Quakers

Quakers are known for the peaceful and anti war beliefs since their start in the seventeenth century. However, the Quaker’s history isn’t left without it’s share of violence. Which, in part, led to the creation of the state of Pennsylvania.

Much like the early years of Christianity, Quakers faced severe persecution and hate[1]. Wanting to escape religious persecution, they started colonies in Rhode Island and North Carolina. However, life continued to be hard for the Quakers in America. History shows Quakers being tortured in New York and even beheaded in Boston.

In 1682, William Penn sent out a pamphlet, Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania, across Europe encouraging fellow Quakers and others who were being religiously persecuted to make a journey to America. You were promised 50 acre head rights, 200 acre farms at a penny per acre rent and for 100 pounds you could own your own country estate.

Pennsylvania was hardly a wilderness; remnants of the New Sweden colony were still in the area and helped the new Quaker settlers. Do to the openness of the invitation and help from the Swedes, Pennsylvania’s population grew rapidly. Germans settled Germantown in 1683, Welsh Quakers founded Radnor and Haverford and English Quakers, or the Free Society of Traders, started Philadelphia. In 1684 Penn was quoted, “I have led the greatest colony into America that ever any man did upon a private credit, and the most prosperous beginnings that were ever in it are to be found among us[2].” By 1685, the population was near ten thousand.

The Quakers had a huge influence in American society. They were instrumental on the abolishment of slavery. In 1733, Germantown started to publish articles in opposition of slavery. Quaker’s were also large activists for proper treatment of the mentally ill. In 1796, a tea merchant named William Tuke, started the Retreat in York. Unlike other institutions at the time, at the Retreat patients were treated with the dignity that Quakers believed was in every human being.


[1]Morison, Samuel. The Oxford History of the American People. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
[2] Morison, Samuel. The Oxford History of the American People. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
[3] Faragher, John, Mari Buhle, Daniel Czitrom , and Susan Armitage. Out of Many: A History of the American People. New Jersey: Pearson, 2006.