Poorhouses

Earlier Forms of Poor Relief

The poor relief practices that preceded the widespread use of county poorhouses relied on a patchwork of alternatives. Foremost among these practices was the provision of “outdoor” relief to people who could remain in their own homes or continue to live with friends or relatives in the community. Application for such relief was made to a local elected official, usually called a Poor Master, who could provide such things as food, clothing, firewood, or a “chit” (voucher) for medical care.

People who were unable to support themselves were often cared for by someone who signed a contract to “keep paupers” in their own home or in a building that might have been bought or rented by the community for that purpose. Such annual contracts were bid for and usually awarded to those who agreed to charge the least for the service.

A less regulated arrangement, which allowed more opportunity for abusive treatment, involved auctioning off paupers at public auctions. A single pauper or a pauper family was to be cared for in the auction winner's household for a year at a fixed rate of reimbursement. The lowest bidder thus assumed the financial obligation of feeding, clothing, and housing such people; but in return the caretaker was able to keep any profits from the labor of their charges.

Contracts generally involved somewhat more regulation and monitoring of the conditions under which dependent indigents lived than the auction system did. However, either contracts or auctions could result in an unscrupulous caretaker withholding adequate care for the purpose of keeping expenses down while requiring the maximum amount of work by any inmate who was considered even minimally able-bodied. Both of these arrangements resembled indentured servitude, an even earlier method of providing maintenance for people who could not support themselves.

From colonial times through the beginning of the nineteenth century, these early methods of poor relief had been considered quite adequate. But with [Page 452]the dramatic increase in the number of people enrolling on the poor relief rolls during the first two decades of the 1800s, many began to argue that reliance on outdoor relief encouraged idleness and dependency. There was a growing belief that, while those who were legitimately unable to work (because of illness, handicaps, or age) were worthy of assistance, the relief rolls were being inflated by the growing ranks of the “unworthy” poor.

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