Editing Lucy Stone (section)

=== Massachusetts ===
After petitioning the Massachusetts legislature from 1849 through 1852 for the right of women to vote and serve in public office,<ref>Million, 2003, pp. 99-100, 102-03, 111-12, 292n. 23, 293n. 6; 102-03, 293n. 6; ''Liberator'', December 14, 1849; February 1, 1850; January 24, 1851; Jan 9 and 30, 1852.</ref>
Stone aimed her 1853 petitions at the convention that would meet on May 4, 1853, to revise the state constitution. Wendell Phillips drafted both the petition, asking that the word "male" be stricken, wherever it appeared in the constitution, and an appeal urging Massachusetts citizens to sign it. After canvassing the state for nine months, Stone sent the convention petitions bearing over five thousand signatures. On May 27, 1853, Stone and Phillips addressed the convention's Committee on Qualifications of Voters. In reporting Stone's hearing, the ''Liberator'' noted: "Never before, since the world was made, in any country, has woman publicly made her demand in the hall of legislation to be represented in her own person, and to have an equal part in framing the laws and determining the action of government."<ref>Million, 2003, pp. 131, 133-34, 135-38, 297 note 24.</ref>