Sketch a brief history of welfare in the United States, including the colonial era, the early industrial era, and the twentieth century. What changed with the 1996 welfare reforms? What do you make of our nation's response to poverty?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• The early American colonists looked down on the poor as morally weak and undeserving; "welfare" was limited to acts of personal kindness between kin and neighbors.
• Industrial revolution encouraged individualism and self-reliance. The public criticized charity as a misguided policy that would end up reducing people's need to work and encourage them to become lazy. Organizations such as the Salvation Army offered food and shelter to the poor along with moral instruction.
• 1870s: scientific charity movement began studying what categories of people were poor, why people were poor, and what could be done to help them.
• 1930s: Great Depression; Roosevelt's New Deal include Works Progress Administration and Social Security
• 1960s: Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty
• 1980s-present: Reagan administration began a conservative backlash against welfare leading to the 1996 Welfare Reform Act.