Elizabethan Poor Law Analysis

For centuries, poverty has been a major and recurring issue that has plagued our society and the society of many other countries. Britain underwent considerable change in terms of how society was being cared for and thus the poor became a vital focus point. Because of the drastically increasing numbers of poverty stricken individuals the Elizabethan Poor law of 1601 was created and enacted. In this paper we will be examining three major aspects of this law. First, what social problems caused a need for this legislation? Second, who was it designed to help, and what was the goals that it intended to accomplish? And third, how were things changed in society and for human services after it was placed in legislation? Let us now address the first …show more content…
This meant that the lord of the land was solely responsible for insuring the well-being of all tenants of their land, including the mentally ill and the poverty stricken ("Elizabethan Poor Laws," n.d.). However this pyramid system began to crumble thus leading to a drastic increase in the poverty levels. The industrial revolution lead to a world that was more focused on money and thus left very little room for bartering (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 33). Because many had very few skills and with the bartering they were so used to now becoming a thing of the past many individuals found themselves with little to no money and no skills. This pressure from the increase in the poor lead to the “" need for a large-scale attack on poverty and prompted the passage of the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601" (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 33). The main question now became who would the law help and what would be its major …show more content…
Though it was a much simpler system it was the start to what would later become the human services we see in today’s society. For many years after the enactment, the Elizabethan poor law was used as a model when dealing with needs of individuals. For examples the colonists used the basic principles of the poor law in order to deal with "the number of indigents, idlers, criminals, orphans, and others who needed assistance (Woodside & McClam, 2015, p. 35)". Looking closely at today’s human services, you can still see the basic principles of the Elizabethan Poor Law.
In conclusion, though there will always be poverty with in our society the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 gave us a basic model that we can go by when assisting those in need. Not only did this law help Britain to overcome the devastation of an increasing number of poor. But it also gave us what we know today as Human Services and charted the manner in which the needy would be cared for. Throughout the centuries this law has been a guiding light that has been altered and expanded but that has always been at the core of our culture and of our human service