VICTORIA WOODHULL

(Victoria Claflin Woodhull)


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Victoria Woodhull

I believe in Spiritualism; I advocate free love in the highest, purest sense, as the only cure for the damnation by which men corrupt God's most holy institution of sexual relations.
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Victoria Woodhull

A reform in the system of criminal jurisprudence, by which the death penalty shall no longer be inflicted; and by which, during that term, a portion of the prison employment shall be for, and the product thereof be faithfully paid over to, the support of the criminal’s family; and by which our so-called prisons shall be virtually transformed into vast reformatory workshops, from which the unfortunate may emerge to be useful members of society, instead of the alienated citizens they now are.
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While Woodhull was an ardent feminist, she had a complete platform dealing with almost all aspects of society. At the time, women were unable to vote, and the support she did get came from men. She was a serious candidate. She was appealing to most of the mens issues of the time.

Victoria Woodhull

To woman, by nature, belongs the right of sexual determination. When the instinct is aroused in her, then and then only should commerce follow. When woman rises from sexual slavery to sexual freedom, into the ownership and control of her sexual organs, and man is obliged to respect this freedom, then will this instinct become pure and holy; then will woman be raised from the iniquity and morbidness in which she now wallows for existence, and the intensity and glory of her creative functions be increased a hundred-fold.
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Victoria Woodhull

I am a free lover. I have an inalienable, constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or short a period as I can; to change that love every day if I please.
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Victoria Woodhull

Suffrage is a common right of citizenship. Women have the right of suffrage. Logically it cannot be escaped.
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Victoria Woodhull

Let women issue a declaration of independence sexually, and absolutely refuse to cohabit with men until they are acknowledged as equals in everything, and the victory would be won in a single week.
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Victoria Woodhull

A reform in the system of criminal jurisprudence, by which the death penalty shall no longer be inflicted . . . and by which our so-called prisons shall be virtually transformed into vast reformatory workshops, from which the unfortunate may emerge to be useful members of society, instead of the alienated citizens they now are.
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Victoria Woodhull

Thus it comes about that (with some few exceptions) we have a House of Commons composed of a number of mediocrities who are content to echo the shibboleths of their party, to vote like sheep and to respond to the crack of the party whip.
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Victoria Woodhull

I tell you that men will always respect women when they compel it by their actions; and if women today would rise en masse and demand their emancipation the men would be compelled to grant it. The women of the country have the power in their hands, in spite of the law and the government being altogether of the male order.
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First female presidential candidate & first divorcee to run for that office

Victoria Woodhull

When I first saw the light of day on this planet, it seemed as if I had been rudely awakened from a death-like sleep.
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Victoria Woodhull
© Mathew Brady (1822–1896)
Victoria Woodhull
  • Born: September 23, 1838
  • Died: June 9, 1927
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Suffragist, Politician, Feminist, Writer.
Biography

Victoria Claflin Woodhull, later Victoria Woodhull Martin, was an American leader of the women's suffrage movement who ran for President of the United States in the 1872 election. While many historians and authors agree that Woodhull was the first woman to run for the presidency, some disagree with classifying it as a true candidacy because she was younger than the constitutionally mandated age of 35 (Woodhull's 35th birthday was in September 1873, seven months after the March inauguration). However, election coverage by contemporary newspapers does not suggest age was a significant issue; this may, however, be due to the fact that few took the candidacy seriously.

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