Article: Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children


Attorney and patrician Elbridge Gerry founded the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SPCC) in New York City in December 1874. The NYSPCC sparked a movement. Within twenty-five years, over 150 organizations across the nation joined the effort to protect children from abuse. Gerry's involvement in the rescue of an eight-year-old girl, Mary Ellen, from her physically abusive guardians had persuaded him of the need to organize a society to protect children. What made the idea so contagious?

Since the mid-eighteenth century, many Americans had become increasingly sensitive to the pain of others, a development ...

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