Men and women of all ages moved to the newly settled lands of America to gain personal and religious freedom from their struggles at home. Women, although lightly stressed in historical writings, become especially important in these personal and religious struggles. Women writers such as Margaret Fuller and Anne Bradstreet wrestled throughout their lifetimes with their struggles of sexual equality and the forgiveness of God. Through their writings, Fuller and Bradstreet expressed their opinions about equality of the sexes and religious tension

Next, Fuller mentions intellectual companionship stressing that it has become more and more frequent in society. She addresses the fact that the “intellectual development of woman has spread wider and risen higher” to the point where they are on the same intellectual level as men (Fuller 767). With this in mind, men and women are now ready to “work together for a common purpose” under the same notion that men and women can be equal (Fuller 769). Fuller mentions mutual idolatry to sustain the level of independence women during her time were beginning to adhere. This level of independence a woman can feel is a struggle for the female race in its own sense. Fuller feels that men and women can “weaken and narrow one another” and as a result, “to themselves they seem the only wise” (Fuller 767). Margaret Fuller suggests that if men and women are so encapsulated within each other, then there is no room for equal and separate lives with the rest of society. Fuller’s struggles with equality are more than played out in her “great lawsuit.” Fuller wants to be an individual among society, but she also want the comfort that a male/female relationship brings to her life.

Bradstreet, on the other hand, often struggles with her relationship with God. In her long poem, “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666,” Bradstreet relies heavily on her relationship with God as she depicts how God affects every aspect of her life. As the fire begins in the first few lines, Bradstreet calls to God “To strengthen me in my distress and not to leave me succorless” (Bradstreet 143). She believes that it was God’s will to take her house from her for she utters that “It was His own, it was not mine” (Bradstreet 143). She relinquishes all of her precious things to God for he is her creator and thus all belongs to him—the phrase “God’s will” was commonly heard when referring to a significant event.

Although Margaret Fuller and Anne Bradstreet both ponder sexual equality, they are both different in the way they confront the situation. Margaret Fuller gives little to the efforts of men, while Anne Bradstreet remembers to acknowledge her counterparts—one main reason for this discrepancy is the fact that these two women live nearly two centuries apart. In the 17th century, it was nearly unheard of for women to express opinions that were contradictory to that of men’s, while the 19th century added a more general understanding of women’s viewpoints. 17th century women were expected to respect the thoughts, opinions and actions of their male counter-parts. Men were in command of society and women had little and even no part in the communal upbringings. As America evolved into a nation of free enterprise during the 18th and 19th centuries, women began to yearn for their positions among society. They no longer wanted to be subservient among the male-dom

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