Michelle Obama on Monday night appealed to working women, mothers and voters who still might not be sure who exactly her husband Barack is, in an effort to make the Obama family more of a known quantity in American politics.

Michelle Obama declared "I love this country" during the first major address at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. She described herself as a daughter of working-class parents, a sister, a wife and a mother, no different from many women. She told a thunderous crowd waving signs reading "Michelle" that she and her husband feel an obligation to "fight for the world as it should be" to ensure the promise of a better life for their daughters, Malia and Sasha, and all children.

(Click here for the text of Michelle Obama’s speech.)

"I think about how one day, they’ll have families of their own. And one day, they — and your sons and daughters — will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They’ll tell them how this time, we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, we decided to stop doubting and to start dreaming," she said.

Michelle Obama drove home the point that her husband is a human being just like you. He is not an "other," he is not a "celebrity." He is a father, a husband, a person, she said, echoing her theme of family throughout the speech.

The lawyer-turned-campaigner also gave a shout-out to Hillary Clinton and her supporters as Barack tries to woo disappointed Clinton supporters to his side. Michelle quoted a line directly from Clinton’s concession speech in which the New York senator alluded to the 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling her candidacy created.

"I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history - knowing that my piece of the American Dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me," Michelle said. "People like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, so that our daughters — and sons — can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher."

Freshman Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, one of Obama’s fiercest supporters, also spoke. Caroline Kennedy tried to bridge the generational shift when she told the crowd, "I have never had someone inspire me the way people tell me my father inspired them, but I do now: Barack Obama."