The situation, which had been growing worse for two centuries, culminated at the time of the Reformation when the religious houses, which had previously provided alms, were confiscated as a result of the reformation activities. The groundwork of the old system of religious charity was thus swept away, and the relation which had for so long existed between prayer and penance and almsgiving and charity was altered. The nation was thus forced to deal with the problem of poor-relief, and with the care of the children of the poor. In the place of the old system the people were forced, by circumstances, to develop a new conception of the State as a community of peoples bound together by community interest, good feeling, charity, and service.
As this new conception dawned on the English people, a series of laws were enacted which attempted to provide for the situation which had been created. These were progressive in character, and ranged over much of the sixteenth century. First the poor were restricted from begging, outside of certain specified limits. Next church collections and parish support for the poor were ordered (1553), and the people were to be urged to give. Then workhouses for the poor and their children, and materials with which to work, were ordered provided, and those persons of means who would not give freely were to be cited before the bishop first (R. 173), and the justices later, and if necessary forcibly assessed (1563). The next step was to permit the local authorities to raise needed funds by strictly local taxation (1572). In 1601 the last step was taken, when the compulsory taxation of all persons of property was ordered to provide the necessary poor-relief, and the excessive burdens of one parish were to be shared by neighboring parishes. Thus, after a long period of slowly evolving legislation (R. 173), the English Poor-Law of 1601 (R. 174) finally gave expression to the following principles:
1. The compulsory care of the poor, as an obligation of the State.
2. The compulsory apprenticeship of the children of the poor, male and female, to learn a useful trade.
3. The obligation of the master to train his apprentices in a trade.
4. The obligation of the overseers of the poor to supply, where
necessary, the opportunity and the materials for such training of
the children of the poor.
5. The compulsory taxation of all persons of property to provide the
necessary funds for such a purpose, and without reference to any
benefits derived from the taxation.
6. The excessive burdens of any one parish to be pooled throughout the hundred or county.
In this compulsory apprenticeship of the children of the poor, with the obligation imposed that such children must be trained in a trade and in proper living, with general taxation of those of property to provide workhouses and materials for such a purpose, we have the germ, among English-speaking peoples, of the idea of the general taxation of all persons by the State to provide schools for the children of the State. The apprenticing of the children of the poor to labor and the requirement that they be taught the elements of religion soon became a fixed English practice (R. 217), and in the seventeenth century this idea was carried to the American colonies and firmly established there. It was on the foundations of the English Poor-Law of 1601, above stated, that the first Massachusetts law relating to the schooling of all children (1642) was framed (R. 190), but with the significant Calvinistic addition that:
7. "In euery towne ye chosen men" shall see that parents and masters not only train their children in learning and labor, but also "to read & understand the principles of religion & the capitall lawes of this country," with power to impose fines on such as refuse to render accounts concerning their children.