Q: Who was the first woman to run for President of the United States?
A: Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to run for President of the United States in 1872. Newspapers at the time called her a leader of the women’s suffrage movement in the 19th Century and she was known for her views on spiritualism, business reform and free love.
Woodhull and her sister made a fortune as the first female Wall Street brokers and used their money to found a newspaper which became notorious for publishing opinions on topics like sex education, free love, vegetarianism, suffrage, spiritualism and licensed prostitution.
In 1871, she announced her intention to run for president and was nominated by the Equal Rights Party the next year. Frederick Douglass was nominated for Vice President, although he never acknowledged this. In spite of her declaration, nomination and ratification as a nominee, many have questioned the legality of her run for a number of reasons, including: the government declined to print her name on the ballot, she was not 35, she did not receive any electoral votes and she was a woman.
She later moved to England, where she gave lectures and published a magazine with her daughter.
