English Poor Law 1601

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English Poor Law of 1601 The English Poor Law of 1601, also referred to as the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 were created to address the economic depression of England. These laws, which stood “with but minor revisions for almost 250 years, embodied the conflicting strains between the desire to reinforce the feudal structure and the increasing assumption by civil government of responsibility for the downtrodden” (Trattner, 1999, p. 11). The Poor Law established polices focused on employment training or apprenticeship programs, returning to work and providing financial relief to those until employment could be gained. Today the US has the Works First initiative program which provides a variety of services to those seeking employment or experiencing