Victoria Woodhull By: Emma Dixon

Basics of Her Life Born Sept 23, 1838-1927 Born in Homer, Ohio 6th of 10 kids Part of parents traveling medicine show (fortune telling, selling medicine, and faith healings) Left Homer when father was accused of insurance fraud No formal education, self taught Married at 15 to 28yr old Canning Woodhull

Basics of Life cont. She made a living with her sister Tennessee Claflin selling patent medicine and performing a spiritualist act Found out husband was an alcoholic/womanizer Got divorced in 1864 even though getting a divorce was a scandal Several years later she remarried Colonel James Blood 1868 moved to New York City

Why she is famous Victoria became friends with millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius made her a millionaire also With her new found fortune she became the first woman stock broker May of 1872 nominated presidential candidate of equal rights party First women to run for president

Why she is famous cont. In her presidential campaign she called for reform of political and social abuses, emancipation of labor, enfranchisement of women, She also argued in favor of improved civil rights, abolition of capital punishment She gained the support of socialists, trade unionists, and women suffragists

Her downfall Conservative leaders of American Women Suffrage Association were shocked by her extreme ideas She lost their support to Horace Greeley Friends of President Ulysses S. Grant attacked her campaign saying she had affairs with married men, and that one of her sisters took drugs Alleged that she had previously been married to an alcoholic

Her downfall cont. Victoria was convinced that Henry Ward was behind the attack She published a article about him in a journal saying he had had affairs with married women Was sent to jail because of this entry Missed the election because of jail time Also, she was underage by one year so her name was never even on the ballot

Fun Facts Was arrested 8 times in 7 months and endured several trials for obscenity and libel Eventually went bankrupt because of legal fees Moved to England in 1878 to start over While living in England published the Humanitarian newspaper

Why We Should Remember Her Example of a women who spoke out for what she believed in Strong promoter of women’s rights and eight hour work days First women to make the daring move to run for president

Works Cited Page http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAWwoodhullV.htm http://www.biography.com/people/victoria-woodhull-9536447 http://blog.nyhistory.org/victoria-woodhull-first-woman-presidential-candidate/ http://lookingglassreview.com/html/feature16.html http://www.prx.org/pieces/85891-victoria-woodhull-the-first-woman-to-run-for-pres http://www.slideshare.net/libbie967/victoria-woodhull http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=victoria