Proceedings of the Woman's Rights Convention.
The Proceedings of the Woman's Rights Convention Held at Worcester, October 23rd & 24th, 1850. Boston: Published by Prentiss & Sawyer, 1851.
8vo; 84 pp.; lacks original wrappers, inconspicuous perforated library stamp on p. 51, 6 small stamped numbers on verso of titlepage; disbound, else fine.
First Edition. The first national woman's rights convention was largely organized by its president, Paulina Wright Davis, and drew more than 1,000 participants. Among future women's rights leaders who attended were Lucy Stone, Antoinette L. Brown (later Blackwell), Sojourner Truth, Clarina I. H. Nichols, and Harriet K. Hunt. Lucretia Mott (chair, social relations), Ernestine L. Rose (chair, civil and political functions) were there too, as were Abby Foster, Elizabeth Blackwell, and others. Prominent among the men were W. L. Channing, W. L. Garrison, Gerrit Smith, Wendell Phillips, and Samuel. G. May.
There are printed addresses by Paulina Davis, Abby H. Price, Mr. H. H. Van Amringe ("Women's Rights in Church and State"), Harriet K. Hunt ("On the Medical Education of Women"), and printed letters from Elizabeth C. Stanton, Samuel J. May, and a number of others. Several other speeches are very briefly summarized. Many subjects were discussed, including dress reform, the limitations on women's educational and occupational opportunities, women's rights from a religious perspective, and exercise and physical education. Seven resolutions were adopted which addressed property rights, natural rights, civil rights, political parties, and a demand for suffrage and equality "without distinction of sex or color." In England, Harriet Taylor, future wife of John Stuart Mill, read a report of this convention in the press and began to write her "Enfranchisement of Women.” She credited American women with starting the international Woman's rights movement.
The 1850 Convention was held in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was largely organized by Pauline Wright Davis of Rhode Island, who brought wealth and social position to the new movement. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law passed: men and women of good will found that their consciences compelled them to wink at, or even break, a law counter to their deepest convictions. Abolitionists speaker Lucy Stone (1818-1893), who had been criticized for discussing women's position in her lectures, joined Davis and other feminists to call for a national convention on women's rights. Women from nine stated attended the two day meeting in Worcester, Massachusetts, in October. Among the participants were Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Antoinette Louisa Brown (Blackwell) and Lucretia Mott. They agreed on a resolution demanding suffrage and equality "without distinction of sex or color."
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