Indeed, the 19th century was a time when women were characterized by gender inequalities. Women were excluded from participation in public life, especially in fields related to politics and professional occupations. Therefore, middle- and upper-class women often stayed at home, caring for their children and managing the household; Women were expected to remain submissive to their fathers and husband. In Gretchen Ritter’s “The Constitution as Social Design” she writes “before women’s place in the twentieth-century polity was conceived relationally. As wives, daughters, servants and slaves, they were represented in public affairs through their husbands, fathers and masters. They had no independent civic status” (Ritter, 2-3). However, in the 1830s and 1840s the social and political climate began to change as women activists questioned submission to men; and they formed demonstrations to challenge the norm. These groups of women worked to gain equal rights, higher education, and, most importantly, the right to vote. As a result, women's roles began to dissipate, seeking