[3][2] In 1862, Corbin published her first novel, Rebecca, or a Woman's Secret, which she dedicated to John Stuart Mill for his "noble efforts in behalf of the Enfranchisement of Women."

Initially, Corbin was an advocate for women's suffrage and was among the first members of the Evanston, Illinois Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

This encounter, coupled with her deep exploration of socialism, led Corbin to become a staunch opponent of women's suffrage.

She felt that focusing on women's right to vote reduced their value to mere political and economic terms, neglecting what she saw as their deeper, intrinsic contributions to society in areas like morality, family life, and spiritual guidance.

[6] Historian Catherine Cole Mambretti argues that the Corbin "might have called themselves feminists had the term not been associated with suffragists."

She believed that granting women the right to vote would lead to the destruction of traditional family values and societal order.

Historian Catherine Cole Mambretti notes that antisuffragists emphasized women's role as civilizers, contrasting it with the negative view of men and worrying about the potential for societal chaos.

An Antisuffrage Bulletin expressed concerns that suffragists' tactics, characterized by noise and spectacle, aligned more with "decadence and misrule" than with "good sense and sound government."

They questioned the impact of women voting and holding office on marriage and family life, believing that it would result in a neglect of the domestic responsibilities crucial for raising well-educated children.

According to Corbin, the Republic was founded on the family as the core unit of society, whereas socialism focused on the individual, disregarding the significance of childbirth.

[2] Although Corbin’s pamphlets may seem like desperate attempts to prevent women's suffrage, her concerns about a suffrage-socialism alliance had some basis.

Lena Morrow Lewis, a journalist and socialist, wrote in 1911 that suffrage was crucial for justice and future comradeship.

Women achieved numerous legislative victories, including property rights dissolution, entry into the Bar Association, the ability to hold office, an increase in the age of consent from 10 to 14, the passage of a Child Labor Law, and the election of the first female Board of Trustees member at the University of Illinois.

[2] Corbin and her husband had five children, all born in Chicago: Franklin Nichols, Grace, Caroline (Dana) F, John, and Laurance Paul.

[9] Corbin died on March 27, 1918, in Petoskey, Michigan, just two years before the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.