Personal letters, even ones such as Wheatley's that were later published in newspapers, offer a rare opportunity to hear women's voices from the past. What
distinguishes Wheatley's and Adams's writing from the rhetoric of Patrick Henry,
Thomas Jefferson, and Tom Paine? What do their letters reveal about how women
were expected to behave in early America?

i confess that there are several parts of this constitution which i do not at present approve, but i am not sure i shall never approve them: for having lived long, i have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which i once thought right, but found to be otherwise. it is therefore that the older i grow, the more apt i am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.