The sympathetic state : disaster relief and the origins of the American welfare state
Michele Landis Dauber (Author)
Even as unemployment rates soared during the Great Depression, FDR's relief and social security programs faced attacks in Congress and the courts on the legitimacy of federal aid to the growing population of poor. In response, New Dealers pointed to a long tradition - dating back to 1790 and now largely forgotten - of federal aid to victims of disaster. In The Sympathetic State, Michele Landis Dauber recovers this crucial aspect of American history, tracing the roots of the modern American welfare state beyond the New Deal and the Progressive Era back to the earliest days of the republic when relief was forthcoming for the victims of wars, fires, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes
History
xvi, 353 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780226923482, 9780226923499, 0226923487, 0226923495
783150328
Disaster relief and the welfare state
Building the sympathetic state
Innovations
The spreading delta
Crafting the Depression
The bomb-proof power
The well-beaten path
We lost our all
Living in a sympathetic state