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Murray, Judith Sargent (1751-1820) Writer: Murray was chiefly concerned with the status, rights, and role of women in the new republic of the United States. She began as a poet, but turned to essays in 1779. Murray wrote under the pseudonym "Constantia." In her works, such as Desultory Thoughts upon the Utility of Encouraging a Degree of Self-Complacency, Especially in Female Bosoms (1784), she argued that women were intellectually equal to men, ought to receive the same education available to men, and should be capable of achieving economic independence. In 1788, she married John Murray, who founded the Universalist Church.