Part One: The War On Vagrants
Behind the Bastards
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The Work of Charity Reformers
The tramp acts as they were often called were passed in Phil or Pennsylvania in 1871. In Illinois, begging was punishable with six months in the workhouse. By 1866, New York City charity officials had concluded that the only way to prevent sloth was compulsory labor. The organizing impulse behind all of these laws is the work of charity reformers.
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