Written in epistolary form and drawn from actual events, BrownÕsÊThe Power of SympathyÊ(1789) and FosterÕsÊThe CoquetteÊ(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 countryÕs morality.
