As the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment shifted societies views of the poor, jurisdictions began to implement more restrictive policies on the poor.
The Enlightenment, which helped shift the notion that misery and poverty were universal in society, led many too think that the poor were then responsible for their own conditions. Under this context, in 1824, the Yates Report the first comprehensive report on poor relief in the United States analyzed the systems of poor relief in New York state. The report identified the four main parts of welfare system: institutional relief, home relief, auction system, and contract system. The report believed the system to be cruel, wasteful and inefficient due to the chaotic nature of the system. It suggested the ending of home relief and replacing that policy with the building of institutions. The reports three main recommendations: were that no able bodied person between the ages of 18 and 50 should be given public assistance; institutional relief should be given to the young, old and disabled; and the county instead of the town should be the administrative unit. Although the Yates Report was focused only on New York state, the report had far reaching implications for poor relief. By the Civil War, 4 out of 5 persons who received poor relief were in an institution.1
Most institutional relief was provided in workhouses were those in need of relief were put to work under the theory that would increase their work effort and reduce idleness. The workhouses were meant to be difficult to live in, under the theory that only those who truly needed help would be willing to stay there.
As need continued to increase, private charity, such as through Scientific Charity, worked to organize charity for the poor efficiently and rationally as was for corporations in this era of big business. During the Gilded Age, public corruption de-legitimatized public relief efforts for the poor. Many of these organizations emphasized the need for the poor to be supervised and led to what was deemed to be the proper actions to become self-sufficient.
Endnotes
- From Poor Laws to Welfare State, Fifth Edition. Walter I. Trattner. Chapter 4.
- From Poor Laws to Welfare State, Fifth Edition. Walter I. Trattner. Chapter 5.