the committee. The first convention took place on October 14–15, 1851, at the old United Brethren Church in Dublin, Indiana, with Birdsall serving as secretary for the convention. The second convention was held the following October in Richmond, which Birdsall helped to organize. At that gathering, both she and her husband signed the organizational papers and constitution to form the Woman's Rights Association of Indiana. Birdsall was elected secretary, a position she held for several more years. The attendees at the second convention discussed and passed more than a dozen resolutions pertaining to "elevating" women to equal status with men. They argued that citizenship was a moral and mental condition and that women were, in that sense, the same as men. They wanted women to receive the same education as men, in the same institutions. They encouraged all women to pursue an occupation to support themselves, rather than relying on men, for which they should receive equal pay for equal work. Birdsall wrote and submitted the convention minutes to several newspapers for publication. Birdsall served as one of a group of vice presidents at the fourth National Women's Rights Convention that was held in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1853. The 1854 Indiana women's rights convention moved from Richmond to the capital city, Indianapolis, Indiana, and was held in Masonic Hall, where the local press regarded it with disdain. In 1855, the convention met at Washington Hall in Indianapolis and attracted national members of the suffrage movement, including James and Lucretia Mott, who spoke at the convention, as did Ernestine L Rose. In 1858, the convention returned to Richmond, largely due to Birdsall's efforts, and it was during this meeting that members of the group composed a petition to the Indiana General Assembly advocating women's rights. At the ninth convention in 1859, Birdsall was elected president of the association. The Civil War pushed suffrage and women's rights out of view, and the next convention was not held in Indiana until 1869, when the organization was renamed the Indiana Woman's Suffrage Association. Address to the Indiana General Assembly On January 19, 1859, the House and the Senate convened in a rare joint session of the state legislature. The Speaker of the House initially had difficulty moving through the large crowd, which included many women, to convene the meeting and many legislators had to stand during the presentation. Mary F. Thomas, Birdsall, and Agnes