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Welfare is a rather vague term. I would say that the federal government got into welfare in a big way when Franklin Roosevelt was president. As you probably know, welfare is not one of powers explicitly given to the federal government by the US Constitution and every power not explicitly given is left to the states. It took the Supreme Court quite some time to find ways around this legal problem. States counties and cities had poor farms and orphans' homes and food kitchens for a long time before the feds got into the act.

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14y ago

What else can I help you with?