“What tho' we read in days of yore the woman's occupation, Was to direct the wheel and loom not to direct the Nation; This narrow-minded policy by us both met detection; While woman's bound, men can't be free nor have a fair Election.” This was in a New Jersey newspaper in 1796 and titled “A Woman.” (Berg 11) American literature, as does all literature, continues to reflect the conflicts that universally impact humankind - political, social, economic, racial, sexual, and moral. More than any other type of literature, American literature has brought to the world the ideals on which the country was founded: freedom, equality, individual rights vs. the rights of the state, and the right to self-determination. Certainly other authors, from many nations, have promoted these ideals in the hopes of making lives better, initiating social change, or seeking justice. However, the difference seen in early American literature is...