United States of America

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Flag of the United States of America (USA)

The United States of America are also known as the United States or simply America or by acronyms such as USA or US or U.S.A. or U.S.. The United States are predominantly an English-speaking nation. As in other English-speaking nations, non-therapeutic circumcision of boys was popularized in the nineteenth century, however, the practice of non-therapeutic circumcision of boys is now in decline.

History

Jews have lived in America since before the Revolutionary War. They have always practiced ritual circumcision (Brit Milah) of boys on the eighth day of life in accordance with the Abrahamic covenant, however this was only for a very small percentage of the population.

One may be certain that the eighteenth century Founding Fathers of the United States of America were men with intact foreskins as were the foreskinned men who fought the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Non-therapeutic circumcision of males for non-religious reasons originated with Claude-Francois Lallemand in 1832 in France but soon spread to the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century, from which it eventually spread to other English-speaking nations.

Late nineteenth century

The first recorded non-religious circumcision of a boy in the United States occurred in 1870 when Lewis Albert Sayre, a prominent New York City doctor, circumcised a boy of five years of age for paralysis. Sayre then continued to advocate circumcision for numerous reasons until his death in 1900. According to Sayre, circumcision was recommended for paralysis, epilepsy, hernia, lunacy, curvature of the spine, and clubfoot.

Moses (1871) advocated circumcision to prevent masturbation.

Seventh-day Adventist John Harvey Kellogg, M. D., of Battle Creek, Michigan, was an important 19th century promoter of male circumcision. Although masturbation is never mentioned in the Bible, Dr. Kellogg believed that masturbation was immoral, sinful, and caused one to dream "impure dreams", which he believed was harmful to the mental faculties, resuling in mental disorders, such as feeblemindness. He believed that the urge to masturbate could be prevented by eating bland foods, for which purpose, he and his brother invented corn flakes.

Dr. Kellogg also recommended circumcision in cases "in which irritation is produced by retained secretions".

Dr. Kellogg perhaps is most famous for his book, Plain facts for young and old (1879), in which he advocated circumcision of boys as punishment for masturbation.

Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. (1821-1910), born in England, but attended medical school in the United States. She was the first woman to become a medical doctor in the United States. Blackwell thought masturbation was immoral but that circumcision was not the way to correct it. She wrote against it in her 1894 book.

Peter Charles Remondino, M. D. was a San Diego, California physician. He was born in Turin in 1846, but migrated with his family to the United States at the age of eight. There is some reason to believe that he was of Sephardic Jewish descent and had been circumcised while still in Turin, however this is uncertain.

Remondino is famous for his 346 page book, The History of Circumcision.