Did You Know --Hillary Clinton is not the first woman to run for President ?

Happy Birthday to the 19th Amendment!
On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote for the first time. Huzzah! It wasn’t really that long ago – which sucks, to be honest. But anyway, HUZZAH!!

In light of the present presidential race, I want to talk about Victoria Woodhull for a minute.
In case you’re wondering who that is:

Woodhull didn’t just run for president (which was considered a ludicrous idea for a woman in the Victorian era [and onward]), oh no. She also dabbled in newspaper publishing, lobbying, public speaking, clairvoyance, and philanthropy, and she and her sister Tennessee Celeste Claflin were also the first female brokers on Wall Street. Basically, she was a can-do kind of gal living in a man-do kind of world. But that wasn’t going to stop her.

Never one to shy from the limelight, she spoke out in favor of women’s rights whenever she had the chance. She was the first woman to address a congressional committee, which she promptly used as a metaphorical platform from which to fight for her beliefs. Initially, she was supported by other women’s suffrage activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony because they saw her as a valiant crusader for their cause.

But the more she spoke out, the more they distanced themselves from her. You see, Woodhull was also in favor of some very ‘scandalous’ things, like free love, letting women be in control of their own bodies, having the right to escape unwanted or abusive marriages, and being respected in the bedroom – aka being allowed to say no to sex (which was very much not an option for most women at the time).

Ironically, many women’s rights activists were not in favor of such ideas. Granted, she did tell crowds of people that she wanted “the love of you all, promiscuously,” in the 1870s (pretty friggin ballsy, if you ask me). Unfortunately, people didn’t take kindly to women giving speeches at all, let alone filling them with quotes like this:

“It makes no difference who or what you are, old or young, black or white, pagan, Jew, or Christian, I want to love you all and be loved by you all, and I mean to have your love.”

She spent election day in jail with her sister because she’d published an article in their newspaper exposing well-known clergyman Henry Ward Beecher as a hypocrite and adulterer. Naturally, she was arrested for sending obscene literature through the mail. Beecher’s sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe (you may have heard of her), was not amused, and she called Woodhull a “vile jailbird” and an “impudent witch.” The press had a field day, and cartoonist Thomas Nast referred to her as “Mrs. Satan.”

After running for president, she stopped receiving invitations to speak at suffrage conventions. In fact, Susan B. Anthony advised a British suffrage leader not to meet with her because she and her sister were “regarded as lewd and indecent.”

Despite her critics, Victoria had no problem living the life that she wanted for all women. At one point, she shared an apartment with her ex-husband, her husband, and her lover. But I have no doubt that she probably gave them all the long finger if they didn’t respect her as their equal:

“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,” she wrote.

I wanted to share this with you because I think she’s a fascinating human and an extremely notable piece of U.S. history that isn’t often talked about. I mean, yeah, I know who she is, but I don’t remember learning about her in school. Not even in numerous high school and college American history classes. But I’ve drunk a lot of gin since then, so who knows…

Happy women’s suffrage, ladies!
Thanx Huffington Post