"...they are absolutely equal in their rights to life, liberty, andthe pursuit of happiness--in their rights to do, and to be, individually and socially, all they are capable of... "
Abby H. Price to First National Woman's Rights Convention

"It is one thing to issue a declaration of rights...but quite another thing...to commend the subject to the world's acceptance...to secure the desired reformation," warned Paulina Wright Davis, organizer and president of the 1850 national convention, to an audience of thousands in her welcoming speech. She did not want "the theoretical principles its friends may assume, or the spirit with which they maintain them" to hinder "perhaps the very last grand movement of humanity towards its highest destiny."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Frederick Douglass joined Davis and activists from several states in the desire for a successful movement. Stanton signed the call for the convention, and at Davis' request, sent a letter on "the propriety of woman's exercising her political rights" to be read in her absence. Lucretia Mott reviewed the "condition of woman," encouraging the convention to "do its part toward her elevation." Mott and Douglass participated in debates; Mott and Stanton joined committees formed to work on the convention's action plan: to hold local meetings, raise funds, gather facts, and publicize the movement through the press, tracts, books, and speakers.

National Women's Rights Conventions                                                   1851 Convention