American women writers in the first half of the nineteenth century used translation – one of the few literary activities deemed suitable for well-educated women – in order to introduce foreign philosophical ideas that would strengthen the role of women at home. Margaret Fuller translated and published selected writings by Goethe and Bettina von Arnim to argue for a reconfiguration of gender roles, for the introduction of an educational concept based on experience and self-cultivation as well as for a spiritual and philosophical enrichment of American culture through a dialogue with European ideas.