ABSTRACT
In the 1800s, it was a commonly held belief that children possessed fewer legal rights than children possess in today’s society. Many times minors were considered to be nothing more than the property of their parents. As a result children were largely excluded from the safeguards of American constitutional law. Children could be used as workers by their parents, in an attempt to supplement family income or the child could be subjected to a life of prostitution, especially common among younger girls, who were capable of receiving a premium fee from clientele of such services. It has been stated that these younger girls were popular because of a long standing desire of men to have sexual relationships with virginal girls. Because of this, parents of young girls, and occasionally young boys, may have been able to obtain good money for the prostitution of their children.
