Victoria C. Woodhull. A Biographical Sketch.

TILTON, Theodore. [Victoria California Claflin Woodhull].

Item Number: 125391

New York: Published at the Office of The Golden Age, 1871.

First edition of Tilton’s biography of American suffragette, Victoria Woodhull, published shortly before she became the first woman to campaign for President of the United States. 12 mo, original wrappers stitched as issued, publisher’s advertisement at rear. In very good condition. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and half morocco slipcase.

Victoria Woodhull first made her reputation as a supporter of free love, by which she meant the freedom to marry, divorce and bear children without social restriction or government interference, and as one of the only female newspaper publishers (Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly, with her sister, Tennessee Claflin). She soon became an activist for women's rights and labor reforms and in a pivotal 1871 speech, argued that the 14th and 15th amendments already covered women's suffrage. She decided to run for president in 1872 backed by the Equal Rights Party, whose convention nominated Frederick Douglass for Vice President, although he did not participate in the convention or acknowledge the nomination. While she obviously lost—and, indeed, could not have won constitutionally due to her age—Woodhull became one of the most powerful women's rights advocates of her day. This contemporary biography was written by Theodore Tilton, a close friend of many within the movement. In 1872, Tilton confided in Elizabeth Cady Stanton that his wife was having an affair with Henry Ward Beecher. Tilton sued Beecher for alienation of affection and a salacious trial commenced. Woodhull abandoned her friendship to splash the scandal across the pages of Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly. Woodhull was arrested for obscenity and then acquitted—events that gave rise to the Comstock Laws of 1873, arguably the nation's most powerful and successful attempt at censorship. Woodhull emerged from the debacle with fewer friends—Susan B. Anthony, for example, disagreed with her behavior entirely—but nevertheless managed to retain her reputation as a leading supporter of women's rights and as an early American female politician.