John Gilbert McCurdy in the New York Times

On Independence Day, the New York Times published an editorial by John Gilbert McCurdy, author of Citizen Bachelors: Manhood and the Creation of the United States, in which McCurdy hearkened back to a day when bachelorhood rendered a man suspect in polite society. At the Second Continental Congress, McCurdy writes, “As the delegates created a new nation, they assailed sexual immorality, luxury and sloth — all of which they associated with the single life.” After discussing a few bachelors of the age who participated in laying the groundwork for the United States, McCurdy goes on to say: “The most profound lesson we can derive from our bachelor founders [is that] although they envisioned a nation built on morals and families, the men who declared independence dreamed of a country where the intimate details of one’s life did not matter to citizenship. Bachelorhood might be an undesirable lifestyle, but it should not abrogate a man’s rights.” Read the whole editorial here:

We the Bachelors