On a brisk January morning in 1827, Harriet Livermore mounted the speaker’s chair in the Hall of Representatives and became one of the first women to deliver a sermon in the United States Congress. She preached to an overflowing crowd of more than a thousand, including President John Quincy Adams, who sat on the steps leading up to her since there were no other free seats.
After reading Psalm 112, she preached from 2 Samuel 23:3, which says, “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” (KJV). Newspaper reports of the crowd’s reaction, with quiet weeping and overt sobbing, were lavish with praise. Livermore would go on to speak in that very chamber three more times—from 1832 to 1843—and always before considerable crowds.
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