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Blackwell, "Age of Consent Legislation," 1895
Document 14: Emily Blackwell, "Age of Consent Legislation," Philanthropist,
9 (February 1895), pp. 2-3.
Introduction
Emily Blackwell (1826-1910) became a physician like her sister Elizabeth, who
had been the first woman in America to receive a degree as a doctor of medicine.
The two women directed the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and the
Women's Medical College, which in addition to providing medical services for
women, also offered advanced training for women physicians. Both women were
leaders in the social purity movement. Emily Blackwell teamed with Aaron Macy
Powell to initiate and lead the petition campaign to raise the age of consent. In the
following article, reprinted in the Philanthropist from the Arena, Blackwell highlighted
the view that poor working women were in danger because they lacked parental
protection, and connected as well the need for legislation to raise the age of
consent to the woman suffrage movement, underscoring the link between the
woman's and social purity movements in the late nineteenth century.
AGE OF CONSENT LEGISLATION.
__________
BY EMILY BLACKWELL, M.D.
__________
By fixing the age of legal majority the State declares that under
this age young people have not the experience nor the maturity of
judgment which would qualify them for independent action in matters
of importance affecting their own interests. They are in consequence
made incapable of such action. Their consent cannot relieve a
guardian from responsibility in the management of their property.
Except in a few exceptional cases they cannot make a contract which
will be binding when they come of age. A minor cannot legally marry
without the consent of the guardian. Surreptitious marriage with a
minor is an offense punishable by law, and such a marriage can be
annulled upon the application of the guardian. Thus their power of
action is, in their own interest, so limited that their consent is not
sufficient to make valid even perfectly legitimate transactions, nor does
it avail to protect adults who assume it as sufficient authority.
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