Poor Law - End of The Elizabethan Era To 1750

End of The Elizabethan Era To 1750

Starting as early as 1590, authorities began to take a more selective approach in supporting the poor. Those who were labeled legitimately needy were allowed assistance and those who were idle were not. People incapable of providing for themselves such as young orphans, the elderly, and mentally and physically handicapped were seen to be legitimately needy. Those who were physically able, but were too lazy to work were labeled as "idle" and were seen by the public to be of bad moral character, therefore becoming people who were undesirable to help. Most poor relief in the 17th century came from voluntary charity which mostly was in the form of food and clothing. Parishes distributed land and animals. Institutionalized charities offered loans to help craftsmen to alms houses and hospitals.

The Elizabethan Poor Law (1601) was one of the longest-lasting achievements of her reign, left unaltered until 1834. This law made each parish responsible for supporting the legitimately needy in their community. It taxed wealthier citizens of the country to provided basic shelter, food and clothing, though they were not obligated to provide for those outside of their community.

Parishes responsible for their own community caused problems because some were more generous than others. This caused the poor to migrate to other parishes that were not their own. In order to counteract this problem, the Poor Relief Act 1662 was implemented. This created many sojourners, people who resided in different settlements that were not their legal one. The settlement act allowed such people to be forcefully removed, and garnered a negative reaction from the population. Laissez-faire economist said it was "barrier to labour mobility" and "a barrier to migration decisions". In order to fix the flaws of the 1662 act, the act of 1691 came into effect which gave ways that people could gain settlement in new locations. Such methods included "owning or renting property above a certain value or paying parish rates, but also by completing a legal apprenticeship or a one-year service while unmarried, or by serving a public office for a year".

From around 1500 to 1700, the population of England nearly doubled. Capitalism in agriculture and manufacture started to emerge as well as the increase in overseas trade. Even though expansion was flourishing, it was not enough to provide employment in the late 1600. The population increased at alarming rates than the productivity and Inflation of goods whereas wages declined. Wages were nearly half of what they were a decade previously.

"The boom-and-bust nature of European trade in woolen cloth, England's major manufacture and export" caused a larger fraction of the population of England to fall under poverty. With this increase in poverty, all charities operated by the Catholic Church were abolished due to the impact of protestant reformation