Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
When we consider that Mrs. Gage had led the usual arduous domestic
life, of wife, mother, and housekeeper, in a new country, overburdened
with the care and anxiety incident to a large family reading and
gathering general information at short intervals, taken from the hours
of rest and excessive toil, it is remarkable, that she should have
presided over the Convention, in the easy manner she is said to have
done, and should have given so graceful and appropriate an
extemporaneous speech, on taking the chair. Maria L. Giddings,
daughter of Joshua R. Giddings, who represented Ohio many years in
Congress, presented a very able digest on the common law. Betsey M.
Cowles gave a report equally good on "Labor," and Emily Robinson on
"Education."
In all the early Conventions the resolutions were interminable. It was
not thought that full justice was done to the subject, if every point
of interest or dissatisfaction in this prolific theme was not
condensed into a resolution. Accordingly the Akron Convention
presented, discussed, and adopted fifteen resolutions. At Salem, the
previous year, the number reached twenty-two.
Letters were read from Amelia Bloomer, Elizabeth Wilson, Lydia F.
Fowler, Susan Ormsby, Elsie M. Young, Gerrit Smith, Henry C. Wright,
Paulina Wright Davis, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Clarina Howard Nichols,
and others. The Hutchinson family enlivened this Convention with such
inspiring songs as "The Good Time Coming." Ever at the post of duty,
they have sung each reform in turn to partial success. Jesse expressed
his sympathy in the cause in a few earnest remarks.
This Convention was remarkable for the large number of men who took an
active part in the proceedings. And as we have now an opportunity to
express our gratitude by handing their names down to posterity, and
thus make them immortal, we here record Joseph Barker, Marius
Robinson, Rev. D. L. Webster, Jacob Heaton, Dr. K. G. Thomas, L. A.
Hine, Dr. A. Brooke, Rev. Mr. Howels, Rev. Geo. Schlosser, Mr. Pease,
and Samuel Brooke. The reports of this Convention are so meagre that
we can not tell who were in the opposition; but from Sojourner Truth's
speech, we fear that the clergy, as usual, were averse to enlarging
the boundaries of freedom.
In those early days the sons of Adam crowded our platform, and often
made it the scene of varied pugilistic efforts, but of late years we
invite those whose presence we desire. Finding it equally difficult to
secure the services of those we deem worthy to advocate our cause, and
to repress those whose best service would be silence, we ofttimes find
ourselves quite deserted by the "stronger sex" when most needed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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