Description
It’s become a commonplace to say that colonial America was the best poor man’s country—that the opportunities for poor people to do well and perhaps to prosper were greater in 18th century America than in Western Europe. But is that claim actually true? How do the material conditions of ordinary Americans measure up against the hardships experienced by poor white folks back in the Old World? To answer these questions, we’ll look first at different ways to measure poverty and inequality in the 18th century. Then we’ll examine the causes of poverty in Philadelphia, the largest city in colonial America. We’ll wrap up by looking at some of the schemes that Americans came up with to try to alleviate poverty.
