ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the history of chronological age in the United States and the ways that age itself has been used to differentiate men from women and boys from girls in the realm of the law. Far from a neutral marker of identity, age itself has a history that, at least in the United States, has worked to the detriment of women, girls, and people of colour. To illustrate these claims, we employ a handful of specific case studies, including the administration of Civil War pensions, the age of majority, and the minimum marriageable age. In keeping with this latter example, we briefly explore the history of child marriage in the United States. In sum, we demonstrate that the use of age in American law has never had uniform consequences for girls and boys of various races; instead, even age-neutral laws tended to enhance differences of race and gender. The protections and perquisites supposedly offered to American children, defined via chronological age, were distributed unevenly from the get-go.
