Vctoria Woodhull
In the late nineteenth century a woman’s job was to be subordinate to the male head of the household, and to obey him without a second thought. A woman in this era was not permitted to speak her mind, have complaints, or any desire do anything except stand gracefully in her husband’s shadow. Women were not even allowed to vote. A woman who did speak out loudly raised some eyebrows. Victoria Woodhull would be a woman who defied the social norms of her time. Victoria California Claflin was born in Homer, Ohio on September 23,1838. She was number six of ten children born to Roxanne Hunmel Chaflin and Reuben Chaflin (Gabriel, 1998). Her mother was a religious zealot and her father was a criminal of sorts. She was only 15 years old when she was married for the first time to Canning Woodhull. He was a man who claimed to be an established doctor that she found out later was a lie (Gabriel, 1998). This was when she set out on her own to try to change women’s rights. Victoria would offer her help and hospitality to anyone. She offered her kindness to the rich, poor, prostitutes, and business people alike. Although she was opposed to organized Christian religion, she lived its principles: She fed the hungry, cared for the sick,
Instead of debating Victoria on the issues, her opponents attacked her personally. They called her everything from a witch to a prostitute. Victoria called upon Reverend Henry Ward Beecher for help in fighting off the personal attack. Victoria felt there was no choice but to fight back and reveal the hypocrisy of her enemies. She published the story of Reverend Beecher's affair with a married woman, hoping that his family would stop the personal attacks. Instead, they enlisted the help of the United States marshal and threw Victoria in jail for slander and obscenities (Goldsmith, 1998). Although she was acquitted on all charges, Victoria’s public career was over and she moved with her sister to England. and visited prisoners. She believed that living these principles were more important to saving souls than preaching the resurrection of Christ. She owned a newspaper that was the first to print the Communist Manifesto in English; and yet, she was also the first female stockbroker on Wall Street (Goldsmith, 1998). The Equal Rights Party nominated Victoria for the U.S. Presidency in 1872 (Levine,1991). Her candidacy attracted an unusual coalition of people, which included laborers, femal
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Approximate Word count = 808
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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