Republican Womanhood: Judith Sargent Murray The young woman in this 1772 portrait became known in the 1790s as America’s foremost spokeswoman for woman’s equality. Judith Sargent Murray published essays under the pen name “Constantia.” She argued that women had “natural powers” of mind fully the equal of men’s. George Washington and John Adams each bought a copy of her collected essays published in 1798. John Singleton Copley, Portrait of Mrs. John Stevens (Judith Sargent, later Mrs. John Murray). Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund 2000.6. Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago/Art Resource, NY.