Reply #51: Prior to WWII most people started to work at age 14 [View All]

I do not mean work after school but full time employment with the teenager in the regular work force. Thus it was possible for a 16 year old male to enlist provided he had either his parents permission or was an emancipated minor.

In an 1890 case this came up someone enlisted at age 16 then deserted waited till he turned 21 and turned himself in charged with desertion his defense was he was an un-emancipated minor when he enlisted. The trooper's mother was alive but made no objection to her son's enlistment. While the court decision did not make the following statement, but the underlying law was known at that time and is the law in many states, an emancipated minor is any minor that is no longer under the care, control and supervision of his or her parents do to the act of the PARENT. Thus the court finding that the trooper's mother did NOTHING at the time of the trooper's enlistment, meant that the trooper was an emancipated minor. AS an emancipated minor he could enlist at age 16 in the 1880s. This was the law as late as WWI.

On the other hand, during both WWI and WWII, it was almost impossible to enlist (except for the first few months of WWI) thus the draft was how we raised troops in both cases (And when the draft was active when you could enlist, the draft was used as a hammer to encourage enlistments, i.e. enlist to be a cook, mechanic etc, or be drafted into the Infantry.

Notice the key was until you were 21 years of age you could NOT enlist until you were 21 UNLESS you had permission of your parents OR you were an emancipated minor (More common before WWII then today).

Please note the Federal Government statistics for unemployment changed in 1947 prior to 1947 it was age 14 and up, after 1947 it was changed to age 17 and up. Most soldiers in WWI did not Graduate High School, most soldiers in WWII were High School Graduates. Both of these facts show the movement to more education and less full time teenage employment that continued till to day. Just a comment on enlistment age over time.