ABSTRACT
Tbe primary public policies dealing with the elderly prior to the 20th century in the United States were far from national in scope. Although Tbomas Paine first proposed national pensions in 1797 to help offset the destitution experienced by the eountry's indigent elderly, no national policies would actually be put into effeet until the Civil WarVeterans Pension Program in the latter part of the 19th century. In our eountry' s colonial years, local relief policies took care of the poor aged and other "unfortunates." During the 17th century all of the eolonies passed statutes tailored to meet specifie needs and providing for the minimal relief of the destitute through a "poor rate" (tax) levied on all householders (Williamson et al., 1985). Such laws established secular and legal obligations to aid the less fortunate in addition to the recognized moral and religious obligations to give alms to the poor.
