From John Winthrop To Charles Darwin: The Evolution Of American Charity

Christmas is a holiday celebrated around the world. Children wait all night the evening before for santa to place their gifts beneath the tree. Excitement rages from them the morning of December twenty-fifth; pretty wrapping paper and shiny bows glisten under the christmas tree lights while the bulbs upon it sparkle so elegantly. However, Christmas is not about all these aspects that it is displayed as. Christmas has more meaning than pretty gifts and how many gifts each child has under the tree. This holiday is above the amount of money one kid gets while the next gets so little. Though some see Christmas as a materialistic holiday, it has far more depth than so little meaning. The Holiday of Christmas contrasts greatly with celebrations
Charity has been a part of our culture since the early 1600’s. In early evolutions people began to make new year commitment with the start of the new year, much like today’s new year resolutions. Self-improvement was not in the mind of in mind for John Winthrop in 1630, he conducted the “Modell of Christian Charity” building from his statement, “as in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in submission”(“From John Winthrop to Charles Darwin: The Evolution of American Charity”). Assistance from charities at this time were based off of where the party came from, their birth-place. If an individual came from an outside community they current village had the power to remove that person from the community when failing to be able to support themselves. Therefore in order to receive charity funds the persons must be within their original community, to many people were moving for community to community and collecting from the different charities. Charity took a radical turn in years following the revolutionary war. People alone could only take charity so far without the help of the churches. Eventually, the church became involved immensely, ministers held congregations that were conducted solely for donations of goods and money(“From John Winthrop to Charles Darwin: The Evolution of American Charity”). Women had a huge role in charity at this time, they were the heartbeat of it. Women did not have many rights at this time in age, they could not vote or own land and even could not open bank accounts or sign contracts; charity opened these kinds of options for women at this time. Men did not appreciate the successes women were making for themselves and often pressured them, they were not naturally acceptant to women in control. The Civil War made a grand impact on charity as well, welfare and orphanages disappeared. Charity was thought to became too “successful”