Welfare | Chapter 3 Preface

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, most Americans toiled at low-wage factory or agricultural work without health insurance, pensions, or a welfare safety net to rely on during periods of unemployment. The loss of a job or the death of a husband often left families destitute. Since the government took little responsibility for the poor, private charities and limited state-run poverty programs were the only sources of support in times of need.

Confronted with widespread poverty and unemployment during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the federal government...

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