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1750 BCE
Judeo-Christian Doctrine and Social Welfare
"Social welfare functions are found in early history, and Walter Trattner notes that Hammurabi, the Babylonian ruler who died in 1750 BC, made the protection of women and children part of his famous code. The Greeks and Romans also devel-oped welfare-related policies that included daily allowances for the handicapped." Jesus and his followers were the original helpers of the poor. -
1349
English Poor laws
service, crafts, or guilds often met the needs of the needy. Monasteries also helped meet the needs of the sick. The abled-bodied couldn't beg and it made the state and church find work for them. -
The poor in Colonial America
"In small towns unable to support an alms-house, it was not uncommon for the town council to auction the poor off to neighboring farmers, apprentice out children, place the poor in private homes at public expense, or send them to privately operated almshouses. Settlers believed that children should be part of a family unit and the practice of indentured child servitude was widespread." -
social welfare in the civil war
"The majority of mentally ill people in the 1840s were placed in public mental institutions, jails, or almshouses. Their treatment was often brutal and consisted of beatings, being chained, or being forced into cages or pens." -
religion and social welfare
"Social welfare and religion were inextricably linked in nineteenth-century America. Almost all forms of relief emanated from church groups, and all major denominations had some mechanism for providing social welfare services. As early as 1880, there were 500 private, church-related social welfare organizations in New York City alone" -
Industrialization and the voluntary sector
"immigrants struggled to attain jobs, housing, and other resources. The political machines that emerged converted city governments into fiefdoms of patronage."