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was seen as a permanent part of society. The poor—at least those who were white—had a right to be helped, and society had a duty to help them. The early American poor laws did not generally apply to blacks, most of whom were slaves, nor to Native Americans. These local poor laws also applied only to people who could prove they had lived in the area for a certain length of time, such as three months. Towns and cities often made laws to prevent or discourage needy people from moving to their area, such as denying them official permission to settle if they appeared to need aid. Towns also appealed to the colonies and states for aid for the transient poor (Trattner 1994, 20–23). The poor were helped by ‘‘auctioning’’ them to the lowest bidder (the town gov- ernment then paid that family to house the poor person, who was expected to work for the family) by apprenticing poor children and orphans by providing them with food, fuel, and other necessities in their own home, if they had one and, in the larger towns, by placing the needy in poorhouses or asylums (Katz 1996, 4). The number of poor people grew rapidly in early America. By 1691, the city of Boston had four full-time people just to deal with poor relief. By the late 1700s, on the eve of the American Revolution, cities were spending between 10 percent and 35 percent of their municipal funds on poverty relief (Trattner 1994, 32–33). Alms House on Spruce Street in Philadelphia, ca. 1800. Regarded as a model institution, this public poorhouse included separate facilities for the indigent and the insane it also housed an infirmary. (Pixel That) 4 | Poverty and Local Governments