What motivated eighteenth century European governments to consider the plight of the poor?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Although there was a traditional consideration of the deserving and undeserving poor that factored into public perception (for example, the deserving poor, who were infirm, elderly, or disabled, were entitled to support; the undeserving poor were lazy and prone to criminal activity), the government had previously taken the position that the welfare of the people was a matter for private consideration. The church was the traditional provider of support for the deserving poor. The undeserving poor were considered a threat to public safety and a nuisance, and were rounded up (in Britain) with convicted felons and deported to colonies in America and Australia. France deported their poor to Louisiana. Over the course of the eighteenth century, however, perceptions about the problem of the poor began to change. The church argued that the state had a responsibility to the poor, as a father does to his children. By this time, as a result of Enlightenment philosophy, with its focus on individualism and human rights, it was the opinion of many that poverty relief was a right that people could expect. Further, the rationalism of the Enlightenment put aside the idea that the deserving poor were simply lazy or tainted by sin and began to examine the causes for poverty, as well as the potential means to mitigate it. The intervention of the government in the relief of poverty was primarily a western European phenomenon; in the East, it remained the problem of local villages and churches.