voting. And initially when duniway started out on her campaign work, she used what she called the still hunt. And that was to quietly get in good with the men who had been elected to the oregon legislature. And to curry their favor, and she did it quietly. Because she didnt want to disturb the opposition. And that resulted in the measure for womens suffrage to be presented on the ballot. And each time it was defeated. In oregon suffrage was presented six times, more than any other state. But eventually during the progressive movement, and in particular a person named william uran wanted to change that process, and he advocated for the initiative and referendum system which all the states now use. Its called the oregon system. And that way people could gain support for measures by getting enough signatures. And then it would be presented to the voters. So by the time suffrage was passed in oregon, duniways technique of the still hunt was not effective because it was not necessary. And eventually there were many other women who came forward to carry on the campaigns. One woman in particular, a physician in portland, esther poll lovejoy spearheaded the effort and it was largely through their effort and the use of more modern Campaign Techniques like