History’s Solutions

Recipients of relief “lose their energy and self-respect.” Government aid creates “a dependent feeling, a dry rot.” Many of the poor are “worse off than if they had never been helped.”

Those comments could have been made at a recent conference on welfare, but they all come from the 1870s. Although Americans were not then hooked on the state, the expansion of government during and after the Civil War was ominous. In 1873 one of every ten people in Brooklyn took weekly rations from public storehouses. Other cities were not far behind.

About the Author

Marvin Olasky

Marvin Olasky is co-author with Leah Savas of The Story of Abortion in America (Crossway, 2023).

Featured Tags

Recipients of relief “lose their energy and self-respect.” Government aid creates “a dependent feeling, a dry rot.” Many of the poor are “worse off than if they had never been helped.”

Those comments could have been made at a recent conference on welfare, but they all come from the 1870s. Although Americans were not then hooked on the state, the expansion of government during and after the Civil War was ominous. In 1873 one of every ten people in Brooklyn took weekly rations from public storehouses. Other cities were not far behind.