![]() In the 19th century, many of the leaders of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States were Quakers, including Lucretia Mott and Alice Paul. By the 1780s, all Quakers were barred from owning slaves. In 1758, Quakers in Philadelphia were ordered to stop buying and selling slaves. Relations between the two groups weren't always friendly, however, as many Quakers insisted upon Native American assimilation into Western culture. ![]() The Quakers took up the cause of protecting Native Americans’ rights, creating schools and adoption centers. Quakers were heavily involved in Pennsylvania’s new government and held positions of power in the first half of the 18th century, before deciding their political participation was forcing them to compromise some of their beliefs, including pacifism. Within just a few years, several thousand Friends had moved to Pennsylvania from Britain. Penn, who had been jailed multiple times for his Quaker beliefs, went on to found Pennsylvania as a sanctuary for religious freedom and tolerance. In 1681, King Charles II gave William Penn, a wealthy English Quaker, a large land grant in America to pay off a debt owed to his family. However, as they moved throughout the colonies, they continued to face persecution in certain places, particularly in Puritan-dominated Massachusetts, where several Quakers - later known as the Boston Martyrs - were executed during the 1650s and 1660s. By the early 1660s, more than 50 other Quakers had followed Harris. The first was Elizabeth Harris, who visited Virginia and Maryland. Quaker missionaries arrived in North America in the mid-1650s. Central to their beliefs was the idea that everyone had the Light of Christ within them.įox spent much of the 1660s behind bars, and by the 1680s thousands of Quakers across the British Isles had suffered decades of whippings, torture and imprisonment. They opted not to use honorific titles such as “Your Lordship” and “My Lady.”īased on their interpretation of the Bible, Quakers were pacifists and refused to take legal oaths. Quakers didn’t have official ministers or religious rituals. Quakerism continued to spread across Britain during the 1650s, and by 1660 there were around 50,000 Quakers, according to some estimates.Ī number of Quaker beliefs were considered radical, such as the idea that women and men were spiritual equals, and women could speak out during worship. Members are referred to as Friends or Quakers. Meanwhile, “Quaker” emerged as a derisive nickname for Fox and others who shared his belief in the biblical passage that people should "tremble at the Word of the Lord." The group eventually embraced the term, although their official name became Religious Society of Friends. Her home, Swarthmoor Hall in northwest England, served as a gathering place for many of the first Quakers. ![]() ![]() In 1652, he met Margaret Fell, who went on to become another leader in the early Quaker movement. Even though his views were viewed by some as a threat to society and he was jailed for blasphemy in 1650, Fox and other early Quakers continued to share their beliefs. Quaker Beliefsįox shared his religious beliefs and epiphanies with others, speaking to increasingly larger gatherings. He experienced what he referred to as “openings,” instances in which he felt God was talking directly to him. Over the course of his journey, as Fox met others searching for a more direct spiritual experience, he came to believe that the presence of God was found within people rather than in churches. It was a time of religious turmoil in England, with people seeking reform in the Church of England or starting their own competing churches. In the 1640s, George Fox, then a young man and the son of a weaver, left his home in the English Midlands and traveled around the country on a spiritual quest.
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