The First Woman to Run as President: Victoria Woodhull
- guidetopw
- Jul 26, 2020
- 3 min read
It’s known that there has never been a woman to win a presidential election, or be elected as president in the US. But, who was the first woman to ever run for president? And why wasn’t she successful? Meet Victoria Woodhull, ahead of her time, she was the first woman to ever run as president.
Her background and start in New York
Her company and involvement in fighting for women’s rights
Running for president, and why she wasn’t able to succeed
Her background and start in New York
Victoria Woodhull was born on September 23rd, 1838 in a small town in Ohio. She was born into a poor family. She traveled with her family’s medicine show, where she would tell fortunes and sell patent medicines. When she grew older, she married Canning Woodhull at the age of 15. She eloped with him in order to escape her father’s abuse. She later learned that her husband was also abusive and an alcoholic. She had two children, Byron, who was disabled and Zulu whose delivery almost killed Victoria because of her father and she almost bled to death. They then moved to New York, where she and her sister continued to perform as mediums. After eleven years of Canning’s abuse, she decided to leave him and got a divorce.
Her company and involvement in fighting for women’s rights
While searching for clients, they became a spiritual adviser to Cornelius Vanderbilt who helped them start a brokerage firm, making her the first woman to own a brokerage firm. They called their company Woodhull, Claflin, & Company which started in 1870. This firm was very profitable and they were able to earn a lot of money. Before she started this firm, Victoria met Colonel James H. Blood who introduced her to many liberal issues and helped her become more invested in women’s rights and other issues that women faced. She then started a magazine known as Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly in which she talked about women’s rights and reform ideologies. Many women supported the brokerage firm, as they felt happy for women representation in a male dominated field. Eventually she was invited to the National Woman Suffrage Association by Susan B. Anthony, who was a prominent member at the time. She was also involved in making speeches and lectures arguing that women already had the right to vote, but they needed to utilize their power. She became a leader in the women’s rights circle. Many well known women such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Isabella Beecher saw Victoria as a good advocate for their cause. However, others saw her other beliefs such as the belief in free love as disturbing and did not believe in her cause.
Running for president, and why she wasn’t able to succeed
In 1871, Victoria Woodhull announced her candidacy for running as president. She was nominated by the Equal Rights party. Unfortunately there were many reasons as to why she was not able to win. One reason is she was arrested. After the press belittled Victoria for her belief in free love, she wrote an issue in the Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly about the affair between a parishioner and a well known Reverend who often condemned Woodhull’s free love philosophy. This led to her arrest on the charges of publishing an obscene newspaper. This led to many people withdrawing their support for Woodhull. One example of this is Susan B. Anthony who withdrew her support because she believed that Victoria had become too outspoken and radical. They felt as if she had become too radical and did not feel comfortable supporting someone like that. However, her candidacy is still questioned today, questions such as was it legitimate considering many things. Things such as the fact that she was 33 and the mandated age to run as president was 35, and she was technically not a full citizen because as a woman she was not allowed to vote. Unfortunately her candidacy failed and Ulysses S. Grant was elected over her. And because they had to pay $500,000 in bail, she and her sister became bankrupt. After this she also became separated from Colonel Blood. She and her sister then moved to England and started a new life there. Her first public lecture after many years was in 1877, called ‘The Human Body, The Temple of God’. She then met a wealthy banker and they got married in 1883. She also worked in order to get rid of her reputation of being associated with radical ideas. The rest of her life was peaceful as she continued to argue for women’s rights and Woodhull then died in England 26 years after her husband died in 1927.
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