The age of consent used to be much lower in the country than it is now.
12-16 was normal.
It’s 12 now in Mexico, and 14 in Canada.
It’s still allowable in many states at a young age with parental consent....that’s rather odd actually! i.e. You can marry in many states at a very young age with parental consent.
That said, the idea of some 40 something creep lurking around young girls gives me the effing creeps!
Have you ever spent any time around 12 to 14 year old girls? They are hardly the type of people you want to spend allot of time with. Lots of giggles and nonsense.
In many places in the US, it was as low as 10 well into the second half of the 19th century. Delaware was the lowest, at 7.
If I recall correctly, it was even lower in some states in the 18th century.
I wrote a paper on it once, and was shocked beyond belief. It began changing with Napoleonic Law, iirc, which is why it was raised in Europe before here.
https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/24
One my my grandmothers married at 13, had my father 10 or 11 months later, and by the time she was 20 had four children.