I recognize no rights but human rights....

I am persuaded that woman is not to be, as she has been, a mere second-hand agent in the regeneration of a fallen world, but the acknowledged equal and co-worker with man in this glorious work." The debate on the subject threatened for a short season to push the woman's question to the level of the slavery question.

The contention became acrimonious, and the alienation of friendships was widespread.
John G.Whittier and Theodore D.Weld, who were both avowed believers in the idea of women's rights, nevertheless, felt that the agitation of the subject, under the circumstances, was a grave blunder.

"No moral enterprise, when prosecuted with ability and any sort of energy, _ever_ failed under heaven," wrote Weld to Sarah and Angelina, "so long as its conductors pushed the _main_ principle, and did not strike off until they reached the summit level.

On the other hand, every reform that ever foundered in mid-sea, was capsized by one of these gusty side-winds." Both Weld and Whittier endeavored to dissuade the sisters from mooting the question of women's rights at all, and to urge them to devote their voice and pen to the "_main_ principle" exclusively.