The equality of all humanity, of groups and cultures seems to be the motivating factor that inspired most of Margaret Fuller's writings.
Fuller, the eldest of nine children, was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1810. Fuller's father Timothy "had hoped that his first child would be a son who could be reared in his pattern as his heir" (Wade 6). When his second child was a daughter as well, Mr. Fuller gave his eldest child the education normally given to a son. Timothy Fuller was very much a self-made man. He worked his way through Harvard Law School, then combined his profession with politics to become a member of the Massachusetts Senate and later was elected to Congress as a Representative. "Although he paid lip-service to a firm belief in the equality of the sexes, it was not in his character to treat his wife as a partner with rights equal to his own" (Wade 5). Mrs. Fuller was very happy to be wife and mother. However, as soon as Margaret reached the age of three or four, Mr. Fuller took over as her teacher.
Margaret Fuller accepted her father's disciplines, teachings and strict schedules with great exuberance. She did have a history of headaches, insomnia, and other illnesses related to the severely stressful study sessions she endured. By the time she was six, she had learned to read Latin, and having to stay up late at night to read was blamed for the cause of her symptoms. Wade Mason noted, "the Latin she began to read was too strong an intellectual diet for an immature mind, and it is not surprising that the horrendous images of Virgil haunted her dreams" (9). However, she was ever vigilant to participate in her father's obsession even after his death in 1835 and soon became enraptured herself to learn all that she could.
Because her mother was so grief-stricken when Timothy Fuller died, Margaret took over the responsibility of supporting the family.