Mother Ann Lee

Personal Statement: My name is Ann Lee Stanley, but I am known as Mother Ann, since I am the second coming of the messiah. I was born in Manchester, England, on February 29, 1736. My father, John Lee, was a poor blacksmith who could not afford to send me to school. I have 7 other siblings. I worked in the textile mills in Manchester until my early twenties, when I became a cook for the infirmary and madhouse. In January 1762, I was forced by my father to marry his apprentice, Abraham Standerin. Abraham and I had four children, but all of them died in their childhood. I believe that this was a judgement of my acts. For 9 years, I felt guilty and afraid of what might happen should I die in such a state. Then, during an imprisonment, I received a vision of what the Shaker movement should come to be. In a later imprisonment, it was revealed to me that I am the second coming of the messiah. I founded and became the leader of the Shakers. I soon decided that we had to leave for America to convert the people there. My 8 followers and I left for the colonies and arrived in 1774. My husband left me while we were in New York. Although my followers and I endured hardships, we established a community in Niskeyuna, New York. The Great Awakening brought us many converts, and we established more communities in New England in the later years of the Revolutionary War. I passed leadership to James Whittaker and after he took charge, our community prospered.

Issues: I was a religious reformer. I believe that lust is the cause of all evil and that absolute celibacy is necessary. I think the Church is too materialistic and that the clergy is immoral. When I was a child, Manchester was a terrible place to be. It was overcrowded and horribly filthy. Many of its workers drank constantly in desperation, causing them to sin and lose all moral consciousness. At this time, I realized that lust was the was the cause of original sin, and therefore, it is the cause of all evil. My two visions in prison showed me what I needed to do. Those revelations motivated me to reform religion.

Solution: I believe the solution to avoiding evil is absolute celibacy. I want to create a utopian society just like my Shaker communities. I was moderately successful in attaining my goal. I was able to gain many new converts during the Great Awakening, and during my trip ending in 1781, I established more Shaker communities throughout New England. Yet, I did not reform the religion in all of America. We were often persecuted in England for our different practices. When we arrived in America, though, we were persecuted because we were believed to be British loyalists, although we didn’t take a side in the war. We were later thought to be British spies and several of us were imprisoned. When we started to see a decreasing number of converts, we started to face a decreasing amount of members, since we were strict concerning absolute celibacy.  

Relationship to Others: I would feel comfortable sitting next to Lyman Beecher and Robert Owen because they have similar backgrounds and ideals. I would be uncomfortable next to Henry Clay because his stance on war is in direct opposition to mine.