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PRINTER'S NO. 4269
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
1176
Session of
2018
INTRODUCED BY DAVIDSON, THOMAS, NEILSON, MILLARD, READSHAW,
SOLOMON, KINSEY, KRUEGER-BRANEKY, DiGIROLAMO, YOUNGBLOOD,
MURT, HILL-EVANS, DAVIS, HENNESSEY, CALTAGIRONE, SCHLOSSBERG,
PETRARCA, SCHWEYER AND FITZGERALD, OCTOBER 16, 2018
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
OCTOBER 16, 2018
A RESOLUTION
Commemorating the life of Lucretia Mott, a 19th century feminist
activist, abolitionist, social reformer and pacifist who
helped launch the Women's Rights Movement, including fighting
for the right to vote, and designating November 6, 2018, as
"Lucretia Mott Day" in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, Lucretia Mott was born as Lucretia Coffin on January
3, 1793, in Nantucket, Massachusetts; and
WHEREAS, Consistent with her father's wishes that she become
familiar with democratic principles, Lucretia attended public
school for two years in Boston, Massachusetts; and
WHEREAS, At 13 years of age, Lucretia was sent to a Quaker
Friends boarding school near Poughkeepsie, New York, where two
years later, she became an assistant and a teacher; and
WHEREAS, At the boarding school, Lucretia's interest in
women's rights began with the realization that she was paid only
half the salary that male teachers were receiving; and
WHEREAS, In 1811, Lucretia Coffin married James Mott, a
fellow teacher from the boarding school, and the couple moved to
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Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Approximately seven years later, Lucretia Mott began
to speak at religious meetings and three years later she was
accepted as a minister in the Society of Friends; and
WHEREAS, In the 1820s, Lucretia Mott began to travel around
the nation lecturing on religion and social reform, including
temperance, the abolition of slavery and peace; and
WHEREAS, Lucretia Mott was a highly effective speaker who
retained her poise before the most hostile audiences; and
WHEREAS, In 1840, Lucretia Mott was refused as a delegate to
the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London because of her
gender; and
WHEREAS, In 1848, Lucretia Mott and a fellow activist called
a first of its kind Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls,
New York, "to discuss the social, civil, and religious rights of
women," as they sought to take up the cause of women's rights;
and
WHEREAS, The convention issued a Declaration of Sentiments
that was modeled on the Declaration of Independence, which
stated that "all men and women are created equal"; and
WHEREAS, From that time on, Lucretia Mott devoted most of her
attention to the women's rights movement, including writing
articles and lecturing widely; and
WHEREAS, Lucretia Mott was elected president of the 1852
convention at Syracuse, New York, and became president of the
American Equal Rights Association in 1866; and
WHEREAS, Lucretia Mott continued to be active in the causes
of women's rights, peace and liberal religion until her death on
November 11, 1880, when, at 87 years of age, she died at her
home in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania; and
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WHEREAS, Although she did not live to see the day women won
the right to vote with the enactment of the 19th Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States, Lucretia Mott is credited
with having sparked the Women's Rights Movement; and
WHEREAS, Lucretia Mott stands as one of the most impactful
reformers of her day, tirelessly pushing for equal voting,
education and economic rights for all who were disadvantaged and
disenfranchised; and
WHEREAS, American author Susan Jacoby wrote: "When Mott died
in 1880, she was widely judged by her contemporaries...as the
greatest American woman of the nineteenth century";
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives commemorate the
life of Lucretia Mott and recognize her extraordinary dedication
and courage in fighting for the causes of women's rights,
including women's suffrage, the abolition of slavery and other
social reforms in this nation; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate
November 6, 2018, which is General Election Day in this
Commonwealth for the year 2018, as "Lucretia Mott Day" in
Pennsylvania.
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