Constructing American Childhood
Age-Based Laws and the Illusion of Protection in the Early United States
Seiten
2026
University of Virginia Press (Verlag)
978-0-8139-5491-2 (ISBN)
University of Virginia Press (Verlag)
978-0-8139-5491-2 (ISBN)
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How definitions of childhood in early America codified social hierarchies and remain with us today
As of 2025, in the United States an eleven-year-old child can be charged with a federal crime while in many states it's illegal to leave a twelve-year-old home alone. Twenty-six states allow children younger than sixteen to marry while the legal drinking age remains twenty-one. Are these age-based laws really protecting children, and if not, why do they exist? Holly N.S. White uncovers the answers to these questions through a history of America's first age-based laws.
Analyzing trial records, newspapers, personal letters and diaries, as well as legal statutes from the founding era to the Civil War, White shows how restrictive age-based laws were implemented to benefit those who already held power. Over time, these new laws—coming out of child murder and rape trials as well as guardianship and underage marriage disputes—increasingly circumscribed the rights of young Americans in the early republic. As White shows, race, class, status, and gender influenced who came to benefit from the label of "child" in post-revolutionary America. In so doing, Constructing American Childhood explains why Americans continue to be guided by the age-based legal definitions of childhood and adulthood of our past.
As of 2025, in the United States an eleven-year-old child can be charged with a federal crime while in many states it's illegal to leave a twelve-year-old home alone. Twenty-six states allow children younger than sixteen to marry while the legal drinking age remains twenty-one. Are these age-based laws really protecting children, and if not, why do they exist? Holly N.S. White uncovers the answers to these questions through a history of America's first age-based laws.
Analyzing trial records, newspapers, personal letters and diaries, as well as legal statutes from the founding era to the Civil War, White shows how restrictive age-based laws were implemented to benefit those who already held power. Over time, these new laws—coming out of child murder and rape trials as well as guardianship and underage marriage disputes—increasingly circumscribed the rights of young Americans in the early republic. As White shows, race, class, status, and gender influenced who came to benefit from the label of "child" in post-revolutionary America. In so doing, Constructing American Childhood explains why Americans continue to be guided by the age-based legal definitions of childhood and adulthood of our past.
Holly N. S. White is an Adjunct Professor in the History Department at William & Mary. She is coeditor for the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth.
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 1.5.2026 |
|---|---|
| Verlagsort | Charlottesville |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918) |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
| Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht | |
| Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Besonderes Strafrecht | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-8139-5491-6 / 0813954916 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-8139-5491-2 / 9780813954912 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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Buch | Hardcover (2024)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 47,60
