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Just what is a Welfare State?

As defined by Encyclopaedia Brittanica, the Welfare State is:

"[a] concept of government in which the state or a well-established network of social institutions plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social wellbeing of citizens."

Food stamps, SSI, Medicare - all of those programs are a part of the American Welfare State. But such government aid wasn't always available throughout the history of the United States.

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Before the Welfare State, most aid was produced by individuals, mostly acting within community organizations....

....until the Great Depression

Private charities faced great difficulty in their fight against the Depression, which led President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (or FDR) to institute several programs designed to help Americans in need.

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Click on each of the text boxes to be directed to a page with more information about each program.

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Further Development

But these programs were not without issues...

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