10 may 1872, New York, the National Association of women-suffragists nominated Victoria Woodhull Claflin for the upcoming election. She became the first female stockbroker on wall Street, then the first women who began to produce her own newspaper, and finally became a candidate for President.
Victoria Woodhull
However, the name of this extraordinary woman is almost absent in the history of the United States and in numerous anthologies about great American women. The reason is simple: when in 1881 the leaders of the national movement of suffragettes Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton created a six-volume epic about their movement, they never mentioned in his work about Woodhull. The woman, which supporters welcomed like a Queen, and critics called 'Mrs. Satan', was erased from history because of her radical socialist theories and scandalous lifestyle.
Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Stanton
In 1871, Woodhull proposed to abolish the death penalty, to establish a Tribunal for resolving international disputes, to made tax reform and to ensure government support to the education sector. She spoke out against their violent husbands with their wifes, to avoid unwanted pregnancies called to teach the women birth control, demanding the guaranteed right to abortion, equality in the workplace regardless of gender.
Her socio-political platform stemmed mainly from the difficulties of her own life.
Victoria Claflin was born in 1838 in Homer, (Ohio), becoming the sixth child in a family of ten children. Her father Ruben was a counterfeiter and a thief, and was suspected in the arson. The girl's mother Roxanne Claflin fell into a mental disorder of religious fanaticism.
When Victoria was 14 years old, and her younger sister Tennessee (7 year old), Ruben Claflin decided that it's time for daughters to do business, and girls became a fortune-tellers (predicting the fate for $1). This salary was barely enough to provide controversial and demanding family. The only way to leave home Victoria saw in the marriage. So in 15 years she was married to a Woodhull, who was twice her age. Also he was an alcoholic and later became a morphine addict. After a year the couple broke up. She gave birth to a mentally handicapped son. Later Woodhull said that the appearance of a child awakened her political instincts. In the ailment of the baby she blamed a drunken father and swore that she will to encourage women not to enter into hasty marriages, to fight for the right to divorce an unloved husband.
Tennessee Claflin
The determination of Victoria had strengthened after the return to the craft of the fortune-teller. She had heard many sad stories about the brutal treatment of women, about their poverty and injustice. In 1868 Woodhull, divorced with the first husband, and married for a veteran of the American civil war who shared her political beliefs. The newlyweds moved to New York.
With the help of a millionaire industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt, (feminist predicted him his fate ), Victoria with her sister Tennessee became a broker on Wall Street, founded the newspaper 'Woodhull and Claflin weekly' and began the presidential campaign. The last step was very reckless. And it's not just the lack of political experience and support: as a woman, she had no right to vote, and young age (32 years) didn't allow to stand her candidacy in presidential campaign. The suffragette movement and its leaders, Anthony and Stanton, supported Woodhull, the same as the labour organizations and religious movement, which in the second half of the nineteenth turned into a heaven for different reformers.
In may 1872, Woodhull became the official presidential candidate from the party of equality, headed by Frederick Douglass. However, by this point, Victoria had lost the majority of supporters.
Using her political influence, Woodhull advocated "free love," which, according to feminists, will end the injustice of women in the family. Criticism through the press accused Victoria in promoting promiscuity among the fair sex. Especially they shocked the public by the fact of living together in new York's Woodhull mansion of her former and current husbands, and by rumors about the love affair of Victoria with the famous journalist.
Woodhull publicly accused the American press of hypocrisy: the newspapers denounced her for defending the principle of free love, and in the same time protected to those who used it, in fact. In retaliation Victoria in 'Woodhull and Claflin weekly' was publicized love affair of the most prominent Minister of the United States Ward Beecher with a certain Elizabeth Tilton.
November 5, 1872 - the day of presidential elections - Woodhull met it in the New York prison: she was accused of publishing obscene material and violating Federal law about decency. Political career of Victoria collapsed. After repeated arrests and imprisonments she divorced with her second husband in 1877 and moved in the UK.
Victoria once called a marriage 'the little hell' , quickly found in London's third wife. In this time her companion was John Biddulph Martin, co-owner of the Bank 'Martin' (one of the oldest British financial institutions). Only on the third attempt Woodhull found emotional and financial support in marriage. She led a quiet and secluded life in London. And when John Martin died in 1895, Victoria moved to the village of Bredons Norton, in the County of Worcestershire. There Woodhull died in 1927 at the age of 88 years. And although her ashes scattered over the North Atlantic, the red candle as a tribute to this amazing American woman continues to burn in the Abbey of Tewkesbury.
In 1874, Woodhull said:
I'm not waiting for recognition from his contemporaries, but I hope that the new generation of women for whom I fought, many years later, will bless Victoria Woodhull for defending their rights and freedoms'