Appendix No. 6: Pauperism in America

The authors criticize American poverty laws for treating charity as a political institution. Alms-houses and poor-houses, the two main institutions intended to remedy poverty, do not operate on the principle that the State can only spend money on behalf of the poor which will later be repaid to it by their work. Tocqueville and Beaumont draw a distinction between poverty born from physical or material incapacity and poverty that results from moral insufficiency. The State ought to care for persons who cannot otherwise help themselves, but should beware of funding poverty that results from laziness or sloth. Finally, the authors give statistics from the State of New York to describe the execution of poor laws and its minimal effect in reducing poverty.