It ushered in the dawn by giving the impetus to the first Convention of Women's Suffrage in the United States.
Meantime, in Great Britain, the spirit of reform was in the air. Great principles of human freedom and justice were at stake. The Anti-Corn Law, as well as the Anti-Slavery agitation claimed women for their own. Richard Cobden, at the great meeting held in Covent Garden in 1845, pointed out the anomaly of women being able to confer votes upon their sons while yet unable to vote themselves. In later years the vote of the Leader of the Anti-Corn Law Bill, Mr. C. P. Villiers, was always recorded in favour of the Suffrage for Women. He had, in the turmoil of fight, tried women and not found them wanting, for the Anti-Corn Law circular of December 30, 1841, says, "The women of Manchester have set a noble example to their sisters throughout the country. They have already obtained more than 50,000 signatures to the memorial adopted at the Corn Exchange. The ladies of Bolton, Wigan, and Stockport are engaged in canvassing their respective towns."
The earliest leaflet on the Suffrage was issued in 1847 by an aged Quaker lady called Anne Knight, of Quiet House, Chelmsford. She subsequently assisted in founding the "Sheffield Female Political Association," which, at a meeting held February 26, 1851, adopted the first address on Suffrage formulated by women in England. Their petition was presented to the House of Lords by the Earl of Carlisle that same year.
