Why do we often use the term “do-gooder” in a
pejorative sense? What is wrong with “doing good”? One example of an
organization which was founded by “do-gooders,” and which has a special
relationship to Irish immigrants in nineteenth century New York City is
the Children’s Aid Society. At the end of the day, was the work of the
Children’s Aid Society “good work” or was it an instrument of an
ideology alien to the Irish immigrant? The
United States’ 1860 census indicated the 1,500,000 immigrants claimed
to be born in Ireland, many of these mainly urban dwelling immigrants
living in poverty. In that time, some of the reformers who hoped to
improve the lot of the residents in a violent and dirty New York City
believed that poverty was a result of moral failing, a Calvinist tenet
believed by people other than Calvinists.
