[HotHunt]

Average lifespan when the Constitution was written, was much shorter than 80 years old, probably less than 50 years old.

If they had put a limit on the age, like 50 years old, many good judges today would be way beyond such a mandatory retirement age.

Some aren't even appointed until they are past 50 years old.

People didn't live near as long back in the 1700s as they do today.

[Leaning Right]

> Average lifespan when the Constitution was written, was much shorter than 80 years old, probably less than 50 years old. <

That’s true. But I read somewhere that if you made it past childhood back in those days, you had a good chance of living into your 70s. It was the childhood diseases that brought the average down.

[PapaBear3625]

People didn't live near as long back in the 1700s as they do today.

Putting childhood mortality into the average brings down the average considerably. If you made it to your teen years, you could expect a reasonably long natural life.

Thomas Paine lived to 72, Washington to 67, Ben Franklin 84, Jefferson 83, John Adams 90.

Human Lifespans Nearly Constant for 2,000 Years

[hanamizu]

People didn’t live near as long back in the 1700s as they do today.

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Yes they did. It’s just not as many people made it to “old age” as do now. John Marshall died at age 80.

[little jeremiah]

Actually, in previous times such as the 1700s, once people survived childhood, childbearing (for women) and infectious illnes, they often lived until their 80s and 90s. Geneologists see this a lot. I have many ancestors who lived until their 80s and 90s, one, two and three hundred years ago.

The averaged out lifespan was shorter due to high childood mortality and women in childbirth, and infectious illnesses that sometimes carried off a lot of people.