Written in epistolary form and drawn from actual events, these two novels are a vivid reflection of the American goal to establish a secure republic built on the virtue of its citizens.

Written in epistolary form and drawn from actual events, Brown's The Power of Sympathy (1789) and Foster's The Coquette (1797) were two of the earliest novels published in the United States. Both novels reflect the eighteenth-century preoccupation with the role of women as safekeepers of the young country's morality.