[Publius]

There were no laws against abortion because nobody would have thought of having one! It wasn't just religion. Without children, who would take care of you when you got old, work your farm, or support the family in the factories (if you were one of the unlucky ones that worked in a factory during the nasty early years of industrialization)?

In those days, children were an asset. It was only when the Progressives invented compulsory education in the years after the Civil War and enacted child labor laws, that children became a financial liability. Then the New Deal invented the government's social safety net. After World War II government policy pushed for the nuclear family as opposed to the extended family as a way of supporting real estate.

Sound strange? Do some research into economics and the effects on social policy. It will curl your hair.

[OIFVeteran]

That you. Makes sense. Any books you would suggest to get me started on the economics/social policy history?

[Publius]

OK.

I cleaned out a lot of stuff from my iibrary in my last move, but I would suggest a magnificent book on the Constitutional Convention of 1787: Decision in Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787, by Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier. The second chapter, titled "America in 1787" gives you a good taste of what life was like when the only social safety net was your children.