NOT SO "Taz":
In the American colonies, the gap between the rich and poor was smaller than in England, and America’s poverty was not as harsh as England’s. General Washington initially discouraged servants and slaves from joining the army, but as the war stretched on, he recruited servants and slaves into the army, promising them their freedom in return for their service.
While the most famous of these disturbances were Shay’s Rebellion (1786-1787) and the Whiskey Rebellion (1794), armed conflict by small landholders, rebelling against elitist fiscal policies and unfair taxes, grew to be a common feature in the years immediately following the Revolution.
Poverty was a constant threat to a preponderance of colonial residents. Poor harvests, Indian wars, sickness and other difficulties were all too familiar trials that could plunge colonial residents into indigence. Consequently, the American attitudes concerning poverty were more benign than in England. Most early settlements had adopted the major elements of the English outdoor relief programs. The primary concern of these early efforts was directed to the plight of widows and orphans who were boarded out to neighbors, or in the case of older boys, put into apprenticeships. Relatives were given primary responsibility for their poor relations. Local relief programs were administered by town officials and paid for by local taxes.
Early American poor laws had some qualities that were unique. There was a strong inclination to keep the church and state separate. Local administration of indigent programs fell to the town or city rather than the parish. Self-help organizations and charities played a larger role in early America than in Europe. The private charities offered employment assistance, burial funds, and direct relief for widows and orphans. The first and most famous of these was the Scot’s Charitable Association, but similar ethnically based relief programs were common resources in the emerging cities. Local reliance on private charity to assist in the caring for the poor was a hallmark of early American relief policy.