Although Julian's primary political goal in the 1850s and 1860s was the abolition of slavery and challenging its expansion into the western United States, he was a longtime supporter of women's enfranchisement. Julian had espoused the cause of women's suffrage as early as 1847. As Julian explained in his memoirs, "the subject was first brought to my attention in a brief chapter on 'the political non-existence of woman,' in Miss Martineau's book on 'Society In America,' which I read in 1847. She there pithily states the substance of all that has since been said respecting the logic of woman's right to the ballot, and finding myself unable to answer it, I accepted it. On recently referring to this chapter I find myself more impressed by its force than when I first read it." While campaigning in 1853 Julian invited Frances Dana Barker Gage and Emma R. Coe, early advocates for woman suffrage, to lecture in his hometown of Centreville. Julian was also close friends with Lucretia Mott, co-organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention. Following the Civil War and passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, Julian returned to the issue of woman's rights. In 1868 he proposed a constitutional amendment on women's suffrage, but it was defeated.