1872
On this day in 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the FIRST woman to be nominated for the Presidency of the United States. In 1869, she and her sister Tennessee were the first women stockbrokers on Wall Street. In 1871, she was the first woman to address a Congressional committee.
However, it was not all harmony among the suffragettes. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other giants of the women’s suffrage movement embraced Woodhull around the time of her congressional appearance. But they soon had a falling out, in part over Woodhull’s political ambitions and love of the limelight. “Both sisters are regarded as lewd and indecent.” You see, the sisters believed in "free love." Woodhull often spoke about sex on the lecture circuit, saying, among other things, that women should have the right to escape bad marriages and control their own bodies. Even more shocking to Victorian sensibilities, she espoused free love. “I want the love of you all, promiscuously,” she once declared. “It makes no difference who or what you are, old or young, black or white, pagan, Jew, or Christian, I want to love you all and be loved by you all, and I mean to have your love.”
And these women couldn't even vote.
I shall not change my course because those who assume to be better than I desire it.
Why is a woman to be treated differently? Woman suffrage will succeed, despite this miserable guerilla opposition.
I come before you to declare that my sex are entitled to the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. - Victoria Woodhull
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I always stress that learning never stops.
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