Reforming the Elizabethan Poor Laws: A Historical Perspective on Welfare Systems

Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course: Date: Elizabethan Poor Laws. Since the Elizabethan era, it is the parishes that have been responsible for helping the poor in England, whether it is home assistance, the most common, or the management of poor people's homes, the workhouses. Although the system is not perfect, England has a reputation for helping its poor better than any other country in Europe. From 1595, the English government decided to replace the aid, formerly distributed by the lords and the monasteries, and to organize a system of public charity necessary for the good functioning of the country. The beginning of the 17th century was marked by major political and social unrest due to the wars of religion. Faced with the danger represented by bands of armed men who pillaged the countryside in order to subsist and to put part of the destitute population back to work, Elisabeth I decided to organize relief for the needy. This aid was financed by a tax, the poor rates, paid by landowners, very unfavorable to this measure, but who resigned themselves to such an expense, pledge of a certain return to security. From