The Ideas Of Poor Relief Of Thomas Chalmers

Since the industrial revolution of late 18th century, the unfair distribution of social wealth, population expansion and other factors which led the problem of poverty become an obstacle to the further development of Britain. In the first half of the 19th century, Thomas Chalmers, the outstanding evangelical of Scotland, examines the traditional British poor law, and puts forward his own poor relief thoughts on the basis of inheriting predecessors’poor thought. At the same time, he putted the poor theory into practice in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland. Inherited predecessors’thought, Chalmers’idea of poor relief is also the reflection of his times, it produced extensive and profound influence on social reform of Britain and other parts of Europe and the north American. As a solution to the problem of society, although Chalmers’theory has some controversy, it worth thought and inspired us in some way. This study start from three parts as fellows;The first chapter mainly discusses the social background of Chalmers’idea on poor relief, At the beginning of the 19th century, Although British society was in the process of the industrialization, the problem of poverty was still serious. Firstly, this thesis introduces the growth experience of Chalmers and his attention to poverty. Chalmers views the overpopulation and the defect of traditional poor law as the main cause of poverty which will lead to social unrest and moral decline. Chalmers’ theory on poor relief derives from four aspects. First, the Christian doctrine and the evangelical movement in early 19th century impacted Chalmers’idea of poor relief deeply. According to this article, the spirit of mutual aid, evangelical Christian doctrine of redemption, and the flourished of the natural theology had a profound impact on Chalmers’ poor thought. Second, the classical political economy effected Chalmers who promoted the Malthusian and introduced the ideas of laissez-faire to poor relief areas, he against government’s intervention to the poor relief. Third, the problems of the traditional British poor law enlighten Chalmers’ idea. Made advantage of the clergy status, Chalmers examined the traditional problems of poor law. Chalmers formed his own poor reliefthought form those three points.The second chapter mainly elaborated the concrete connotation of Chalmers’ poor relief thought. This part first analyze Chalmers’ proposition about the solving of the growth of new poor, Chalmers thought the resource tension which caused by overpopulation is the root causes of poverty, he advocated for improve the condition of poor population through moral education and alleviate the pressure of the society as well, Chalmers also argue that the limitation of marriage age and immigrants help to ease the population pressure. Secondly, this chapter mainly deals with the moral factors of Chalmers’ poor thought. In the process of the poverty relief, Chalmers believes that the moral discipline should priority to the material aid and the relief should give those who really in need. The third part of this chapter gives an account of Chalmers’ advocation on establishing non-governmental poor relief system. The last section of this chapter mainly introduces the theory of self-help and mutual aid among working-class. Chalmers argued for identify those who really in need of help, to most of the poor, in his view, we should teach their how to get rid of poverty through the help of relatives and neighbors and the poor themselves.The third chapter evaluate the idea of poor relief of Chalmers. Firstly, this paper introduce the practical effects of Chalmers’ idea. As a clergy of Tron church, Chalmers made his poor relief theory into practice such as against the government intervention in the area of poor relief, the control of the growth of the new poor, the moral education to the poor and cultivate the sprite of multi-help of the poor, all of those had aroused a positive effects on poor relief. Secondly, this paper analyse the effects of St’ John poor relief experiment which was instructed by Chalmers. In this experiment, Chalmers taken the similar way he has used to overcome the problem of poor in Tron church. At the same time, Chalmers emphasized the importance of the Evangelical doctrine in the process of poor relief. Lastly, this paper explain the influence of Chalmers’ idea on poor relief from the dimension of political, economical, religion and welfare thinking.