Editing Henry Ward Beecher (section)

===The Beecher–Tilton Scandal Case (1875)===
In a highly publicized scandal, Beecher was tried on charges that he had committed adultery with a friend's wife, Elizabeth Tilton. In 1870, Elizabeth had confessed to her husband, [[Theodore Tilton]], that she had had a relationship with Beecher.{{sfn|McDougall|2009|p=550}} The charges became public after Theodore told [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]] and others of his wife's confession. Stanton repeated the story to fellow women's rights leaders [[Victoria Woodhull]] and Isabella Beecher Hooker.{{sfn|Werth|2009|p=19}}

Henry Ward Beecher had publicly denounced Woodhull's advocacy of [[free love]]. Seeing a chance to make his hypocrisy known, she published a story titled "The Beecher–Tilton Scandal Case" in her paper ''Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly'' on November 2, 1872; the article made detailed allegations that America's most renowned clergyman was secretly practicing the free-love doctrines that he denounced from the pulpit. Woodhull was arrested in New York City and imprisoned for sending obscene material through the mail.{{sfn|Werth|2009|pp=60–61}} The scandal split the Beecher siblings; Harriet and others supported Henry, while Isabella publicly supported Woodhull.{{sfn|Werth|2009|p=173}} The first trial was Woodhull's, who was released on a technicality.{{sfn|McDougall|2009|p=551}}

Subsequent hearings and trial, in the words of [[Walter A. McDougall]], "drove Reconstruction off the front pages for two and a half years" and became "the most sensational 'he said, she said' in American history".{{sfn|McDougall|2009|p=551}} On October 31, 1873, Plymouth Church excommunicated Theodore Tilton for "slandering" Beecher. The Council of Congregational Churches held a board of inquiry from March 9 to 29, 1874, to investigate the disfellowshipping of Tilton, and censured Plymouth Church for acting against Tilton without first examining the charges against Beecher. As of June 27, 1874, Plymouth Church established its own investigating committee which exonerated Beecher.{{sfn|Werth|2009|pp=80–82}} Tilton then sued Beecher on civil charges of adultery.{{sfn|Werth|2009|pp=115–121}} The Beecher–Tilton trial began in January 1875, and ended in July when the jurors deliberated for six days but were unable to reach a verdict.{{sfn|Werth|2009|pp=115–21}} In February 1876, the Congregational church  held a final hearing to exonerate Beecher.{{sfn|McDougall|2009|p=552}}

Stanton was outraged by Beecher's repeated exonerations, calling the scandal a "holocaust of womanhood".{{sfn|McDougall|2009|p=552}} French author [[George Sand]] planned a novel about the affair, but died the following year before it could be written.{{sfn|Werth|2009|pp=173–74}}