Historical Figure: Victoria Claflin Woodhull (Term Paper Sample)

Historical Figure: Victoria Claflin Woodhull

Victoria Claflin Woodhull, born 23rd September 1838 and died on10th June 1927, was an American leader who was the first female presidential candidate.
Early life and education
Victoria was the seventh of ten children in her family. However, only six of her siblings survived to maturity1 .she was born in the rural town known as Homer in Ohio. Her mother known as Roxana was both illiterate and illegimate2. Her father known as Reuben was a salesman and a conman2.Her father came from a poor scots-American family that resided in Massachusetts. When she reached 11 years of age, she had about three years of formal education. Her teachers discovered that she was very intelligent. Her stay at school was however short lived. This is because she was forced to leave school and her hometown after her father burned down their gristmill with a hope of heavy compensation as he had insured heavily. This did not however happen as his fraud and arson were discovered3.The town people raised some funds that helped her family to departure from Ohio4.
First marriage and family
Victoria met her first husband when she was 14 years old. She met Canning Woodhull, a 28 year old doctor from New York who practiced medicine in Ohio. Her family had requested him to treat her for some chronic illness. They got married on 23rd November 1853 when she was just a few months after her 15th birthday. Victoria later learned that her husband was an alcoholic and also a womanizer. She was at times forced to work outside their home for her to be able to support the family. They had two children named Zulu Maude5 and Bryon. She later divorced her husband but decided to keep his surname.
Second marriage
Victoria Woodhull married again at around 18666.She married Colonel James Blood. Her new husband was also marrying for the second time. He was a former army man having fought in the American Civil war and he was at that time serving as a city auditor the city of St Louis in Missouri. However, they divorced a decade later in October 1876.
Free love
Victoria’s support of free love had originated when the discovered the womanizing nature of her first husband. During the 19th century, most of the women in the United States were forcefully married into arranged unions with no aspect of love or freedom of choice. The women in these forced unions had no options of escape and divorce was scandalous. Any woman who tried to divorce was stigmatized and the society ostracized them. She supported the fact that married women were to have the choice and freedom to leave marriages that were unbearable. She believed in monogamous based relationships. She once said that the right of sexual orientation by nature belongs to a woman7.
Prostitution rumors
In the 19th century and since, there have been circulation of rumors that Victoria was a prostitute. However there have been no any primary evidence to support these rumors8.It is alleged that these rumors had actually originated from certain articles that were published in the Chicago Mail. However, up to date no such articles have been found. Personally, Woodhull had spoken out against prostitution and even considered that any marriage that was based on material gain was prostitution. She however contradicted herself through her journal that was known as Claflin and Woodhull Weekly in which she seemed to support the legalization of sex work8.
Female stockbroker
Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee, her sister made history by becoming the first women stockbrokers. The two sisters went on to open a brokerage firm in 1870 on Wall Street. The move was profitable and she was able to make a good fortune on NYSE .In 1870, she opened a company known as Woodhull and company .She opened the company with the help of a wealthy individual known as Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was an admirer of her skills as a medium.it is also rumored that Cornelius had been her sister Tennessee’s lover and he also had serious considerations of marrying her9. Her success as a woman stockbroker received negative criticism from the then male dominated society. Newspaper articles published defaming information about their business.