Editor’s Note: Though unsung today, Victoria Woodhull (1838 – 1937) was at the vanguard of the women’s rights movement, which she connected with the labor rights movement. Not only that, she was the first-ever woman to be nominated by her party — the Equal Rights Party — to be its candidate for President of the United States. Woodhull ran for president in 1872, running on a platform of women’s rights and labor reform. Her party also issued a new Constitution, which starts off with a declaration, or more accurately, a series of declarations — of purpose, of independence, of the rights of persons, of the rights of the community, of the sphere of government — which we include below.
Constitution of the United States of the World
“Declaration of Purpose”
“We, the people of the United States – a National Union – and the several States as its component parts, proceeding upon the Natural Right inherent in humanity, and in order to secure a perfect and enduring Union; to establish equality as a birth-right; to administer common justice; to secure peace, tranquillity and prosperity; to provide for the common defense; to promote the general welfare; to secure the blessings of freedom, and protection for the exercise of individual capacities to ourselves and our posterity; and to erect a government which shall be the center around which the nations may aggregate, until ours shall become a Universal Republic, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of the World; which shall be the Supreme Law wherever it shall have, or acquire, jurisdiction.”
“Declaration of Independence”
“All persons are born free and equal, and are entitled to the right to life, which is inalienable; and to liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and these shall be absolutely unabridged, except when limited in the individual for the security of the community from crime.”
“Declaration of the Rights of Persons”
“All persons are entitled to the full and unrestrained use of all their natural and acquired powers and capacities; but such use by the individual, or by aggregations of individuals, shall never extend to infringement upon, or the abridgment of, the same use in other persons.”
“Declaration of the Rights of the Community”
“The community have the right, under this Constitution, to organize and maintain government, by which every individual shall be protected in the exercise of rights, and prevented from interfering with others. But by organizing government the people shall surrender no rights.”
“Declaration of the Sphere of Government”
“It shall be the sphere of the government to perform the duties required of it by the people under the guidance of this Constitution; and the government shall be vested with the power to perform them and be limited to such performance.”
Sources: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/woodhull/constitution/constitution.html
Here are the sources to which the above link attributes the text: “Constitution of the United States of the World: An Address by Victoria C. Woodhull”, speech, New York: Washington’s Lincoln Hall, 1870; Printed as A New Constitution for the World by Victoria Woodhull, vt. A New Constitution for the United States of the World, Proposed for the Consideration of the Constructors of Our Future Government. New York: Woodhull, Claflin & Co., 1872; Reprinted in Alternative constitutions for the United States: a documentary history, edited by Steven R. Boyd. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1992.
Image source:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria_Woodhull.jpg
Further reading:
Victoria Woodhull: Fearless Feminist, Kate Havelin, Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2007
