The Basic Principles Of The Elizabethan Poor Laws Of 1601

Social welfare policy that is seen throughout America today has roots that are hundreds of years old. The modern policy in America has been based on five fundamental traditions that were brought from Britain when they colonized North America. Those five traditions are Calvinism, Localism, controlling the mobility of the workforce, reliance on poor houses and work houses, and less eligibility. These traditions will be defined and then connected to the influence they have had on the modern American social policy.

In 1996, the United States came up with the welfare to work law, which is now known as the Welfare to Work program (Hill). The purpose of this program was to encourage Americans on welfare to go back to work and not just stay at home and do nothing (Hill). The main goal was to reduce welfare by increasing the income of people on welfare (Greenberg). The program required people to get in an education program, get some type of training, or try to find a job (Greenberg). These requirements were intended to eventually get welfare recipients to get a job and not depend on welfare (Greenberg). Like

This is considered unworthy poor in modern times. The general public is influenced against the poor and says they are poor because they are lazy or helpless (Martin, 2014, p.35). It seems like view on this matter haven’t changed in the last 100 years (Martin, 2014, p. 36). The Christian Right and The Tea Party movement did impact views of the development of the welfare reform because they added punishing measures that are made for guiding the actions of someone receiving benefits. The worthy poor are still considered disabled or older people Martin, 2014 p.

To some, being poor is embarrassing and shameful, but to a select group of people; being poor is something they’re grateful to be. They embrace it and use it to their advantage to achieve better lives

The concepts of “worthy” and “unworthy” poor came about during the English Poor Laws that were introduced in the 1500’s. The English poor laws classified poor or dependent people into three major categories and established many requirement before aid was provided. Dependent persons were categorized as: vagrant (nomadic; with no permanent home or employment), the involuntary unemployed and the helpless. In effect, the poor laws separated the poor into two classes which were the worthy and the unworthy. The worthy were classified as orphans, widows, handicapped, or the frail elderly. The unworthy were the drunkards, suspicious, or lazy. (Hansan, J.E. (2011). Poor relief in early America)

The Poor Law act 1601 was introduced and classified the poor into three groups, setting policies for each, the impotent poor, able bodied poor and persistent idler. It viewed poverty as the fault of the person, not their situation. Following industrialisation and a decrease in agricultural jobs, workers moved to factories working for low pay and in appalling conditions, but those needing employment outweighed the availability of such.

The topic of this paper is to shed light on the issue of welfare. The original purpose and intent for social welfare was to temporarily ease the plight of the poor at no cost to the middle and upper class. Overtime, it has become a burden America’s taxpayers have had to unrightfully carry. Welfare has been reformed in the past, but many still believe it is a failing program. Citizens and non citizens are both taking advantage of the program that was intended to help. Even after multiple reformations, this program continues to fall back into the same issues repeatedly. Taking care of the poor was not intended to be the role of the government. Biblically, that job has been delegated to the church. Social welfare is giving the government more

The concept of “worthy poor and unworthy poor” subsists within contemporary Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs today. According to the conditions of the English Poor Laws, certain individuals (e.g., widows, children, ill, disabled, etc.) are considered dependent and thus in need of help, whereas others (e.g., lazy, able-bodied adults, etc.) considered voluntarily poor (Stern & Axinn, 2012). Today, each state has their own eligibility requirements for TANF assistance, however most funds are dispersed according to qualifiable needs. For

Throughout early times during the 1800’s welfare was practiced and continued when attempts were made to reform how the government dealt with the poor since those individuals lives in such harsh conditions. Some of the changes that were made involved caseworkers visiting the poor and training them with morals and work ethic during the 1880s and 1890s therefore advocating for people to work rather than to continue needing

Since 1935, when Welfare was set in place and made known, Americans have been profoundly impacted in many ways. Not just the recipient 's economic state but also the society around them as a whole has been greatly affected as well. The Welfare system is constructed on the fundamentals of distribution and equality along with opportunities for individuals who cannot afford the minimum level of well-being in today 's economic society. There has been much controversy surrounding Welfare based on the beliefs of some that it is an outdated and obsolete system. “During the Great Depression of the 1930s, local and state governments, as well as private charities, were overwhelmed by needy families seeking food, clothing, and shelter” (“How Welfare

People are deemed poor if their incomes are insufficient to obtain the basic necessitates for themselves or their families. The most common and stereotypic explanation of poverty is the poor cause their own poverty because in America anything is possible if you want it. This “blame the poor” point of view is does

During the Elizabethan England era there was an outburst of poverty. Others may say that the poverty was not an issue, but they are mistaken.The poverty created a big issue for the poor because they looked down upon them and didn’t try to help then so more and more people were becoming broke. “Poverty became a widespread problem during the Elizabethan era, so much so that Parliament was forced to enact laws aimed at dealing with the country’s poor on a number of occasions. Initially, these laws took a harsh view of the poor and even went so far as to criminalize begging and institute severe punishments for those who were caught in the act.”(Elizabethan Class System.) This shows that so many people were in debut or below the poverty line that they needed to enforce a law. It was such a bad life that people who need to get money by begging the act in force it as a crime.

At this time there was a growing population of ill, disabled, elderly, orphans, and widows with young children (Stern & Axinn, 2012, p.18). The economic need had risen after the wars and diseases such as small pox, measles, and yellow fever (Stern & Axinn, 2012, p.18). As the growing poor population began to steal resources to survive, the poor laws were put in place to stop these people from taking from others but also to establish a system of help. Although help was being implemented the old views of destitute began to change during the colonial period, these individuals were no longer being viewed as being born into unfortunate circumstances. Society was shifting their view from a mutual obligation society to a society that valued individual responsibility and individual salvation (Stern & Axinn, 2012, p.19). When the poor laws were adopted in American colonies it was specifically looking to ensure that colonist who were in need due to unfortunate events that occurred, would be able to receive cash relief. The poor laws were specifically trying to establish control over these individuals but also wanted to continue to follow old traditions of helping the poor (Stern & Axinn, 2012,

One of the main motivating factors behind this desire towards a welfare state was the universal hatred of the so called "Poor laws." These were a series of laws governing aid (feeding, education, and health) to the poorest of society. The first passed in 1598 and not until 1948 did the last one of them get eliminated. The basic idea behind these laws

The Poor Law was introduced because it was too much money to pay to look after the poor, so in hopes to take the poor off the streets and to stop money going to the poor the government introduced the law in 1834. The law was also put in place to embolden the poor to get back into work and support themselves, There was a law before 1834 called the "Old Poor Law" this was found to be insufficient because there was nothing in place to help the poor because even though they set up workhouses for the poor they didn't offer accommodation for the poor. There was an act passed in 1795 called "The Speenhamland System" which allowed employers to pay their workers exceptionally low wages during these years the middle and the upper classes were getting more angry because they were the ones paying for the poor who would avoid not going to or do any work.