6477. PAUPERS, No American.—
We
have no paupers, the old and crippled among
us, who possess nothing and have no families
to take care of them, being too few to merit
notice as a separate section of society, or to
affect a general estimate. The great mass of
our population is of laborers; our rich who
can live without labor, either manual or professional,
being few and of moderate wealth.
Most of the laboring class possess property,
cultivate their own lands, have families, and
from the demand for their labor are enabled
to exact from the rich and the competent such
prices as enable them to be fed abundantly,
clothed above mere decency, to labor moderately
and raise their families.—
To Thomas Cooper. Washington ed. vi, 377.
(M.
1814)
