QUAKERS
Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, began as a religious movement in 1652 in northern England. Religious persecution, harassment, arrest, and execution led the followers of George Fox, the pioneer of the faith, to the colonies in search of religious freedom. Seeds of the faith were first planted in the mid-Atlantic in the late seventeenth century, when the Quaker colony of West Jersey was founded. This colony was managed by William Penn (1644–1718), who in 1681 established Pennsylvania on land granted to him by King Charles II. In spite of continued persecution, the Friends moved southward to Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The popularity of the faith reached its peak during the Revolutionary era. At that time, Quakers numbered 50,000 among the total colonial population of 1,580,000.
On the question of independence, the Quakers faced trouble from both sides. The British questioned the Quakers' loyalty to the crown. The new American Patriots assumed all Friends were Tories because, as pacifists, members refused to take a stand on independence and Quaker men refused to enlist in the Continental Army. Quakers also refused to pay war taxes. Large numbers of Quakers throughout the colonies did in fact side with the Patriots. Those few Quakers who fought in the war were no longer allowed to attend meetings.
Quakerism in America did not catch on quickly or develop easily. "Missionaries" and their converts were routinely ostracized. Because of the perseverance of such Quakers as martyr Mary Dyer, hung in Boston for her beliefs in 1660, William Penn, and John Woolman, who advocated an end to slavery among fellow Quakers, the Friends made a significant impact on the development of the new nation.
ASPECTS OF QUAKERISM
Throughout the religion's history, differences in beliefs have resulted in splits within the faith. However, the basic tenet of the faith is the concept of inner light, which holds that anyone is capable of a direct experience with God through quiet seeking and diligent searching. Quakers view men and women as equals, and both sexes participate in leading services, called meetings, whenever they are moved to speak. They do not use trained clergy. Quakers do not observe traditional sacraments like communion. They sing hymns at some pastoral meetings, but otherwise services are unusually quiet, with members searching through solitary introspection to connect with God.
Quakers in early America wore stark dress and shunned material goods such as lavish furnishings, jewelry, and colorful clothing. Many members, through thrift and successful business practices, became wealthy and were known for purchasing goods of the finest quality but the plainest nature. Some members of the Society of Friends took strong stances on social issues: they opposed slavery, espoused pacifism, expressed concern over the treatment of Native Americans, and supported education and care of the impoverished.
QUAKER ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT
Before and after the Revolution, Quakers spoke out loudly against slavery. Members first denounced the idea of owning slaves, then encouraged members to emancipate their slaves and eventually ousted members who refused to do so. The politician John Dickinson (1732–1808), called the "penman of the revolution," succumbed to the pressures of his local meeting in Delaware and the desires of his Quaker wife and provided gradual emancipation of the slaves on his Delaware plantation.
Two leading Quaker antislavery advocates in the late eighteenth century were John Woolman, the author of Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes (1754), and Anthony Benezet. Their influence extended throughout the mid-Atlantic region. After the Revolution, Quakers increased their abolitionist work. Lucretia Mott (1793–1880), an early advocate for women's rights, spoke out against slavery and the consumption of goods produced by slave labor. The journalist William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879) was imprisoned for his outspoken attacks against slavery while writing for The Genius of Universal Emancipation, edited by the abolitionist Benjamin Lundy (1789–1839).
Quaker efforts resulted in organizations dedicated to abolishing slavery: the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes, Unlawfully Held in Bondage (1775); and the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage and for Improving the Condition of the African Race (1787). By 1784 Yearly Meetings of the Society of Friends had followed the lead of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to ban the ownership of slaves among their members. In 1790 Friends presented a petition to Congress calling for the abolition of the slave trade and mounted a concerted antislavery effort to pressure the federal government in Philadelphia.
This activism caused many Quakers to be forced out of their communities in the southern colonies. As southern Quakers emancipated their slaves, they faced harsh criticism from the proslavery community. Yet the antislavery urgings of such early leaders as Woolman and Benezet kept Friends focused on ending human bondage. In many instances, the decision to free their slaves left southern Quakers destitute, while others spent small fortunes to bring lawsuits against neighbors who simply bought the slaves as quickly as the Friends freed them.
The opening of the Northwest Territory appealed to many Quakers, and a large migration began toward Ohio and Indiana. Once established in these locales, some Friends became involved in the Underground Railroad, putting Quakers in the forefront as the group most friendly to slaves. A network of safe houses and routes to freedom and Canada were established in the Midwest, out of the South, and along the mid-Atlantic coast. Quakers, non-Quakers, blacks, and whites risked their safety for the antislavery cause. One of the best-known Quakers associated with the Underground Railroad is Thomas Garrett of Delaware, who helped hundreds of runaway slaves to freedom.
QUAKERS AND NATIVE AMERICANS
Whereas most Euro-Americans viewed Native Americans as savages, Quakers, according to their belief that all people are precious in the eyes of God, approached Native American relations with the same level of respect they offered to their fellow Society members. During the period of Western expansion, Quakers lived in harmony with Native Americans and established trade and business relations with them. Non-Quakers' disdain for Native Americans sometimes resulted in violent conflicts, but Quakers had no such problems on the frontier.
FACTIONALISM
As some Quakers started to place emphasis on evangelical matters and called for meetings to develop more fundamental interpretations of the Bible, rumblings of discontent spread through the Quaker community. Historically, Quakers shunned the idea of forced doctrine. A relatively uneducated but pious farmer, Elias Hicks, vehemently opposed the changes being forced upon the faith. In 1827, when a resolution could not be reached and the more powerful elders of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting blasted Hicks, the Quaker church split into two factions: the Hicksite Movement and the Orthodox. Further divisions took place during the years to follow.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bacon, Margaret Hope. The Quiet Rebels: The Story of the Quakers in America. Wallingford, Pa.: Pendle Hill, 1999.
Hamm, Thomas D. The Quakers in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
Woodman, Charles M. Quakers Find a Way: Their Discoveries in Practical Living. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1950.
Shaun-Marie Newcomer
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