Given the prevailing views about the purpose of government, its very limited resources, and the availability of cheap land, it is hardly surprising that nothing like a welfare state existed in America in 1787. If you needed help, you looked to churches and private charities for it. In light of that, how would the FFs view today’s federal safety net?
The FFs also didn’t live in a world of periodic financial crises, large cities, and a working class subject to occasional spasms of mass unemployment, or one with universal suffrage. This is just a guess, but I think even Hamilton, who worked himself up from nothing, would have accepted the concept of a welfare state (probably a pretty stingy one) as a guarantee of political stability in a democratic state. After all, Bismarck wasn’t exactly a fan of democracy, either.