At today’s Banner Lecture at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, we heard a presentation of the book, Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood by Cynthia A. Kierner. She made an interesting point about government response to natural disasters in the United States. Until after the Civil War, most aid was offered by individuals and businesses because the general view of government was that it had limited functions like providing defense and regulating trade. It was not expected to step in and help victims of floods, fire or famine. This is a simplified summary but it explains a lot.
