Bloomer's early reform interest was confined primarily to the temperance movement, but she had long believed in the equality of women and men, striking the promise to obey from her marriage vows and attending the 1848 women's rights convention in Seneca Falls. Like many women involved in the temperance movement, Bloomer was inspired by new opportunities to express her opinions and to advocate change but was frustrated by the limitations placed on these opportunities by male-dominated temperance groups.

During the late 1840s [Delany] was co-editor of Frederick Douglass's North Star and traveled as an abolitionist lecturer. His call for black economic self-determination and his critique of the black community's religiosity as an obstacle to achieving that end placed him among the most radical of abolitionists.

In July 1863 President Jefferson Davis granted Smith "any assumption of authority which may be necessary" within his department. Despite Smith's best efforts, the maintenance of morale in "Kirby Smithdom," as the Trans-Mississippi Department was frequently described, became increasingly difficult because of poor communications with the Confederate capital at Richmond and a lack of fiscal resources. Smith was criticized for not doing more to support the war effort east of the Mississippi, but Union control of the river after 1863 rendered that virtually impossible.