Women in the 1840's were typically limited when it came to their political and legal rights. Despite what Abigail Adams had said to her husband, John Adams, during the making of the Constitution, asking him to "remember the ladies!", the women in America were furthermore oppressed. However many women grew impatient with their lack of representation, causing some of them to voice their opinions on the subject in attempt to change history.

     Instead of settling for merely "enhancing the social status of her husband," Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton raised awareness to the suppression of women and end it. Organizing the Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, NY, she believed, along with women all over the country, that Women are equal to men and deserve the same rights as their husbands. Espescially from a political standpoint, Stanton believed that women's suffrage was a keyDuring the 1830's through the 1840's  women took reform movements against prostitution, alcohol, prisons, war and moral issues such as slavery. Activists such as Angelina and Sarah Grimke took part in educating and attempting to free slaves in the south. Harriet Wilson was the first African-American to publish a novel displaying the ideals of racism.