As recently as 1874, no laws yet existed in this country for the protection of children. In New York of the same year, it was the widely publicized case of Mary Ellen Wilson-a nine-year-old girl who had been a prisoner in her tenement home, enduring unimaginable cruelty-that was the first to draw national and worldwide attention to both the social issue of child abuse and to the notion that children are entitled to humane treatment. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) founder Henry Bergh and his attorney, Elbridge T. Gerry, intervened on behalf of the abused...
As recently as 1874, no laws yet existed in this country for the protection of children. In New York of the same year, it was the widely publicized ca...
