Autographs
"Belva A. Lockwood" Hand-Signed Card with Women's Sentiment "Yours - For equal rights Belva A. Lookwood"
BELVA ANN LOCKWOOD (1830-1917). One of the First Female Lawyers in the United States, in 1879 petitioned Congress to be allowed to practice before the United States Supreme Court and became the First Woman to do so; ran for President of the U.S. in 1884 and 1888 on the ticket of the National Equal Rights Party, the first woman to appear on official ballots.
c. 1900 Signed Card with Sentiment Signed, "Yours - For equal rights Belva A. Lookwood" with her full address below, measures about 2.5" x 4.25", Choice Crisp Extremely Fine. Small prior mount trace on the blank reverse. Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood was an American attorney, politician, educator, and author. After college, she became a teacher and principal, working to equalize pay for women in education. She supported the movement for world peace, and was a proponent of the Temperance movement. Lockwood graduated from law school in Washington, D.C., and became one of the first female lawyers in the United States. In 1879, she successfully petitioned Congress to be allowed to practice before the United States Supreme Court, becoming the first woman attorney given this privilege. Lockwood ran for president in 1884 and 1888 on the ticket of the National Equal Rights Party and was the first woman to appear on official ballots. While Victoria Woodhull is commonly cited as the first woman to run for president, she was not old enough to run, unlike Lockwood
Belva Lockwood's interest in law and politics brought her from upstate New York to Washington, D.C., in 1866. Later that year, she opened her own seminary school for women and became part of a community of progressive women activists who participated in the temperance and suffrage movements.
In 1871, 15 women, including Lockwood, enrolled at the National University Law School (now part of George Washington University) in Washington, D.C. The following year, Lockwood and another woman completed the program, after which law school administrators told them they would not receive diplomas. Lockwood appealed to President Ulysses S. Grant, who was chancellor ex officio of the National University, and she received her diploma one week later.
Lockwood's most famous argument was in United States v. Cherokee Nation, 202 U.S. 101 (1906), which brought her before the Supreme Court a second time. Lockwood represented the Cherokee Nation, which sought full payment from the federal government under an 1835 treaty in which the tribe had ceded land in Georgia to the federal government for $1 million. The government had not paid in full. The lower court ordered the government to pay the balance owed, and the government appealed to the Supreme Court. Over two days, Lockwood successfully argued to uphold the judgment for the money owed, with interest, to the Cherokee Nation. The result was a $5 million dollar payment, one of the largest made to that date to a Native American tribe for land ceded to the government.
KEYWORDS:
Suffragette, Woman's Vote