Quakerism, also called the Society of Friends, started in 17th-century England and spread to the American colonies. The denomination was grounded in the belief that all men had the light of Christ within them and that women and men were spiritual equals, with many women speaking in church worship. The Quakers’ interpretation of the Bible prevented them from taking legal oaths. While described as pacifists, the early Quakers advocated for the rights of minorities and women.
George Fox, the founder of the denomination, set out on a spiritual quest in England in the 1640s in the middle of a tumultuous religious environment in which many broke with the Anglican church to start new religious practices. Through Fox’s travels and interactions with others, he concluded that the presence of God was within people and not the churches in which they worship. Fox’s views threatened the religious establishment, and he often found himself persecuted, even jailed for blasphemy in 1650.
The name Quaker was a derisive term that Fox and his followers embraced. The word came from a biblical passage stating that people should tremble at the Lord’s word.
Although many perceived the Quaker movement as radical, its membership grew. The denomination did not have formal rituals or official ministers, referring to members regardless of position as Your Lordship and My Lady. Thousands of Quakers were tortured, whipped, and imprisoned into the 1680s.
The first Quakers arrived in the American colonies in the mid-1650s. Although they were separated from Britain by the Atlantic, they suffered similar persecution.
William Penn, a wealthy English Quaker, received a large land grant from King Charles II and founded Pennsylvania, a place he designated for peace, religious freedom, and tolerance. By 1681, many Quakers had moved to Pennsylvania.
The Quakers advocated for the rights of others. The religious group was behind protecting the rights of Native Americans by creating adoption centers and schools. Quakers also played a role in the abolitionist movement. By 1758, Quaker leaders in Philadelphia prevented Quakers from owning slaves. By 1780, this ban had expanded to the entire state.
Quakers were also behind the sugar boycott. In 1731, Quaker Benjamin Lay, a former sailor, returned from Barbados and protested tea drinking and the slave-grown sugar to sweeten it. According to Lay, slaves harvested the sugar under brutal conditions.
This boycott began an onslaught of campaigns against slavery and the products produced through slavery in the 1780s. By 1791, the sugar boycott was in full effect and supported by a half-million British subjects.
In 1820s America, women had few rights. They could not own property, serve on juries, sign contracts, or attend college. Their career opportunities were confined to working in textile mills or teaching, and they received half the pay made by men. A progressive group of Quakers living near Waterloo, New York, supported the women’s rights movement.
A branch of the progressive Quakers called the Hicksites formed a group they named the Yearly Meeting of Congressional Friends or Progressive Friends. This group developed ways to increase the influence of women in America, including supporting the first women's rights conventions.
According to the National Park Service, five women (Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann M’Clintock, Jane Hunt, Martha Wright, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton) were integral to the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1748, which was declared a great success. Everyone except Stanton was involved with Quakers in some capacity.
Even after the convention, the Quakers helped women organize meetings. The presence of Progressive Quakers was apparent at the Rochester Women’s Rights Convention held a few weeks later. Both events were catalysts in furthering women’s rights in the US.
Many Quakers in the present draw upon this rich legacy to further faith-based advocacy for social justice.
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