In 1884 a British inventor put a gasoline
engine on a three-wheeled motorcycle.
By 1900 many people were building
two-wheeled motorcycles with gasoline
engines.
#More to explore
Automobile • Bicycle • Internal-
Combustion Engine • Transportation
Mott, Lucretia
Lucretia Mott helped to begin the movement
for women’s rights. She was also
an early worker against slavery in the
United States.
Early Life
Lucretia Coffin was born on January 3,
1793, in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
When she was 13 her parents sent her to
a Quaker school in Poughkeepsie, New
York. She later became a teacher there.
As a woman she received only half the
pay that male teachers earned. She first
became interested in women’s rights
because of this unequal treatment.
Lucretia married another teacher, James
Mott, in 1811. The couple moved to
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and had six
children. Lucretia became a Quaker
minister in 1821.
Career
In 1833 Lucretia Mott helped to start
the American Anti-Slavery Society. In
Lucretia Mott
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Mott, Lucretia 193
1840 the group sent her to a convention,
or large meeting, in London,
England. However, she was not allowed
to take part because she was a woman.
Many people were against equal rights
for women at that time.
In 1848 Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
led the first convention for women’s
rights. It was held in Seneca Falls, New
York. Mott also wrote many articles and
gave many speeches in support of women’s
rights. In 1866 Mott became president
of the American Equal Rights
Association. This group worked for
equal rights, especially voting rights, for
all Americans.
Before the American CivilWar Mott
and her husband used their home as a
stop on the Underground Railroad. The
Underground Railroad was a system by
which people helped runaway slaves
escape to the North. After the CivilWar
Mott worked to get education and jobs
for freed slaves. Mott died on November
11, 1880, near Abington, Pennsylvania.
#More to explore
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady • Underground
Railroad •Women’s Rights
Mound Builder
An amazing assortment of large mounds
of earth lies in parts of the eastern
United States. Some of the mounds are
low, simple cone shapes. Others are tall,
wide hills. Still others are shaped like
huge animals. These mounds are not
natural formations—Native Americans
built them. Archaeologists call those
people mound builders.
Three important groups of mound
builders were the people of the Adena,
Hopewell, and Mississippian cultures.
They built many different types of
mounds. Burial mounds were used as
graves. They made these mounds by
placing a body on the ground and building
a hill of dirt and stones around it. In
some burial mounds the bodies of many
generations were layered on top of one
another. Eventually the mound grew to
look like a small hill.
Native Americans also built effigy
mounds, which were shaped like such
animals as snakes, bears, birds, and lizards.
Some effigy mounds served as
burial mounds. The purpose of other
effigy mounds is unknown.
Other mounds provided platforms for
religious temples or leaders’ homes. The
Cahokia Mounds in southern Illinois are
Mott helped to
write a
declaration of
independence
for women. It
declared that
“all men and
women are
created
equal.”
The effigy mound called Serpent Mound
was built by Native American mound builders
in what is now the U.S. state of Ohio.
The mound is shaped like a snake.
194 Mound Builder BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
examples of platform mounds. The
people of the Mississippian culture built
those mounds, shaped like flat-topped
pyramids, between about AD 900 and
1200.
#More to explore
Adena Culture • Hopewell Culture
• Mississippian Culture • Native
Americans
Mountain
A mountain is a landform that rises high
above its surroundings. Taller than a hill,
it usually has steep slopes and a rounded
or sharp peak. Mountains are rarely
found alone. Groups of mountains are
called ranges. Lines of ranges form
mountain belts.
How MountainsWere Formed
Some mountains were formed by the
activity of volcanoes. Scientists believe
that most volcanic mountains are made
up of rock that melted deep within
Earth. The rock rose through Earth’s
surface, or crust. It then flowed onto the
surface in the form of lava. The lava,
along with volcanic dust, built up to
form mountains. Volcanic mountains
are typically steep and cone shaped.
Mount Fuji in Japan, Mount Kilimanjaro
in Africa, and Mount Rainier in the
United States are examples of volcanic
mountains.
Other mountains were formed by movements
within Earth’s crust. The theory
called plate tectonics explains this type
of mountain building. Earth’s crust is
divided into huge pieces called plates,
which move very slowly. The continents
sit on top of the plates and move with
them. At times the plates collide, forcing
the rock upward. The Himalayas of Asia
are an example of this type of mountain
chain. They were formed when a plate
carrying India collided with the Asian
plate.
Living in Mountain Lands
Mountain ranges are natural barriers to
travel. Roads are difficult to build across
them. Railroads need expensive tunnels
