Poverty is defined by dictionary.com as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor. In some countries this may mean having no means at all such as no food or shelter or even clothes, some may die from hunger and being malnourished. In America poverty is living paycheck to paycheck struggling to survive some making choices on whether to eat or pay rent for a place to live some Americans even end up homeless living out of their cars or even on the sides of the streets. It seems to be the struggle of poverty has been an ongoing issue going back to as early as the 1700’s. After the Great Depression, it was clear that the devastating effects of poverty and joblessness meant that conditions needed to be re-evaluated and a system needed to be developed that would later eliminate the problem. …show more content…
The legitimacy of this new welfare government would provide much debate and controversy in political, social, and economic realms from that point forward. As years went on people throughout the world believed that the United States of America was a land of opportunity for all, and that poverty could only result from laziness or depravity. The influential people of our society had come to believe that poverty was not the fault of the individual but of the system. In particular, it was believed that racism was to blame for poverty among African Americans, as they made up a disproportional part of the