1872: A suffragist stumps for the future

Happy birthday (from beyond the grave) to a pioneer New Patriot, Victoria Woodhull.

Usually in order to run for President you need to be either a dull party hack (← these people usually win), a wealthy ideologue, or a charismatic nut. Woodhull was an excellent combination of these last two traits, thus she became the first woman ever to run for President, in 1872. With Frederick Douglass as her running mate, her Equal Rights party fought hard for women's suffrage, free love, and economic equality. Interestingly, her economic-equality philosophy was inspired more by the Bible than rising star Karl Marx: during campaign speeches she was flanked by two banners which read "What lack I yet? Jesus said unto him; go sell all thou hath and give to the poor" (Mattheww 19: 21-22), and "Neither said any that what he possessed was his own; but they had all things common" (Acts 5:32).

Even more fascinating are her prophetic views on abortion, "alternative" marriage and the death penalty.

She wasn't flawless (I could do without the spiritualism myself), but she sure was one flush-faced original with her heart usually in the right place. And in case you think I'm overly reverent, let's just say I agree with biographer Lois Beechy Underhill's curious summary of Woodhull's life:

Woodhull's true family tree was rooted in primitive America, a land of mad visions, sharp trading, and titanic energies. Hers was a robber baron's spirit. She saw no reason why she should not play by the same free-for-all rules as men. Her strengths lay in her willpower, her sheer energy, her quick reflexes. She looked with a sharp eye for male weaknesses and used men rather than being used by them. Cowardice and hypocracy disgusted her. So did cant in talking about sex. She had a primal desire to be first and a storyteller's capacity for guile [...] She was a prophecy of the future, her life a song of herself.