Primarily the 1600s

Initially small communities characterized by kindness and mutual aid

By mid-1600s indigents started to appear Poor law provisions adopted in Plymouth,

Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts Smallest unit of local government handled

poor relief

Boarding out the poor at public expense

Tax relief Free medical attention

Towns didn’t want burden of indigent strangers

Residency requirements instituted that were declared illegal in 1969

Plymouth defined a resident as someone who stayed for 3 months without being expelled

Ships’ masters posted bond for those they brought or return them to home port

Problems with “unsettled poor” in cities and frontier areas due to wars

State treasury sent funds to communities to help nonresidents

Mather – let the idle starve Virginia compulsory labor for the idle Massachusetts had unemployed turned

into indentured servants, whipped and expelled or put in jail

Native people slaughtered if they refused to become “civilized” and Christianized

Negative views of Africans as inferior, uncivilized people

Slaves the responsibility of masters Free blacks denied aid and developed

own self-help mechanisms

Apprenticed in cases of orphans or poor parenting

Attached everyone to a family Provided labor when in short supply,

while training young

Strangers warned away Another category of needy in

community Boarded at homes initially Confined to quarters if perceived

dangerous Beginning of ideas that special care

might be required

Generous and compassionate care for “truly needy” who were attached to a community

Harsh treatment for the voluntarily idle, strangers, and people of color

Some recognition of collective help needed for destitute who had no community