Victoria Woodhull

Victoria Woodhull
Photograph by Mathew Brady, c. 1870
Born
Victoria California Claflin

(1838-09-23)September 23, 1838
Homer, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJune 9, 1927(1927-06-09) (aged 88)[1]
Bredon's Norton, Worcestershire, England
Occupations
  • Suffragist
  • politician
  • feminist
  • writer
Known for
Political partyEqual Rights
Spouses
Canning Woodhull
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​
(m. 1853; div. 1865)​
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​
(m. 1865; div. 1876)​
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(m. 1883; died 1897)​
Children2
Relatives
  • Tennessee Claflin (sister)
  • (see Claflin family)
Signature

Victoria Claflin Woodhull (born Victoria California Claflin; September 23, 1838 – June 9, 1927), later Victoria Woodhull Martin, was an American leader of the women's suffrage movement who ran for president of the United States in the 1872 election. While many historians and authors agree that Woodhull was the first woman to run for the presidency,[2] some disagree with classifying it as a true candidacy because according to the Constitution she would have been too young to be President if elected.[3]

An activist for women's rights and labor reforms, Woodhull was also an advocate of "free love", by which she meant the freedom to marry, divorce and bear children without social restriction or government interference.[4] "They cannot roll back the rising tide of reform," she often said. "The world moves."[5]

Woodhull twice went from rags to riches, her first fortune being made on the road as a magnetic healer[6] before she joined the spiritualist movement in the 1870s.[7] Authorship of many of her articles is disputed (many of her speeches on these topics were collaborations between Woodhull, her backers, and her second husband, Colonel James Blood[8]). Together with her sister, Tennessee Claflin, she was the first woman to operate a brokerage firm on Wall Street,[9] making a second, and more reputable fortune.[10] They were among the first women to found a newspaper in the United States, Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly, which began publication in 1870.[11]

Woodhull was politically active in the early 1870s when she was nominated as the first woman candidate for the United States presidency.[9] Woodhull was the candidate in 1872 from the Equal Rights Party, supporting women's suffrage and equal rights; her running mate (unbeknownst to him) was abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass.[12] Her campaign inspired at least one other woman – apart from her sister – to run for Congress.[9] A check on her activities occurred when she was arrested on obscenity charges a few days before the election. Her paper had published an account of the alleged adulterous affair between the prominent minister Henry Ward Beecher and Elizabeth Richards Tilton that had rather more detail than was considered proper at the time. However, it all added to the sensational coverage of her candidacy.[13]

  1. ^ "Victoria Woodhull Martin certified death certificate". victoria-woodhull.com. Obtained from the General Register Office, UK. June 17, 2015. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
  2. ^ Finan, Christopher (2022). How Free Speech Saved Democracy. Lebanon, NH: Truth To Power. pp. 38–39. ISBN 9781586422981.
  3. ^ Hampson, Rick. "First woman to run for president — 'Mrs. Satan' — was no Hillary Clinton". USA TODAY.
  4. ^ Kemp, Bill (November 15, 2016). "'Free love' advocate Victoria Woodhull excited Bloomington". The Pantagraph. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
  5. ^ "The Woman Who Ran for President – in 1872". The Attic. May 3, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Johnson1956_46 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Johnson 1956, pp. 46–47.
  8. ^ Johnson 1956, pp. 86, 87.
  9. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Katz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Before Hillary eyed presidency, there was Ohio's 'Mrs. Satan'.. Toronto Star, October 22, 2016. p. IN4. by Rick Hampson of USA Today.
  11. ^ The Revolution, a weekly newspaper founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, had begun publication two years earlier in 1868.
  12. ^ Trotman, C. James (2011). Frederick Douglass: A Biography. Penguin Books. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-0-313-35036-8.
  13. ^ For an account of the arrest, see "The Claflin Family: Arrest of Victoria Woodhull, Tennie C. Claflin and Col. Blood – They are Charged with Publishing an Obscene Newspaper," The New York Times. November 3, 1872, page 1.