Era of American Revolution (1700s)Trattner chapter 3

Need for assistance

Widespread poverty

May have contributed to wish to break from British

Changes in religious expression, along with increasing need among the people, led to discord

Who needed help?

Disabled veterans, their widows and orphans

Survivors of those lost at sea

Seasonally unemployed

Children born out of wedlock

Needy immigrants

Refugees (Acadians)

Victims of economic downturns

Fire victims

Survivors of diseases and epidemics (dysentery, measles, smallpox, typhoid, malaria, scarlet fever)

Substantial public response

Boston spent 500 pounds in 1700 and 4000 by 1725 on poor relief

Estimated 25% of NYC population poor or near poor

Growing private response

“Doing good” became important for wealthy

Noblesse oblige characteristic of southern landholders (Washington)

Churches helped disease and disaster victims (Established state religion, headed by the Crown of England)

Quakers important –may have used humanitarianism to counter opposition from established state church and majority religious oppression

Voluntary help groups: nationality, fraternal, social (e.g., Scots, Irish, Germans, French)

Complementary roles of public and private aid characteristic of this period

Social Phenomena Contributing to Social Welfare

InterestGreat Awakening

Enlightenment

American Revolution

Great Awakening

Evangelical movement beginning in late 1720s

Focused on “born again” experience

Open air revivals, itinerant preachers, weakened authority of established church

Characteristic of Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists

Great Awakening

Stressed possibility of salvation for all (not just the elect)

People became concerned with the salvation of others

Encouraged humane attitudes and “doing good” among all social classes

George Whitefield

English preacher who made 7 visits to US

Greatest impact during 1739-41

30,000 heard him speak in Boston

Extraordinary fund raiser (Franklin)

Assisted slaves by encouraging their learning to read to save their souls

Enlightenment

Grew out of writings of Newton and Locke

Belief that progress always possible

Every human can use reason, has the potential to be good and can improve society

Poverty and other injustices can be eliminated– social reform a consequence

Religious freedom

Enlightenment & Great Awakening movements fueled the Revolution as much as political issues

Freedom of conscience in all matters

Established churches in many colonies placed severe restrictions on members of other faiths, including not only worship but also aid to the needy

Struggles across the colonies to disestablish the state church and allow others to flourish met great opposition

Roger Williams and Rhode Island

Isaac BackusBaptist clergyman and church historian

Mayflower descendent, born in CT

Served as a parish clergy in MA

Faced severe discrimination from the established (non-Baptist) church of the state

Lobbied strongly and repeatedly for freedom of religion, as a protection from the state

“Nothing is more evident, in reason and the Holy Scriptures, than that religion is ever a matter between God and individuals, and, therefore, no man or men can impose any religious test without invading the essential prerogatives of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

American Revolution

Declaration of Independence implies improving the lot of the common person

New nation can overcome faults of European society

Democracy inconsistent with illiteracy and poverty

Separation of church and state, banning of slavery in north, attacks on debtors’ prisons

Problems and Issues in the New Nation

Displacement of people led to state responsibility (New York) for “state poor”

In hard times localities can’t handle responsibilities to poor

Poor laws implemented in new territories

• With separation of church and state county (not town) took over welfare in south

• Welfare not handled on a national basis (states’ rights and limited central government)

• Frontier emphasized individual responsibility, personal achievement, and self help

• As wealth grew, charity and philanthropy increasingly associated with social recognition and status