NOTES ON QUAKERS
Quakers in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century
By Geoffrey Martin
The Quakers, more formally known as the Society of Friends, was one of an ever growing group of religious dissidents that had broken away from the Anglican Church during the waning years of the European Reformations. Established in 1647 by George Fox, the Society of Friends eschewed the rigid hierarchy of the state-controlled Anglican Church and proclaimed that individuals, or laymen, could understand God via an "inner light." The Quakers also professed a staunch pacifism, avoided paying taxes to Puritans, and refused to swear oaths of allegiance to any secular authority.1
Not surprisingly, these radical beliefs brought persecution upon the sect by secular and religious authorities in England, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Netherland, and North Carolina. Throughout the seventeenth century, Massachusetts accused eight Quakers of witchcraft and in 1692 Quaker insubordination became a capital crime, of which four were hanged. Colonial legislatures, such as one ruled by Robert Daniel in 1704, excluded Quakers from office holding.2
Fortunately for the embattled sect, Charles II granted a large tract of land to William Penn, Jr., the son of a prominent naval commander who had lent his support to the king after the restoration of the English throne in 1660. William Penn, Jr., converted to Quakerism in 1667, spent time in prison for his beliefs, and was later acquitted through a jury trial. In return for a £16,000 debt owed to his father, Charles II awarded Penn a proprietorship for the land located between New York and Maryland. Penn responded by creating one of the most egalitarian British colonies, inviting a diverse multitude of cultures and religious beliefs. Penn even strove to ensure that the Native American peoples were compensated for the loss of land due to European settlement.3
With a new haven of religious freedom, Quakers poured into Pennsylvania to settle in the new counties of Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester. By the early eighteenth century, the rise of prosperity mellowed the once stirring religious practices and the Quakers entered a period of so-called "Quietism." The Quakers established their own religious hierarchy that entailed the practices of the various local meeting houses be subservient to the monthly and yearly meetings. Although still devout in their beliefs against taking oaths and participating in warfare, Quakers entered Pennsylvania more so to participate in its thriving economy. Prosperous Quaker parents provided land and money for the future welfare of their offspring and often allowed children to choose their own marriage partners. Most Quakers, despite the admonishing of a small minority, condoned the amassing of material wealth and the ownership of black slaves. Politically, the Quakers established a strong "party" in the colony. Even the most renowned philosophe in France, Voltaire, believed that the unpretentious Quakers nearly equated the concept of an ideal enlightened society.5
However, the political power of the Quakers began to wane towards the latter half of the eighteenth century. Their pacifist beliefs were believed to have weakened the colony during the various colonial wars and by 1756, during the French and Indian War, emasculated and fractured the faction of Quaker legislators. During the Revolutionary war, certain Quakers who would not sign 'writs of assistance' (ie. allegiance) to the revolutionary cause faced punishments such as confiscation of property and exile. Such was the fate of the prominent Philadelphian Thomas Gilpin, who was exiled to Virginia.6
Nevertheless, by the end of the eighteenth century the Quakers survived and expanded to become notable advocates of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. Previously, Quakers who protested the keeping of black slaves had done so not for humanitarian reasons; rather, they believed the African race would corrupt the spiritual purity of the sect. However, as the century came to a close, more Quakers began to consider the suffering of those held in perpetual bondage. Between 1774 and 1787 the Society had built several schools for African American children. 1787 also marked the first year of active support in the 'Underground Railroad'. The Quakers also utilized the Haitian revolution of 1794 to lobby against the importation of slaves to the southern plantations.7
Throughout the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Quakers, during the era of 'quietism', retained their convictions in an ever-growing material and war-like age. On the whole, their honest and scrupulous belief in a community based upon peace and fair trade might seem naive in the twentieth century. Yet the province of Pennsylvania remained relatively peaceful, prosperous, and egalitarian for close to seventy five years, making one of the most ideal societies of the time.
Notes
1 Harry N. Ward, Colonial America 1607-1763 (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991), 65-67, 230,274-275. Richard Hofstadter, America in 1750: A Social Portrait (New York: Vintage Books, 1973), 184.
2 (Ward 1991, 228)
3 Ibid. 210,263.
4 (Ward 1991, 66-68) (Hofstader 1973, 198)
5 (Ward 1991, 165,274) (Hofstader 1973, 186) Barry J. Levy, "'Tender Plants': Quaker Farmers and Children in the Delaware Valley, 1681-1735," Journal of Family History; 3 (1978): 116-135. Peter Gay, Age of Enlightenment, Great Ages of Man: A History of the World's Cultures (New York: Time Life Books 1966), 62.
6 (Ward 1991, 208) W. Edmunds Claussen, The Revolutionary War Years (Boyertown: Gilbert Printing Company, Inc., 1973), 37-48.
7 (Ward 1991, 147-149) John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americana (New York, McGraw Hill Publishing Company, 1988), 58,60,75,84,92,168-170.
About the Author
Geoffrey Martin holds a Master's degree in American History and works at the Brandywine Battlefield Park.
Quaker Links
For more information about the Religious Society of Friends please go to http://www.quaker.org
For Quaker genealogy go to The Quaker Corner at http://www.rootsweb.com/~quakers/index.htm
Quaker Information Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - http://www.afsc.org/qic.htm
Quaker Genealogy Forum - a bulletin board for Quaker research discussion
Quaker Clothing Bibliography
Bradfield, Nancy. Costume in Detail, 1730-1930.
Buck, Anne. Victorian Costume and Costume Accessories.
Earle, Alice Morse. Two Centuries of Costume in America.
Gehret, Ellen J. Rural Pennsylvania Clothing.
Gummere, Ameila Mott. The Quaker: A Study in Costume.
McClelan, Elisabeth. Historic Dress in America, 1800-1870.