Selected Writings of Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and Eugenics

Chapter Sixteen: Dear Lucretia Mott

ChapterSixteen Dear Lucretia Mott In the split between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony’s National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1869, Lucretia Mott sided with the former, prioritizing women’s suffrage as the most important goal for the movement. Like Stanton and Anthony, Mott came to feel somewhat wary of Victoria Woodhull. The original letter is located in the Garrison Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. 48 Broad St N.Y. Feby. 27 1873 Dear Lucretia Mott YouknowverywellthatIseldomseekpersonally,thefavorordisfavor of any person; and that I care little for any one[’]s good opinion, any further than it may further advance the interests of the cause I have espoused;andthatIhavelearnedpatientlytobeartheill-favorofmost persons, by long and continuous experiences. Youwonmyheartunderpeculiarlyimpressivecircumstances;which haveevercausedasortofreverencetofillmysoulforyou.Ifeltthatof allwomenwhoseemedtounderstandmesomewhat,youunderstood me best; and I never believed you could misunderstand me. But I have heard from several, what makes my heart sad; for I fear you would not stand on the rostrum by me as you did at Apollo Hall 148 | two years ago. I do not believe I either hold or advocate ideas, which, ifunderstoodbyyouasIunderstandthem,cancauseyoutowithdraw frommethelove andconfidenceIhave treasuredsolongandsowell; andIbegyoutooffermetheopportunitytocorrect,asIthinkIcan,any points, which if uncorrected, may cause you to shrink from me[.] But in either case, I hope you may not lose sight of the issue, in the individual. The issue now is not Victoria Woodhull, but Free Speech and free press, to the rescue of which from their present threatened position,everyoneoughttohasten.TheAbolitionistsusedtosay“Itis none of our business what the Negro does with his freedom.” Is it any more our business now, what people do with their freedom? Your affectionate would-be-daughter, Victoria ...