Victoria Woodhull

Victoria Claflin Woodhull (September 23, 1838 – June 9, 1927) was an American suffragist who was one of the early leaders of the American woman's suffragette movement in the 19th century. She became a colorful and notorious symbol for women's rights, free love, and labor reforms. Many of her speeches on these subjects were not written by Woodhull herself, but her role as a figurehead in these movements was powerful and controversial. She is probably most famous for her declaration to run for the United States Presidency in 1872. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (440x677, 34 KB) Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (440x677, 34 KB) Licensing This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). ... | Jöns Jakob Berzelius, discoverer of protein 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Suffragette with banner, Washington DC, 1918 The title of suffragette was given to members of the womens suffrage movement in the United Kingdom and United States, particularly in the years prior to World War I. The name was the Womens Social and Political Union (founded in 1903). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... The term free love was coined in the mid-nineteenth century to describe a social movement that rejected state and church interference in personal relationships. ... The word Presidency is often used to describe the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. ... 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

Early life

Woodhull was born into a poor family in Homer Township, Medina County, Ohio. The only person in her family Victoria really felt close to was her sister Tennessee Celeste (a.k.a. "Tennie C.") Claflin, who was seven years younger than she. Victoria went from rags to riches twice, her first fortune being made on the road as a highly successful spiritualist. Medina County is a county located in the state of Ohio. ... Spiritualism is a religious movement, prominent from the 1840s to the 1920s, found primarily in English-speaking countries. ...

When she was just 15, Victoria became engaged to a 28-year old Canning Woodhull of Rochester, New York. Woodhull, who claimed he was a medical doctor, met Victoria in 1853 when her family called him to treat her for an illness. Canning Woodhull claimed he was the son of a New York judge and the nephew of a New York City mayor. Only a few months after meeting Canning Woodhull, Victoria married him in November 1853. Shortly later, Victoria learned her new husband was neither a doctor nor anything else he pretended. Canning Woodhull turned out to be a lifelong alcoholic and he saddled the young Victoria with a disastrous marriage with much poverty. She and Canning had two children; one son born mentally retarded in 1854, a birth defect Victoria believed was caused by her husband's alcoholism. In English literary history, the name Rochester refers to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Largest city Albany New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi  (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: The Big Apple, The Capital of the World Official website: City of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area Total 468. ... Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Mental retardation (abbreviated as MR), is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal intellectual capacity as an adult. ... 1854 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A congenital disorder is a medical condition or defect that is present at or before birth (for example, congenital heart disease). ...

Woodhull’s support of free love probably originated with her first marriage. Even in loveless marriages, women in United States in the 19th century were bound into to unions with few options to escape. Any woman who divorced was stigmatized and often ostracized by society. Victoria believed women should have the choice to leave unbearable marriages, and she rallied against the hypocrisy of married men having mistresses and other sexual alliances. When she became a prominent national figure, her enemies falsely characterized Victoria’s views on free love as advocating the immoral sexual libertinism being experimented with in such "utopian" communities as Oneida and Modern Times. Victoria in fact believed in monogamous relationships, although she did state she had the right to also love someone else "exclusively" if she desired. The term free love was coined in the mid-nineteenth century to describe a social movement that rejected state and church interference in personal relationships. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse, which can be contrasted with an annulment, which is a declaration that a marriage is void, though the effects of marriage may be recognized in such unions, such as spousal support, child custody... Madame de Pompadour the mistress of King Louis XV of France. ... Libertine is the name given to certain political or social groups active in Europe in the 17th century. ... See Utopia (disambiguation) for other meanings of this word Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... A Commune is a kind of intentional community where most resources are shared and there is little or no personal property. ... The Oneida Society (Oneida Community) was a utopian commune founded by John H. Noyes in 1848 near Oneida, New York. ... This is a list of past and present anarchist communities. ...

Female broker

She made another fortune on the New York Stock Exchange with Tennessee, as the first female Wall Street brokers. Woodhull, Claflin & Company opened in 1870 with the assistance of a wealthy benefactor. Many contemporary men's journals (e.g., The Day's Doings) published sexualised images of the pair running their firm (although they did not participate in the day-to-day business of the firm themselves), linking the concept of publicly-minded, un-chaperoned women with ideas of "sexual immorality" and prostitution. New York Stock Exchange (June 2003) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) , also nicknamed the Big Board, is by far the largest stock exchange in the world (by dollar volume) and second largest by number of listings. ... For other uses, see Wall Street (disambiguation). ... In commerce, a broker is a party that mediates between a buyer and a seller. ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services. ...

Newspaper editor

On May 14, 1870, she and Tennessee established a paper, Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly, which stayed in publication for the next six years, and became notorious for publishing controversial opinions on taboo topics (especially with regard to sex education and free love). The paper is now known primarily for printing the first English version of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto in its December 30, 1871 edition. May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Sex education is a broad term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, and other aspects of human sexual behavior. ... The term free love was coined in the mid-nineteenth century to describe a social movement that rejected state and church interference in personal relationships. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London) was an immensely influential German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... Malayalam editon of the Manifesto The Communist Manifesto, also known as The Manifesto of the Communist Party, first published on February 21, 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is one of the worlds most historically influential political tracts. ... December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining. ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

George Francis Train once defended her. Other feminists of her time, including Susan B. Anthony, disagreed with her aggressive tactics in pushing for women's equality. She tended to be opportunisitic and unpredictable: in one notable incident, she attempted to seize the podium of a meeting of the increasingly conservative National American Woman Suffrage Association from Anthony, using it to advertise the Populist Party. The attempt worked: many listeners, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, turned up at the Populist Party meeting the next day. George Francis Train (1829 - 1904) was a businessman and an eccentric figure in American history. ... Susan Brownell Anthony, aged 28 Susan Brownell Anthony (February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was a prominent, independent and well-educated American civil rights leader, who, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, led the effort to secure womens suffrage in the United States. ... The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), an American womens rights organization, was established by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in May of 1869. ... The Populist Party was a short-lived political party in the United States in the late 19th century. ... Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her daughter Harriot. ...

Presidential candidate

In the year that Anthony cast her vote in the 1872 presidential election, Woodhull became the first woman put forward as a presidential candidate, nominated by the Equal Rights Party (with ex-slave Frederick Douglass running for Vice-President; Douglass never acknowledged this nomination, and it is possible that he saw it as an attempt to get "the colored vote" (black suffrage having been granted in the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870). 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer. ... Contemporary drawing depicting the first vote by African Americans Amendment XV (the Fifteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution grants voting rights regardless of race. ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

Victoria Woodhull was 34 at the time, making her a year too young to legally run for President of the United States, and her name did not technically appear on the ballot; like many of Woodhull's protests, this was first and foremost a media performance, designed to shake up the prejudices of the day. It was not merely her gender that made Woodhull's campaign notable; her association with Frederick Douglass stirred up controversy about the mixing of whites and blacks. The Equal Rights Party hoped to use these nominations to reunite suffragists with civil rights activists, as the exclusion of female suffrage from the Fifteenth Amendment two years earlier had caused a substantial rift. The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The term Blacks is often used in the West to denote race for persons whose progenitors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... Contemporary drawing depicting the first vote by African Americans Amendment XV (the Fifteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution grants voting rights regardless of race. ...

Vilified in the media for her support of free love, Woodhull devoted an entire issue of Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly (November 2, 1872) to an affair between Elizabeth Tilton and Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, a prominent conservative figure (who incidentally was a supporter of female suffrage), in order to highlight what she saw as a sexual double-standard between men and women. The term free love was coined in the mid-nineteenth century to describe a social movement that rejected state and church interference in personal relationships. ... November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ... 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher in Columbus Park, Brooklyn, New York, 2003 Full statue Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 - March 8, 1887) was a theologically liberal American Congregationalist clergyman and reformer, and author who was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the eighth of nine children of Lyman Beecher by...

The next day, U.S. Federal Marshals arrested Victoria and Tennessee for sending obscene material through the mail. The sisters where held in the Ludlow Street jail for the next month, a place normally reserved for murderers. The arrest was arranged by Anthony Comstock, the self-appointed moral defender of the nation at the time, and the event incited questions about censorship and government persecution. The Claflin sisters were found not guilty six months later, but the arrest prevented Victoria from being present during the 1872 presidential election. The publication of the Beecher-Tilton scandal led, in 1875, to Theodore Tilton (husband of Elizabeth Tilton) suing Beecher for "alienation of affection". The trial was sensationalized across the nation, eventually resulting in a hung jury. The United States Marshals Service (sometimes incorrectly spelled Marshals Service), a bureau within the United States Department of Justice (see ), is the United Statess oldest federal law enforcement agency. ... Portrait of Anthony Comstock Anthony Comstock (March 7, 1844 - September 21, 1915) was a United States reformer dedicated to ideas of Victorian morality. ... 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... 1875 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Theodore Tilton (1835-1907) was a notable American newspaper editor and Abolitionist. ...

Views on abortion and eugenics

She was an opponent of abortion, as were most feminists of her day. Her opposition to abortion may have involved her attempt to support women's reproductive and sexual freedom, subjects on which Woodhull spoke extensively. Her writings also support her belief in the rights of the unborn. Feminists of her day saw abortion as a tool used mostly by men to force women to murder their babies, so the fathers would not have to take financial responsibility for them after birth. Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ...

She stated in an 1870 issue of her weekly publication: 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

“[t]he rights of children as individuals begin while yet they remain the foetus”.

In an 1875 edition of the Wheeling, West Virginia Evening Standard she wrote: 1875 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

“Every woman knows that if she were free, she would never bear an unwished-for child, nor think of murdering one before its birth.”

On the other hand, she supported eugenics, the practice of sterilizing those (primarily women) considered unfit to breed (see her 1891 book on the topic.) Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Death

She died in 1927 in Bredon, Worcestershire, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom. Bredon is a village in Worcestershire in England, on the banks of the River Avon. ... Worcestershire (pronounced ; abbreviated Worcs) is a county located in the West Midlands region of central England. ... The West Midlands is a geographical term describing the western half of central England, known as the Midlands. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked...

References

• Frisken, Amanda. Victoria Woodhull's Sexual Revolution. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. ISBN 0812237986

• Gabriel, Mary. Notorious Victoria: The Life of Victoria Woodhull Uncensored. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1998, 372 pages. ISBN 1565121325

Publications

• Woodhull, Victoria C. Constitutional equality the logical result of the XIV and XV Amendments, which not only declare who are citizens, but also define their rights, one of which is the right to vote without regard to sex. New York: 1870.
• Woodhull, Victoria C. The Origin, Tendencies and Principles of Government, or, A Review of the Rise and Fall of Nations from Early Historic Time to the Present. New York: Woodhull, Claflin & Company, 1871.
• Woodhull, Victoria C. Speech of Victoria C. Woodhull on the great political issue of constitutional equality, delivered in Lincoln Hall, Washington, Cooper Institute, New York Academy of Music, Brooklyn, Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Opera House, Syracuse: together with her secession speech delivered at Apollo Hall. 1871.
• Woodhull, Victoria C. Martin. "The Rapid Multiplication of the Unfit". New York, 1891.
• Davis, Paulina W., ed. A history of the national woman's rights movement for twenty years. New York: Journeymen Printers' Cooperative Association, 1871.
• Riddle, A.G. The Right of women to exercise the elective franchise under the Fourteenth Article of the Constitution: speech of A.G. Riddle in the Suffrage Convention at Washington, January 11, 1871: the argument was made in support of the Woodhull memorial, before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, and reproduced in the Convention. Washington: 1871.
• Antje Schrupp, Das Aufsehen erregende Leben der Victoria Woodhull(2002: Helmer)

External links

• Victoria-Woodhull.com
• Woodhull on harvard.edu