“Rockman’s Welfare Reform provides my students with a scholarly overview of the issues and historical context in a manner they find informative, engaging, and accessible. It guides them in interpreting relevant and fascinating primary source materials. In addition, the questions for consideration make excellent writing and discussion prompts. I have implemented it with great success for several years, and each group of students responds well to the variety and issues he addresses.” — Lisa M. Bunkowski, Texas A&M University, Central Texas

“I enthusiastically recommend this collection for scholars and their students of all levels who want to explore the rich debate about the nature of poverty and poor relief in the early republic. Seth Rockman’s lively introductory essay offers a nuanced and balanced account of the plight of the poor and how diverse groups formulated responses to the problem of poverty. My students particularly appreciate how Rockman’s sources include the voices of working people and provide a glimpse inside of the almshouses they inhabited.” — Joshua R. Greenberg, Bridgewater State University

“Welfare Reform in the Early Republic is a superb teaching tool for undergraduates studying the operation of capitalism and the problem of poverty in American history. Rockman’s collection covers welfare reform from multiple angles: elite perceptions of poverty; private and public institutions providing poor relief; and structural explanations and cures for poverty. That Rockman is so attentive to variables of gender and race while highlighting the factor of class only adds to the utility of this impressive document collection.” — Konstantin Dierks, Indiana University

“Seth Rockman’s collection vividly traces how nineteenth-century Americans came to see poverty as a solvable problem rather than an unfortunate but enduring fact. By reading various and conflicting explanations and remedies proposed by reformers—white and black, female and male—students make connections to debates still with us today.” — Kathleen DuVal, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

“This carefully curated collection of documents lends itself marvelously to class discussion. The range of sources included (from poorhouse records to polemics by labor activists) invites students to engage with a diversity of perspectives. It is not only essential reading for anyone interested in the lives of those at the economic margins of the early American republic, but it also raises questions about class, poverty, social policy, and moral responsibility that continue to resonate today.” — Margot Minardi, Reed College

“As yet another generation of elected officials and moral reformers debate the issues of poverty, public welfare programs, and social inequality, Seth Rockman demonstrates how these very same issues bedeviled Americans in the early years of the republic. The book is expertly designed to combine primary sources (including political speeches, almshouse records, and religious tracts) with insightful historical context for any course on American social and economic history. I have had great success with this book in my own classroom, and recommend it highly.” — Jonathan Earle, University of Kansas

Part I: Introduction: Poverty "in a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey"
Poor Relief in Early America / The Growing Problem of Poverty and Its Victims / Religious Reform and Moral Benevolence / Public Responsibility for the Poor / Structural Solutions for Poverty / The Legacy of Welfare Reform / A Note about the Text

Part II: The Documents
Elite Perceptions of Poverty as a Moral and Social Crisis
1. The Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Public Economy, 1817
2. The New York Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, 1818
3. On Doing Good to the Poor, 1818 (Heman Humphrey)
4. Of Intellectually and Morally Neglected Children, c. 1828 (Joseph Tuckerman)
Private Benevolence and Moral Cures for Poverty
5. The Friendly Society of St. Thomas's African Church, 1797
6. The Providence Female Society for the Relief of Indigent Women and Children, 1801
7. The Female Humane Association Charity School, 1803
8. Preacher to the Poor in New York, 1811 (Ezra Stiles Ely)
9. The Boston Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor, 1819
10. Subjects of the New York House of Refuge, 1825–1830
11. Letter to Graduates of the House of Refuge, 1829
12. Subjects of the New York Colored Orphan Asylum, 1837–1838
Public Institutions
13. Rules for the Government of the New York Almshouse, 1801
14. Rules and Regulations of the Salem Almshouse, 1816
15. The Boston House of Industry, 1821
16. Inmates of the Baltimore Almshouse, June 1825
17. Report of the Trustees of the Baltimore Almshouse, 1827
18. Philadelphia Board of Guardians of the Poor, 1827
Structural Explanations and Cures for Poverty
19. Petition of New Jersey Working Widows to the U.S. Senate, 1816
20. The Working People of New Castle County, Delaware, 1829
21. Rights of Man to Property, 1829 (Thomas Skidmore)
22. Lecture on Existing Evils and Their Remedy, 1829 (Frances Wright)
23. Address to the Wealthy of the Land, 1831 (Mathew Carey)
24. The Manayunk Working People's Committee, 1833
25. On Wage Slavery, 1836 (Philadelphia National Laborer)

Appendixes: A Chronology of Welfare Reform (1788–1840) / Questions for Consideration / Selected Bibliography