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Sunday, October 13, 2024

Victoria Woodhull's Historic Presidential Bid: A Woman Ahead of Her Time

With the 2024 presidential campaign in full swing, it’s time to learn about the first woman candidate for president of the United States, who happened to be in jail at the time of the election.

Victoria Woodhull declared her candidacy in the New York Herald on Saturday, April 2, 1870. Women were not granted the constitutional authority to vote until 1920, and Woodhull would not even reach the required age of 35 before her inauguration, if she won.

Victoria Woodhull, 1882 candidate
for U.S. President against Grant,
preferred wearing purple
Woodhull herself submitted the article, titled “The Coming Woman,” and included her views on home and foreign policy, as well as “new ideas on government.” She stated, “I anticipate criticism,” but said, “having the means, courage, energy and strength necessary for the race intend to contest it to the close.”

Born Victoria California Claflin in Ohio in 1838, she married 28-year-old Canning Woodhull at the age of 15. Her husband, a doctor, was an alcoholic and philanderer, and Victoria divorced him in 1865 after 12 years of marriage. Though she continued to use the name Woodhull publicly, she eventually married twice more.

It was likely the experience of her first marriage that caused Victoria to advocate what she called “free love.” She did not approve of promiscuity but insisted that individuals should be able to stay with romantic partners as long as they chose and then be free to move on. The movement sought to destigmatize divorce and make it easier for women to leave abusive husbands.

She also became involved in the women’s suffrage movement, and in 1871 was the first woman to testify before a Congressional committee. Along with Susan B. Anthony and Isabella Beecher Hooker, she spoke to the House Judiciary Committee, arguing that American women already had the right to vote under the 14th and 15th Amendments. The committee declined to draft legislation clarifying that right, however.

Victoria partnered with her younger sister, Tennessee Claflin, to start a brokerage firm in 1870, making them the first women stock brokers. Newspapers dubbed them “the Bewitching Brokers” and “Queens of Finance.” The women used their financial success to start a newspaper called Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly, which supported women’s suffrage, free love, and other political reforms.


In declaring her candidacy for president, Woodhull wrote, “While others argued the equality of woman with man, I proved it by successfully engaging in business; while others sought to show that there was no valid reason why woman should be treated socially and politically as a being inferior to man, I boldly entered the arena of politics and business and exercised the rights I already possessed.”

Newspapers announced Woodhull's
nomination for President in 1872
She remained self-nominated until 1872, when the new Equal Rights Party selected her as their candidate for president. The party also nominated well-known abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass for vice president, but Douglass never accepted the nomination.

The sisters’ newspaper published an article claiming the famous preacher Henry Ward Beecher, one of Victoria’s strongest critics, had an affair with a married woman in his congregation. The ensuing controversy resulted in charges of obscenity rather than libel, and Victoria and her sister were arrested and jailed, remaining there through Election Day. The legal troubles forced them to discontinue publication of their weekly paper.

At the time, political parties, not the government, printed ballots for elections. No records exist of how many people (only men could vote, of course) voted for Woodhull. Anecdotal evidence indicates she received at least a few votes, but not enough to win any electors.

After divorcing her second husband, Victoria moved to England. She returned to the United States a few times and attempted unsuccessfully to run for president again, but she married for the third time and lived in England until 1927, when she died at age 88.

Controversy never stopped Victoria Woodhull from fighting for her beliefs, and she remained politically active until her death.

Sources:

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/victoria-woodhull

Victoria Woodhull announces her candidacy on Apr. 2, 1870 in the New York Herald - Newspapers.com™

Victoria Woodhull & Company | The Spirit to Run the White House (victoria-woodhull.com)


Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, placed third in Inspirational Romance in the nationally recognized Maggie Awards, and is a finalist in the Touched By Love Awards. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

Her historical short story, “All That Glitters,” set in her home region of western Kentucky, was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter hereIn her newsletter, she shares historical tidbits, recommended books, "behind the scenes" writing info, and sometimes vintage recipes.

3 comments:

  1. An interesting woman. A little too out there for me, but her heart for proving women were equal regarding their mental abilities to hold their own with men was noteworthy.

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  2. Thank you for posting about this interesting woman!

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  3. Very interesting post and good to read!

    ReplyDelete