The Parish and the Poor Rate
In 1601 an English parliament made poor relief a compulsory tax, founding the pattern of the payor of last resort. The same parliaments wrote the other half: laws punishing the wandering poor and removing anyone likely to become chargeable. The episode follows both halves through the 1834 workhouse reforms, American towns and almshouses, federal hospital money, and court rulings that ended removal, to the 1986 duty with no settlement test.
Who's who
- Charles James BlomfieldBishop of London who chaired the 1832 Poor Law Royal Commission
- Nassau William SeniorEconomist and commission member on the poor law inquiry
- Edwin ChadwickSecretary of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws
- Franklin Pierce+2 more episodesPresident who vetoed the 1854 land grant for the indigent insane
- Dorothea DixReformer who campaigned for the indigent insane land grant
- Simon SobeloffChief judge who wrote the 1963 Simkins opinion
- George Simkins Jr.Greensboro dentist who brought the Simkins hospital segregation suit
- Thurgood Marshall+4 more episodesJustice who wrote the Maricopa County opinion in 1974
Where it happens
- England+5 more episodesBirthplace of the compulsory poor rate and settlement law
- Somerset House, LondonSeat of the central Poor Law Commission after 1834
- Wilmington, Delaware+2 more episodesSetting of the 1961 Manlove hospital decision
- Greensboro, North CarolinaSite of the Simkins challenge to segregated hospitals
Timeline
- 1601The Poor Relief Act makes relief of the poor a compulsory local tax.
- 1662The Settlement Act allows removal of anyone likely to be chargeable.
- August 14, 1834The Poor Law Amendment Act creates unions, elected guardians, and a central commission.
- May 3, 1854President Pierce vetoes the land grant for the indigent insane.
- November 1, 1963Simkins strikes the separate-but-equal clause of federal hospital construction funding.
- July 30, 1965Medicare and Medicaid are signed into law.
Still debated
The 1834 commission's finding that the old poor law was failing has been attacked for thin evidence, though the Act followed regardless. The 43 percent fall in real relief per head should not imply reduced dependency, since the number relieved rose, and whether Hill-Burton's free-care duty ever bound is disputed.
Connected episodes in other series
