The industrialization period after 1870 brought America into an employee-based economy. People were finally dependent on income to provide for their families. Previous to this phase, at least half of all citizens were farmers.

Before Social Security was instated, there were various informal attempts to help citizens of the United States economically. Single villages saw the need to help families and did so by constructing workhouses. This was a fairly unorganized system, but it eventually blossomed into more structured cash allowances distributed among the poor.

By the 1920's, both State and Federal Governments realized American families were in need of financial protection. They saw that this could be done using a social insurance approach to public welfare. This approach would ensure that protection was a right people had versus only being available to the poor.

The first social insurance that became available was workers' compensation. These laws ensured that the industry was responsible for costs when a worker was injured or killed while working. The first workers' compensation law went into effect in 1911. Workers' compensation laws were in effect in all but four states by 1929.

When the Great Depression came on in the 1930s, it became apparent that more help was needed. In 1932, the Federal Government made the first loans and grants to the States to pay for direct and work relief. Then, the Federal emergency relief and public works programs were started. Finally, in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed an economic security legislation using recommendations of a specially created Committee on Economic Security. Thereafter was the passage of the Social Security Act, signed on August 14, 1935.

The goal of this law was to establish two social insurance programs to help neutralize risks of old age and unemployment. The first was a Federal system of benefits for retired workers. The next was a Federal-State system of unemployment insurance.

The Act also provided grants to the States for the Old-Age Assistance and Aid to the Blind programs. These programs were for people who were ineligible for Social Security or whose benefits did not supply enough for basic living essentials.

In addition, there were other Federal grants to broaden and reinforce maternal and child health welfare services, which were eventually pooled and named the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. This was replaced in 1996 with a new program for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

There have been several changes and developments in the United States Social Security programs. The following is a list of such changes.