She was one of the first American proponents of the idea of the equality of the sexes so that women, like men, had the capability of intellectual accomplishment and should be able to achieve economic independence.

Among many other influential pieces, her landmark essay "On the Equality of the Sexes" paved the way for new thoughts and ideas proposed by other feminist writers of the century.

In the 1770s, Judith, her siblings, and her parents all converted to Universalism and helped to fund and create the first Universalist Church in the nation, installing John Murray as the first pastor.

As a wealthy, ship-owning merchant family, Judith's parents were able to provide her and her siblings with an education that was considered top-notch at the time.

Judith swayed from traditional gender norms by sharing a tutor with her brother, Winthrop Sargent, as he prepared for entry into Harvard College.

[6] The book was purchased by such prominent figures as George Washington, John Adams, Henry Knox, and Mercy Otis Warren.

Her name was included in the public documents that expelled the Gloucester Universalists from First Parish (Calvinist/Congregational) for refusing to attend and pay taxes to the established church.

The Universalists took their case to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and won the first ruling in America for freedom of religion, meaning, the right to support their own church, their own minister, and not pay taxes to First Parish.

The minister they wanted to support in their own Universalist church was John Murray, who is considered the founder of organized American Universalism.

Like Judith's father, people up and down the Eastern seaboard had already embraced the Universalist interpretation of the Bible put forth by the Welsh-born James Relly.

He was charismatic and convincing, and he succeeded in dismantling the dark, gloomy promises of Calvinism in favor of a more hopeful view of the present and life after.

On October 3, 1769, at eighteen years old, Judith married John Stevens, an important ship captain and trader at the time.

[1] While Judith Sargent Stevens conformed to the norm of wife and mother, she reconceptualized the possibilities of women's contributions to American culture in the early poems that she began composing in 1775.

When the revolution finally ended in 1783, Stevens was deep in debt so Judith put her writing to work and began to publish to make an income.

"[9] At approximately age twenty-three, Judith Sargent Murray began making copies of her correspondence to create a historical record for future generations.