Victoria Woodhull

Cabinet photograph of Victoria WoodhullMathew Brady [Public domain] via WikimediaWhen Hillary Clinton ran for president, she made it farther than almost any other American female presidential candidate to date. She inspired, motivated and influenced hundreds of women across the globe, but she wasn’t the first to do so. In 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first ever female presidential nominee. She was born on September 23rd, 1838 in the small town of Homer, Ohio. Growing up Woodhull and her sister worked as fortune tellers and con-women in order to provide for their family that barely had a penny to their name. She soon met the man she later married, and the two promptly moved to New York. While living in New York, Woodhull bore three children and came to the decision to file for divorce against her abusive husband. Her sister then decided to join her in New York, and after living comfortably for a few months, they decided to open a brokerage. This was the first female run and operated brokerage in the United States, which became extremely successful. Money soon became no obstacle for Woodhull, and this opened up opportunities for branches in woman’s rights and politics. Woodhull used these new opportunities to her benefit, and in 1872 she ran for president in the Equal Rights Party. A hero must possess the ability to speak up for the welfare for all people, no matter who they are. Victoria Woodhull fought for equal rights for all people and possessed a revolutionary opinion on having the right to free love.

Victoria Woodhull made clear to the public that she thought everyone deserved the same rights no matter who you are or where you come from. In May of 1872, she gave a speech to reformers to come to an agreement on the Equal Rights Party presidential and vice presidential nominees called Political, Social, Industrial, and Educational Equality, where she said; “I would have every working man or working woman feel that he or she is the equal in all respects to any wealthy person. When this movement overturns the old systems, the millions now paid into the pockets of Wealth will remain in the pockets of industrial people, and instead of there being the very rich few, and the very poor many, all will be rich enough to have all the comforts that wealth and enjoyment demand” (McLean). Woodhull explained her egalitarian stance; she believed that no matter who someone was, anyone and everyone deserves an equal chance. Woodhull said this during the second industrial revolution, which was a time when the rich were making quick and easy money while the poor were exceedingly poor. After observing the situation, she didn’t fail to work her hardest to make a change in society. Although she was wealthy herself, she still fought for the rights of the disadvantaged, proving that even without any personal gain, she wanted to bring justice to the forgotten. After continuously seeing women not having equal opportunities, Woodhull decided that enough was enough and she chose to speak up; “The Constitution makes no distinction of sex. The Constitution defines a woman born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, to be a citizen. It recognizes the right of citizens to vote. It declares that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of ‘race, color, or previous condition of servitude’ [...] The right to vote can not be denied on account of color. All people included in the term color have the right to vote unless otherwise prohibited" (Woodhull). In 1871, Victoria Woodhull gave the Address of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives.  This speech was given 49 years before women achieved suffrage. She was a pioneer to speak out publicly against privileged men, how they treated this country and the people in it. She openly opposed the popular opinion of the United States of only allowing white men the ability to vote. She claimed that since the constitution didn't say anything relating to a citizens privileges regarding sex, race or color; therefore women should be granted the right to vote. Being a hero means overlooking the flaws in people, they are individuals that believe that everyone deserves an equal chance and opportunity; that characteristic was perfectly portrayed by Victoria Woodhull.

Victoria Woodhull was a tendentious person who decided to speak out on the issue nobody of her time even thought of addressing; free love. Free love was an idea that was perceived by the public in many different ways, but Woodhull had a contrary outlook on this issue; “‘Yes, I am a Free Lover!’ Woodhull recklessly declared. Rumors about her personal life had been rampant, and now she was standing in public and proclaiming: ‘I have an inalienable, constitutional, and natural right to love whom I may, to love for as long or as short a period as I can, to change that love every day if I please! And with that right neither you nor any law have any right to interfere’” (Hadella). Free love is that idea of being able to love, be with, marry or have sexual desires with whomever you want. This idea was quite controversial in the the late 1800’s. Those against the idea thought that society was perfect without any sexual desire and those for the idea, or “free lovers”, thought that the government had no say in one’s sexual life. Most of society saw free love as something scandalous and overtly sexual, because to have relations with someone of choice or someone that isn’t bound by a marital contract was unnatural and dangerous. Although she knew that the public thought of this ideology as repugnant, she still went out and spoke against the issue while knowing most odds were against her. At the time, there were numerous restrictions in the modern woman's life, and Woodhull decided that she would go against all of these in order to do what she believed was right; “Victoria opposed all laws that interfered with ‘the right of adult individuals to pursue happiness as they may choose.’ Her position on individual freedom was in support of those in favor of free love. While the term ‘free love’ seems wildly radical, in reality what the ‘Free Lovers’ wanted was not so extreme. They were opposed to the current marriage laws because they bound a woman unfairly to a man by making her a submissive helpmate to her husband's authority” (McLean). The Declaration of Independence has a passage that addresses how all Americans are granted the inseparable entitlement to happiness. If someone is forced to marry another against their will, they are more unlikely to be in a state of happiness, nor are they getting the liberty to choose whom they would like to be with. Although the overall voice of the public was repulsive in response to Woodhull, she still took action and spoke out against the majority. Her most prominent trait was her ability to see everyone as equals and believe that we all deserve the same rights.

Victoria Woodhull fought for egalitarian society where all people could live together in peace and harmony. She brought forth a cogent opinion on having the legal rights of free love. She was the first female to run for president, as well as the first female to give the Address of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. By age 31 she was a millionaire, due to the fact that she and her sister opened the first female owned brokerage. She married three men and divorced two of them. Before, after and during the time of her running for president, Woodhull was sentenced to jail to a total of three times. Soon after the third time she was jailed, she moved to England hoping to reshape her life. “When Woodhull began her campaign for the presidency in 1870, this was no small thing. At the time, women were still about 50 years away from having the right to vote, and even many small, seemingly mundane everyday experiences were off-limits” (Lewis). She defied all norms of society, and did what she felt was the right thing to do. This defiance was shaped through the experiences of multiple failed marriages. The mere fact that she ran for president in late 1800s, is inspirational to many women to this date. With her acts of courage and strong will, she has reshaped the society and gave us the liberties we live with today. Victoria Woodhull has paved a path for women to strive through.