Constitutional Equality a Right of Woman; or a Consideration of the Various Relations which she Sustains as a Necessary Part of the Body of Society and Humanity; with her Duties to Herself - Together with a Review of the Constitution of the United States, Showing that the Right to Vote is Guaranteed to All Citizens. Also a Review of the Rights of Children.

CLAFLIN, Tennessee.

Edité par New York: Woodhull, Claflin & Co., 1871

A propos de cet article

First edition of the activist and sometime stockbroker's case for the constitutional foundations of women's suffrage. Tennessee Claflin (1846-1923) and her sister Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) were key figures in American first-wave feminism as advocates for women's education, employment, and free love. This work was published shortly before the launch of Claflin's Congressional campaign and Woodhull's campaign as the first female US Presidential candidate. After making a living as clairvoyants and spiritual healers in the Midwest, Claflin and Woodhull moved to New York during the late 1860s. They opened their Wall Street brokerage, Woodhull, Claflin & Co., on 19 January 1870, to prove that "woman, no less than man, can qualify herself for the more onerous occupations of life" (Robb, p. 114). With some initial support from Claflin's lover Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) and the extensive publicity generated by a press fascinated with the "Queens of Finance", their firm was relatively profitable at first. They cornered a source of investment capital - the fortunes and business interests of women - which other brokerages had, either deliberately or otherwise, failed to tap. However, the sisters' energies soon drifted to other causes and, helped by the Panic of 1873, the brokerage house closed its doors the same year. "However brief, perfunctory, and ultimately unsuccessful Woodhull and Claflin's brokerage career proved to be, it remains an important watershed in women's history" (ibid., p. 121). Undeterred, Claflin and Woodhull continued to break down barriers while advocating for women's rights, labour reforms, and free love. The sisters were committed to the cause of women's suffrage and attempted to vote in a municipal election in the year of the present work's publication. They were also among the first women to found a newspaper in America: Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly provided extensive coverage of economic issues and prided itself on exposing fraudulent dealings and corporate corruption, and it was also the first American periodical to print the Communist Manifesto. Claflin later moved to England, married the merchant Sir Francis Cook, and became involved with philanthropic initiatives for homeless girls. George Robb, Ladies of the Ticker: Women and Wall Street from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression, 2017. Octavo. Engraved portrait frontispiece with tissue guard. Original red cloth, spine and front cover decoratively lettered in gilt, spine with scales of justice motif in gilt, covers panelled in blind, brown coated endpapers. Extremities rubbed, corners and spine ends worn, small area of loss at centre of spine, cloth toned and marked, gilt bright, foxing to endleaves including frontispiece, cords visible between pp. 112-3: a very good copy.

N° de réf. du vendeur 168988

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Constitutional Equality a Right of Woman; or a Consideration of the Various Relations which she Sustains as a Necessary Part of the Body of Society and Humanity; with her Duties to Herself - Together with a Review of the Constitution of the United States, Showing that the Right to Vote is Guaranteed to All Citizens. Also a Review of the Rights of Children.
• Éditeur: New York: Woodhull, Claflin & Co., 1871
• Édition: Edition originale