From earthly things man must his body feed; But doth not soul from Heaven its nurture need?
Victoria C. Woodhull
The Public Record
Victoria Claflin Woodhull, later Victoria Woodhull Martin, was an American leader of the women's suffrage movement who ran for president of the United States in the 1872 election. While many historians and authors agree that Woodhull was the first woman to run for the presidency, some disagree with classifying it as a true candidacy because according to the Constitution she would have been too young to be president if elected.
gutenberg.org
His earthly frame bound earthward by fixed laws, Doth not the soul yearn for a heavenly cause?
Brothers to brothers linked, and each to all, Live we one life on this terrestrial ball; One life of those who live and those who die, Of those whom sight knows and whom memory.
Can codes, half dead, framed in days long gone by, The soul’s new wants, so manifold, supply?
New palaces of Science, Faith and Truth, Tower o’er the humble dwellings of our youth.
Shall rule and State, then, in their old ways stand, Denying Progress her supreme demand?
Yet stand they do, and with contemptuous pride, Fling Reason, Progress, Hope and Faith aside.
As I happen to be the most prominent representative of the only unrepresented class in the republic, and perhaps the most practical exponent of the principles of equality, I request the favor of being permitted to address the public…
I therefore claim the right to speak for the unenfranchised women of the country, and believing as I do that the prejudices which still exist in the popular mind against women in public life will soon disappear, I now announce myself as…
I am quite well aware that in assuming this position I shall evoke more ridicule than enthusiasm at the outset But this is an epoch of sudden changes and startling surprises.
What may appear absurd to-day will assume a serious aspect to-morrow.
Charity, with its long cloak of justice escaped, has long enough covered a multitude of sins.