Basic Information
Mary Ashton Rice Livermore, an American, was a woman’s rights activist, an educator, journalist/editor, and a nurse. She is best renowned for her engagement in the women’s suffrage campaign and her support for the United States Sanitary Commission in the American Civil War (1861–1865).
Background Information
Livermore was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 19, 1820, to Timothy Rice, a laborer, and Zebiah Vose Ashton, both were fervent Calvinist Baptists. Her father was a strict Baptists and was adamant that his children get a good education. Livermore was lucky enough to be accepted into Hancock School, where she completed all her studies. Unfortunately, there were no advanced schooling options for women in Boston in the 1930s, so Livermore apprenticed as a seamstress. Once Mary completed her apprenticeship, her dad enrolled her at the Charlestown Female Seminary. In 1839, Livermore’s scholastic abilities got her a position as a live-in instructor tutoring children on a Virginia plantation (Duncan, 2008, p. 93). While at the plantation, she personally observed the advantages of slavery for white folks, such as the freedom from doing household chores, taking care of the children, and the cooking. At the same time, she also witnessed the mistreatment of slaves (Venet, 2007, p. 319). This would be the turning point in her formation as an advocate (Duncan, 2008, p. 93).
In 1842, Livermore relocated to Massachusetts where she got involved in the abolition and temperance movements. She left the Baptist Church in 1844 as she found it to be restrictive, so she joined the Universalist Church in Duxbury. There she met a young preacher named Daniel Livermore whom she would marry in 1845. The word “obey” was omitted from their wedding vows, as it was for countless other reformers at the time. Mary and her husband Daniel moved to Fall River, Massachusetts in 1845, when he obtained a post as a clergyman. Mary Livermore loved her role as a pastor’s wife and started writing poems, short stories, as well as becoming the editor of her husband’s Universalists newspaper, The New Covenant (Duncan, 2008, p. 93).
Contributions to the First Wave
In 1857, the Livermore’s relocated to Chicago, Illinois. Mary Livermore remained involved with the temperance and other philanthropic causes such as underprivileged assistance for women and children. She became associated with the United States Sanitary Commission after the Civil War broke out in 1861 and was assigned to investigate Union hospitals on the western front (Ping, 2017, p. 231). While volunteering for the Commission, her organizing expertise was put to the test. Livermore and her peer Jane Hoge organized local assistance communities and dispatched a distribution of food items, medical supplies, and items of clothing to the soldiers on the battlefronts. The progress by local charity groups throughout the upper Midwest was so effective that the Chicago office was attributed with two-thirds of the funds collected by the Commission. In addition, Livermore and Hoge was able to collect $70,000 at the Chicago Sanitary Fair for the war. (Brooklyn Museum, 2019).
During the war, Mary realized how little women’s opinions mattered in regards to political issues. Following the Civil War, Livermore became an outspoken supporter of women’s suffrage. Livermore was known as the “Queen of the American Platform” and one of the main speakers of the women’s rights movement. Through her involvement with the abolition of slavery, she, like many of her peers, came to the idea that all people deserved to be free (Duncan, 2008, p.93).
Livermore’s developing sense of women’s capability to serve a vital, reforming role in public life was enhanced by the Civil War, and their right to vote was critical to that position. She convened the first women’s rights convention in Chicago in 1868, which resulted in the establishment of the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association, of which she was chosen as their president. The Agitator, a platform for advocacy on temperance and women’s suffrage, was created and edited by her a year later. Lucy Stone approached Mary Livermore about forming the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), which Livermore agreed to be the organizations vice-president. Livermore decided to combine The Agitator with the AWSA’s main newspaper, the Woman’s Journal, and returned to Boston, Massachusetts to become its editor. She was the president of the AWSA from 1875 to 1878 (Wayne, 2014, p.115).
At a time when she was being lured into a public career as a speaker, Livermore co-founded the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association in 1870. She served as president from 1893 to 1903 and travelled doing speaking tours for the next 25 years and was known as one of the most well-recognized individuals in the AWSA, where she was known for her strong promotion of women’s education. In 1873, she became the first president of the Association for the Advancement of Women and a strong supporter for women’s education (Wayne, 2014, p.115).
In her lecture she talked about her book “What Shall We Do with Our Daughters?” (published in 1883) in which she advises women to turn towards the future generation for growth (Duncan, 2008, p. 94). After being influential in forming the WCTU’s Massachusetts branch in 1874, which she served as president for ten years, Livermore relinquished her editorial position of the Woman’s Journal in 1872 due to her substantial lecturing obligations, that also included giving speeches to represent the WCTU. In her lectures, Livermore spoke on issues such as moral reform, religion, suffrage, marriage and divorce, immigration, the importance of daily exercises for women, and clothing styles (Wayne, 2014, p. 115).
In 1878, she joined Julia Ward Howe of the AWSA as a candidate to the First International Congress on Women’s Rights in Paris, France. Livermore had a strong public presence as a key voice in the Massachusetts temperance and suffrage campaigns by the time she withdrew from speaking in public in 1896. Livermore resumed her charitable work via the Beneficent Society of New England and the Women’s Education and Industrial Union of Boston, from 1897-1899 (Wayne, 2014, p. 116). Her autobiography, My Story of the War, was published in 1887, and it was dedicated to the Civil War nurses and soldiers. She also noted the countless women who transformed themselves as males to serve in the war, such as Loretta Velasquez (Ping, 2017, p. 232). Livermore returned to her career as a writer and an outspoken campaigner for women’s rights. She was an outspoken political activist, orator, and suffragist to the end of her life. Mary Livermore passed away on May 23, 1905, in Melrose, Massachusetts at the age of 84 (Duncan, 2008, p.94).
The Woman Suffrage movement has been often spoken of as a new movement. It is, but it is based on old principles- the principles that were fought for and maintained on the field of battle nearly a hundred years ago. It is simply a carrying out of the principles further than our fathers carried them a hundred years ago.
~ Mary A. Livermore (Stockwell, 2021)
Analysis and Conclusion
Mary A. Livermore was a philanthropist who was committed to assisting wounded soldiers, homeless veterans, and establishing a hospital for women and children. She was also an abolitionist, a temperance, and an advocate for woman suffrage. However, Livermore’s views of focusing on women suffrage did not sit well with Susan B. Anthony who wanted to focus only on women’s right to vote. The conflict between Livermore and Anthony caused them to form separate organizations. Livermore helped form the American Woman Suffrage Association where she dedicated the rest of her life writing articles and touring around the country delivering speeches. She argued that suffrage was the best solution to justice in many of her other lectures and publications. Due to Livermore’s commitment for change, women’s lives improved as a result of her tireless dedication.
References
Brooklyn Museum. (2019). Mary Livermore. The Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved February 2, 2022, from google. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/mary_livermore
Duncan, J. D. (2008). Shapers of the Great Debate on Women’s Rights: a Biographical Dictionary : A Biographical Dictionary. Westport: ABC-CLIO, LLC. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/lib/washington
Livermore, M.A.(1902 Mar. 28). .Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540USA. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from the Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004679550/
Ping, L. J. (2017). Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1820–1905). In P.A. Lamphier & R. Welch (Eds.), Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection. (Vol. 2, pp.231-232). ABC-CLIO. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from Gale eBooks. https://go-gale-com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/ps/bobLinking?resultListType=
Venet, W. H. (2007). A Strong- Minded Woman: The Life of Mary A. Livermore. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from Book Review (H-net). https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=13738
Venet, W. H. (2002). The Emergence of a Suffragist: Mary Livermore, Civil War activism, and the Moral Power of Women. (Vol. 48, Issue 2, p. 143). Kent State University Press. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from Gale Academic OneFile, U.S. History. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A88613484/AONE?u=wash_main&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=a891
Wayne, T. K. (2014). Women’s Rights in the United States: a Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Issues, Events, and People. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/lib/washington/reader.action