9 Key Insights About Belva Lockwood, Groundbreaking Attorney and Advocate

Belva Lockwood made history as the first woman to present a case before the Supreme Court and the inaugural female presidential candidate to earn electoral votes, embodying resilience and determination in the face of adversity.

1. SHE ATTEMPTED MIRACLES DURING HER CHILDHOOD.

Born in 1830 to a farming family in Royalton, New York, Belva Ann Bennett was the second of five siblings. Growing up in a devout Christian household, she interpreted the Bible literally. “I believed that faith alone could replicate the miracles described in Scripture,” she later recounted [PDF].

At the age of 10, Belva put her beliefs to the test by attempting to walk on water at the mill pond near her home, only to end up drenching her clothes. Unfazed, she then tried to bring the dead back to life, visiting the local cemetery where a neighbor’s child had recently been laid to rest. Despite her intense focus, she couldn’t achieve the resurrection. Convinced her concentration was to blame rather than her faith, she made a third attempt, inspired by the biblical idea that faith as small as a mustard seed could move mountains. She chose a small hill and concentrated all her energy on it, but it remained unmoved.

After these three unsuccessful attempts, Belva stopped trying to replicate biblical miracles, though her faith in God remained strong. As an adult, she reflected, “I have not raised the dead, but I have awakened the living ... Striving for goals beyond our reach, even in failure, broadens and enriches the mind. While I left miracles behind, I never stopped aiming for ambitious endeavors.”

2. SHE SOUGHT HIGHER EDUCATION—DESPITE IT BEING CONSIDERED "UNLADYLIKE."

Belva received her early education in the one-room schoolhouses of Niagara County’s public schools [PDF]. By 14, she had graduated and was offered a summer teaching position by the local school board. (At the time, men typically taught during winter terms when boys were free from farm work, while women taught girls and younger children in the summer.)

Belva used her teaching earnings to attend the Royalton Academy, a private high school designed to prepare students for college or business. Despite her desire to pursue higher education, her father opposed the idea, stating, “Girls should marry; only boys go to college.” At 18, Belva married Uriah McNall, a farmer and sawmill worker, and within a year, they welcomed their daughter, Lura.

A few years later, Uriah suffered a severe injury when his right foot got caught in sawmill machinery. He became bedridden for two years and eventually passed away from consumption in 1853. At 22, Belva found herself a widow with a young child. Determined to secure a better future for herself and her daughter, she used the modest inheritance from her husband to enroll at Gasport Academy, a secondary school offering a college-preparatory curriculum.

Belva faced criticism from her family and community for continuing her education, as it was deemed unconventional for a married woman, even a widow. Her father criticized her ambitions, quoting St. Paul to argue that her pursuit of knowledge was unfeminine. Despite the backlash, Belva remained steadfast in her decision.

During her second term at Gasport Academy, Belva was offered a teaching position to replace a dismissed male teacher. She saved her earnings to fund further education. Leaving her daughter, Lura, with her parents, who had relocated to Illinois, Belva moved 60 miles away to attend the coeducational Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in 1854. (Despite its name, the seminary functioned as a high school, not a ministerial training institution.) At Genesee, Belva noticed that while female students focused on subjects like rhetoric and fine arts (and surprisingly, science courses), male students studied mathematics and classics to prepare for Genesee College, which admitted both men and women and offered equal access to all courses since its founding in 1850.

After completing her first term at the seminary, Belva applied to Genesee College. The preceptress tried to discourage her, suggesting it was unladylike, and the college president doubted her commitment to completing a degree. However, Belva persisted, passed the entrance exams, and was admitted to the scientific course of study.

In the 1850s, women made up about 15 percent of Genesee College’s student body, with no female faculty members and segregated classes for male and female students. The curriculum was demanding, and student life was strictly regulated—newspapers and most social interactions between genders were prohibited. Belva focused intensely on her studies and developed an interest in law, attending lectures by a local attorney alongside her college coursework. In June 1857, after three years of dedication, Belva graduated with honors, earning a bachelor of science degree.

3. SHE ADVOCATED FOR EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK.

After graduating, Belva was appointed preceptress at a local school near Royalton, allowing her to regain custody of her daughter. In this role, she oversaw three teachers, managed discipline, and taught subjects like rhetoric, botany, and advanced mathematics. Despite being a widow with a child to support, Belva earned $400 annually, while the male teachers under her supervision made $600, and male administrators earned even more. Belva had faced gender-based pay disparities since she began teaching at 14, discovering that male colleagues earned double her salary for the same work—a situation she later described as “an indignity not to be tamely borne.” Her complaints were dismissed both at 14 and 26, but she continued teaching for nearly a decade before moving to Washington, D.C., in 1866, where she took her fight for equal pay to Congress.

Belva became active in the women’s rights movement and discovered that female government employees in D.C. earned less than men, with hiring caps on female clerks. She lobbied Rep. Samuel Arnell, chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, to introduce legislation ensuring equal pay and prohibiting gender-based hiring discrimination. Arnell, who had previously supported women’s rights by proposing a bill granting married women property rights in D.C., submitted H.R. 1571 in 1870, a bill partly drafted by Belva. However, by the time it passed in 1872, the bill had been diluted, only “authorizing” federal departments to appoint women to higher roles and pay them equally, without mandating it. The law also removed hiring caps for female clerks. While less impactful than Belva’s original vision, it still helped: the percentage of women at the Treasury Department earning over $900 rose from 4 percent to 20 percent in the 1870s.

4. SHE PURSUED A CAREER IN DIPLOMACY.

Belva aspired to join the consular service and applied for a position in Ghent, Belgium, during President Andrew Johnson’s administration—a role unprecedented for a woman. She prepared diligently for the civil service exam, studying international law and refreshing her German, but the State Department ignored her application. In 1881, she petitioned President Garfield to appoint her as head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Brazil, citing her expertise in international law, but her request was overlooked. Later, she urged President Grover Cleveland to appoint her as minister to Turkey. Instead, Cleveland chose a man rumored to be a womanizer, prompting Belva to send a scathing letter sarcastically remarking, “The selection of S. S. Cox could not have been improved upon. The only danger is, that he will attempt to suppress polygamy in that country by marrying all of the women himself.”

Belva’s diplomatic aspirations were far ahead of her era—it wasn’t until Lucile Atcherson Curtis in 1923 that a woman would serve as an American consular officer.

5. SHE PERSISTED THROUGH REJECTION TO BECOME A LAWYER.

In 1867, Belva, then 37, married Ezekiel Lockwood, a 65-year-old dentist, and took his surname, though she preferred signing her name as “Belva Ann Lockwood” rather than the traditional “Mrs. Ezekiel Lockwood.” Belva confided in Ezekiel that she was tired of teaching and deeply intrigued by the law. She nurtured this interest by assisting Ezekiel with his side work as a veteran-pension claim agent. Determined to become a lawyer, Belva spent her spare time studying legal texts but struggled to find an attorney willing to mentor her.

In October 1869, Ezekiel’s acquaintance, the president of Columbian College’s law school, invited the couple to attend one of his lectures. Inspired, Belva applied to Columbian College in D.C., but the response was a harsh rejection [PDF]. The school’s president informed her that admitting a woman would “distract the attention of the young men,” deeming her enrollment “inexpedient.”

Fortunately, National University, which had opened in Washington, D.C., in 1870, announced it would admit women to its law program. Belva and 14 other women enrolled in 1871, but by 1873, only Belva and one other woman remained. Despite completing the program, the university hesitated to award them degrees due to pressure from male students and alumni. Belva, however, devised a plan to compel the administration to grant her the diploma she had earned.

The university’s charter designated the sitting U.S. president as its chancellor ex officio. In January 1873, Belva wrote to President Ulysses S. Grant, politely explaining her situation. After months of silence, she sent a second, more direct letter in September, stating, “I have completed the required curriculum and am entitled to, and demand, my diploma.” Though the White House never replied, Belva received her diploma two weeks later. Shortly after, she was admitted to the District of Columbia bar and became a successful attorney, handling cases in government pensions, criminal defense, family law, and patents.

6. CONGRESS ENACTED A LAW TO ALLOW HER TO PRACTICE BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT.

As Belva began her legal career, she encountered both support and hostility. David Kellogg Cartter, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, remarked, “Madam, if you appear in this court, we will treat you like a man.” Associate Justice Arthur MacArthur added, “Bring on as many women lawyers as you like; I doubt they’ll succeed.” While she could practice in D.C. courts, federal courts remained off-limits.

In 1873, Belva was hired by the widow of a Civil War torpedo boat inventor to sue the federal government for patent infringement, seeking $100,000 in damages. To argue the case before the U.S. Court of Claims, Belva needed admission, but the court unanimously rejected her, claiming women lawyers would harm families and society. Forced to hire male attorneys to plead her cases, Belva found the arrangement unsatisfactory. One lawyer, she complained, took “three days to say very badly what I could have said well in an hour.” After losing the case, Belva appealed to the Supreme Court and sought admission to argue the case herself.

In October 1876, a male colleague nominated Belva for admission to the U.S. Supreme Court bar, but she was rejected six to three. Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite stated that only men could practice before the Court, citing “immemorial usage in England and practice in all of the states.” The Court would only change this if “required by statute.” Determined, Belva set out to change the law herself.

In 1874, at Belva’s urging, Rep. Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts introduced a bill to allow qualified female attorneys to practice before the Supreme Court. Although it passed the Judiciary Committee, the bill failed on the House floor. A second attempt months later also stalled. Determined, Belva drafted her own bill, titled “An Act to Relieve Certain Legal Disabilities of Women.” Rep. John M. Glover of Ohio introduced it, and after Belva testified, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously endorsed it. The House passed the bill on February 26, 1878, with a vote of 169 to 87. After a year of Senate debate and opposition, Belva lobbied intensely, presenting a petition signed by 160 prominent D.C. lawyers. The Senate eventually passed the bill 39 to 20, and President Rutherford B. Hayes signed it into law on February 15, 1879 [PDF].

On March 3, 1879, Belva became the first woman admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court bar, with “no objection raised,” as reported by The New York Times. In 1880, she became the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court in Kaiser v. Stickney. Later, in 1906, she successfully represented the Eastern Cherokee, securing a $5 million settlement.

Despite her achievements, Belva faced ongoing challenges. Each time she practiced in a new jurisdiction, she had to convince local judges to allow her to appear in court. In 1880, she became the first woman to practice law in Maryland’s Frederick County Circuit Court, but the following year, she was barred from Charles County courts in the same state. She also broke barriers in federal courts in Virginia and Massachusetts but was met with resistance in New York, where a judge snapped at her to sit down and remain silent. Even after her congressional victory, Belva’s fight for equality continued.

7. SHE TURNED A SEXIST LAW TO HER ADVANTAGE.

In a criminal case, Belva defended a woman who had shot a police officer. The defendant confessed on the stand, seemingly sealing her fate. However, Belva discovered that the woman’s husband had ordered her to commit the act. Belva argued that under 19th-century common law, a wife was legally obligated to obey her husband, making him the true perpetrator. She urged the jury to acquit the wife and instead try the husband. The jury agreed, finding her client not guilty.

8. SHE TURNED HEADS BY RIDING A TRICYCLE.

In the early 1880s, Belva sparked attention by purchasing a tricycle and using it to travel around Washington, D.C., covering miles daily for her work. (At the time, it was still uncommon for women to ride bicycles or tricycles.) In 1882, The Washington Post highlighted “Mrs. Lawyer Lockwood” on her tricycle as one of the capital’s top attractions, alongside landmarks like the Washington Monument and Ford’s Theatre. When Belva ran for president in 1884, newspapers nationwide, including the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal, published sketches of her riding her tricycle, while The New York Times humorously dubbed the fascination the “tricycle scandal.”

9. SHE RAN FOR PRESIDENT—AND EARNED THOUSANDS OF VOTES.

In 1884, Marietta Stow, a California women’s rights advocate and publisher of Woman’s Herald of Industry and Social Science Cooperator, led the Equal Rights Party. Stow sought to nominate a woman for president and was drawn to Belva after the lawyer wrote a letter to the Woman’s Herald, expressing her belief that women should run for office and her frustration with the Republican Party. While suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton supported the Republicans in hopes of advancing women’s suffrage, Belva was disillusioned. She had attended the Republican National Convention in Chicago that summer, urging the party to include an equal rights plank in their platform, but her plea was ignored. Belva argued that suffragists should form their own party, writing, “It is quite time that we had our own party; our own platform, and our own nominees. We shall never have equal rights until we take them, nor respect until we command it.” Stow found her ideal candidate in Belva.

The Equal Rights Party officially nominated Belva Lockwood for president in August 1884. Belva was unaware of the nomination until she received a letter informing her of the decision, which she later described as a complete surprise. After careful consideration, Belva wrote a letter accepting the nomination and outlining her platform, which included temperance, reforms in divorce and inheritance laws, equal political representation for women, and the creation of an international arbitration court. Her acceptance letter was sent to Stow and published in newspapers nationwide, with Stow later becoming her running mate.

Belva campaigned vigorously. With her second husband, Ezekiel, having passed away in 1877 and her daughter, Lura, grown, she paused her legal career to travel across the country. From September to November 1884, she delivered speeches in cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Louisville, and Cleveland. Newspapers covered her rallies, while humor magazines like Puck and Judge mocked her, focusing on her gender. Meanwhile, men formed Belva Lockwood Clubs, holding satirical rallies where they dressed as Belva and her supporters, parodying her campaign.

Despite the mockery, Belva garnered genuine support. On election day, she became the first woman to receive votes for president. (In 1884, only men could vote for president, as women were fully enfranchised in just three territories.) Out of over 10 million votes cast, Belva claimed to have received 4711 votes, though the exact count is unclear. She alleged that many of her votes were either destroyed or misattributed to other candidates. (At the time, voters used party-specific ballots, making it easier to discard votes for minor candidates.) Belva petitioned Congress to investigate voting irregularities, but her request was denied.

Undeterred, Belva ran for president again in 1888 as the Equal Rights Party’s candidate. Though this was her final bid for elected office, she remained active in women’s rights and peace advocacy. She continued practicing law into her 80s and passed away on May 19, 1917, at age 86—just a month after the first woman was sworn into the House of Representatives and three years before the 19th Amendment granted women nationwide the right to vote.

Additional Sources:

“Belva Lockwood—That Remarkable Woman,” New York History, Vol. 39, No. 4; “Socioeconomic Incentives to Teach in New York and North Carolina: Toward a More Comprehensive Model of Teacher Labor Markets, 1800-1850,” History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 1.