Here is a link to a page that has a table of American and European ages of consent going back to 1880: https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/case-studies/230?section=primarysources&source=24
I was completely shocked to find that most states had their age of consent set at 10 in 1880, and, as I said in the title, Delaware had it at 7 years old. Europe was similar. What was going on back then? I can understand that people tended to get married younger in the past, but 7-10 years old!?
Was pedophilia "normal" back then? Also, don't be surprised if the people pushing for it to be normalized today use this to make their agenda seem more palatable.
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Queen_Puabi ago
I didn't know this. Helps me understand my ancestry a little better although the family story is still a bit sick and twisted.
My Great Great Grandmother, Julia Howerton, was traded at 10 yrs old for 40 acres to an older man named Elijah (Lige) David Robinson. Julia married at 10 and had her first child at 12. There were 3 children in total, one named Sarah, died young.
When Julia was 17/18 she tied my Great Grandmother (Ethel Robinson) and Great Uncle (Lonny Robinson) to a tree and told them to take care of each other and ran off. I can't imagine living back then and being treated as property. Julia had no rights to her children and her only escape was to leave them behind.
My Great Grandmother Ethel and Great Uncle Lonny were taken care of by the Robinson family. Elijah Lige Robinson remarried. I have found my Great Uncle living with Elijah Robinson's brother working on a farm at 16, but nothing else in the census.
Flash forward to many years later and my Great Grandmother Ethel decides to hunt her real mother down. (Lonny never saw his mother again) She ends up visiting in South Dakota where Julia now lives and had remarried to a George Anderson. She says that Julia is very cold toward her (she stayed a week-her and her husband) and that she was dark complexion (possibly 1/2 Native American?) and how she found out she was traded to an older man for 40 acres.
So far, I have had no luck finding Julia's real parents or lineage yet or figuring out what 40 acres she was traded for. They say Elijah worked on the railroad but that's all the info I have. Sad family history...
we_kill_creativity ago
Yeah, realities were different back then, so we can't judge people by the same standards we use today (I'm not a moral relativist btw). But my big thing, in relation to pizzagate, is that, if a 50 year old man had sex with a 10 year old girl, and it went to court, legally, just the fact that he did it, it couldn't be used to lock him up. Like, it sucks to think about, but today, if a poor family coerced their 10 year old daughter to marry a rich man to forgive a debt, you'd understand (technically), and even then, it would still be illegal. It wouldn't be back then.
samhara ago
Sorry no, it is illegal. And they do put Pedos in jail.