Origins of Social Security - Part 2 - The Poor Laws in Colonial America

As discussed in the previous installment of this series, the English Poor Laws, specifically the Poor Law of 1601, served as the primary inspiration for early American legislation regarding social welfare. These laws were administered locally and clearly differentiated between the "impotent poor" - those physically unable to work - and other types of poor that either could not find work or simply did not want to work. As in England, these laws were administrated by officials known as "Overseers of the Poor," who both determined which of the poor were to receive benefits and administrated a special local tax for the purpose of helping the poor that were deemed worthy of such relief.

The popular impression is that poverty was not a significant problem in early America, with most of the poor becoming self-reliant pioneers and the remainder being helped by well endowed religious charities. In reality, this was not true at all. Poverty that required public relief was quite common, especially in the urban centers. The primary beneficiaries were the elderly, physically disabled, widows, orphans, and those with debilitating diseases. However, as each of the local municipalities had their own legislation and policies, sometimes public relief was extended to new immigrants, newly freed indentured servants, and even the unemployed in some instances.

Not only was publicly funded relief for the poor a common feature of the urban centers of the colonies, it was actually a growing problem. In Boston, the amounts raised and spent by the local "Overseers of the Poor" doubled between 1720 and 1750, and doubled again by the 1770s. New York City's first almshouse, which opened in 1736 and was designed to house one hundred people, was housing more than four hundred people by the 1760s. In Philadelphia, the public expenditure for the poor increased eight-fold between 1710 and 1750, prompting a major campaign spearheaded by Benjamin Franklin to have the government match the funds raised by private donations. This initiative led to the creation of the nation's first public hospital, the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Sick Poor, in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond.

In the larger urban centers, the relief for the poor clearly followed the English model, but this was not practical in many smaller communities. One option that was popular in smaller towns was to pay residents to take in the poor: a person would receive a subsidy from the local government in exchange for housing and feeding a poor person. However, another option would be to "warn out" the poor that were not legal inhabitants of the town. This essentially amounted to expelling the poor from the community. This was a particularly common practice for the able-bodied poor as well as pregnant women and unwed mothers, who were seen as moral degenerates. This situation resulted in many poor adopting almost nomadic lifestyles, drifting from one place to another indefinitely. As their numbers grew, this became a larger problem as many of these outcast poor turned to crime, such as prostitution and robbery.