ABSTRACT
Americans in the antebellum era were as concerned and apprehensive about the presence of poverty as they were about the rates of crime and insanity, and gave unprecedented attention to the issue of poor relief. Reformers also expected to be able to control and even to eliminate poverty in the new republic. The attempt to ferret out the causes of poverty and formulate a plan to combat it marked a clear departure from earlier practices. But astonishing or not, the observers realized that poverty had established itself in the new republic, compelling them to confront the strange paradox. The very attitudes which prompted the new investigations of poverty and its relief also promised that a dismal and fearful tone would characterize much of the results. One standard explanation for the origins of poverty blamed the poor themselves for their predicament.
