Briana Martinez

A.P. U.S. History

Period 3
Margaret Fuller 1-6-10

Margaret was born Sarah Margaret Fuller. She was born on May 23, 1810 in
Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. During her lifetime she became a women’s activist and a
Transcendentalist, meaning she had new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy. She
became well known for her book Women in the Nineteenth Century, an inspiration to many
women.

Her father, Timothy Fuller had been disappointed that she wasn’t a boy and educated
her rigorously in the typical curriculum of the day. He was a prominent lawyer who had later
became later became a congressman. Her father’s death in 1833 brought financial problems for
her family and she became responsible for the education of her younger siblings. Not until the
age of 14 did she attend school. Even as a young girl she was motivated to educate herself at
home. After the death of her father she became a teacher at Bronson Alcott’s Temple School and
the Green Street School in Rhode Island, but teaching gave her too little time for writing.

In the year 1836 she began a friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson that lasted
throughout her lifetime. From 1840 to 1842, she served with Emerson as editor of a literary and
philosophical journal. Margaret Fuller was then introduced to Bronson Alcott, Louisa May's
brilliant father. Impressed with her knowledge, Alcott invited her to become a teacher at his
school in Boston. When Alcott's school closed in 1837, Margaret took a teaching position in
Providence, Rhode Island.

Margaret Fuller announced a series of public conversations designed to encourage

women into self-expression and independent thinking. Sophia Dana Ripley helped her find a
group of women wishing to discuss issues such as "What were we born to do? The place of
meeting would be Elizabeth Palmer Peabody's parlor, and 25 women appeared for the first
meeting. These Conversations proved very popular, drawing women all the way from
Providence, RI. Among those who subscribed and attended regularly were Lydia (Mrs. Waldo)
Emerson and, Susan Burley from Sale, an advocate of higher education for women, Caroline and
Ellen Sturgis, Mary Ward, Mary Channing, Marianne Jackson, Jane Tuckerman, Elizabeth
Bancroft, and Sarah Clarke. The Conversations brought criticism and ridicule, from women such
as Maria Weston Chapman of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, who thought abolition
should be a major subject of discussion.

From 1840 to 1842, she served as editor of The Dial a literary and philosophical journal
for which she wrote many articles and reviews on art and literature. In 1842, when she tried to
remove herself from editor of the Dial, Emerson volunteered to take over. The Dial was
published in 1843. One of her essays The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Men, Woman versus
Women she called for women's equality. In 1844 she published Summer on the Lakes. Horace
Greeley later asked her to join his newspaper, the New York Tribune as book review editor, and
she became successful, branching into different type of reviews.

In 1845 she expanded her Dial essay and published Woman in the Nineteenth Century
which became a classic of feminist thought. Her book inspired the women, because she spoke
about women well educated enough to be more than expected to be. Most women in the
nineteenth century looked up to her for the enormous knowledge of literature and philosophy.
She helped inspire the American women's rights movement which met at Seneca Falls, New
York, in 1848. Two years later she died at age 40 on July 19, 1850.

Margaret Fuller became the first of many things. They include being first American to
write a book about equality for women, first woman journalist on Horace Greeley’s New York
Daily Tribune, and first editor of The Dial, appointed by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I strongly agree
with Margaret Fuller, because she believed in equality and women speaking up for themselves.
She not only inspired women in the nineteenth century, but was the first woman literary critic
who set literary standards.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTERNET WEB SITES

Margaret Fuller Bicentennial. 2009-2010. Margaret Fuller Bicentennial

Available on the internet, http://www.margaretfuller.org
Accessed January 7, 2010

Ann Woodlief. 2002-2009. [Sarah] Margaret Fuller

Available on the internet, http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/fuller/
Accessed January 6, 2010

Mass Movements. 2005-2010. Writer Margaret Fuller

Available on the internet, http://massmoments.org/moment
Accessed January 6, 2010

Brian J. Hayes. 2000-2002. Margaret Fuller an outline biography

Available on the internet, http://www.age-of-thesage.org/transcendentalism/margaret_fuller.html
Accessed January 6, 2010