The First Quakers In England

The Quakers were first founded in the mid-1600s in England and were formerly known as The Religious Society of Friends. They were a very simple and devoted democratic group of people. When they arrived in America, they began to try to settle in Massachusetts. Massachusetts was also where the Puritan colonists had been settling and because they (the Quakers) threatened the Puritan’s beliefs in America they gave them and other opposing religions, such as the Baptists, harsh punishments for inhabiting their land which included hanging, fines, whipping, and banishing the people from Massachusetts. The Quakers later moved their efforts to the new land of Pennsylvania. They established their land on “the equality of all persons (including women, blacks, and Indians) before God.” They proved this stance of equality by being the “first group of whites to repudiate slavery” of Africans. They also purchased their found land from the Indians that owned it. These actions show that the Quakers truly lived in equality. “Religious freedom was Penn’s most fundamental principle.” The Quakers never gave an established church for Pennsylvania and allowed almost all religious freedom in its land. Although the Quakers were lenient on race, gender, and religious preference they did have a “strict code of personal morality.” They “prohibited swearing, drunkenness, and adultery” among many other activities that they thought were immoral. Many of their beliefs spread throughout America and has

During the early colonization of the East coast of North America, many groups of people of Europe came to the New World such as the Puritans and Quakers. Both the Puritans, led by John Winthrop, and the Quakers, led by William Penn, were escaping persecution from England but each they had their own views and goals in religion, politics, and ethnic relations. Being on the native land of the local Indians, both Penn and Winthrop had to face issues and negotiations with the Indians. Penn and Winthrop had their own separate approaches to politics but they both sought a more just system than the one in England. After being persecuted, both Penn and Winthrop wanted their people to be free worship, but Penn and Winthrop each had their own

Quakers- those who condemned extravagance, sought to restore Christianity to its early simple spirituality; William Penn made Pennsylvania a refuge for his fellow Quakers who refused to pay taxes or serve in the military for the Church of England.

This paper will explore the history of the colonial settlements of the Quakers, who are also known as the Society of Friends, who settled in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in colonial times. The history surrounding the establishment and growth of the Quaker colonies of West Jersey and Pennsylvania will be discussed. William Penn’s efforts in establishing the colonies of West Jersey and Pennsylvania were paramount to Quakers immigrating to America. John Fenwick also played a major role in founding the colony of West Jersey, which is now known as New Jersey and the later immigration of Quakers to Pennsylvania. The abolitionist efforts of the Quakers in their fight against slavery, their equal treatment of slaves and the assistance that they provided to slaves will also be discussed. Quakers provided shelter, financial support and harbored many slaves so that they could avoid capture by their owners. Quakers were a large part of the abolitionist movement in the colonies while slavery was legal. Many Quakers played a role in the Underground Railroad, which assisted slaves in obtaining their freedom and avoiding capture. The terms “Quaker” and Society of Friends are interchangeable and will be used throughout this paper accordingly.

The Quakers were different from many of the settlers of other early American colonies. The Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, were built upon ideals of pacifism and benevolence. They did not come here as traders or merchants. The Quakers came here for religious freedom, as did many others. However, Quakers, who had experienced persecution in other colonies like

Like many people back then they came to the one place that many went to ,to avoid getting killed. And that place was America. When coming to America some Quakers had already made their way to New England (a place founded on religious freedom), but the Puritans didn’t want them there. The Quaker some found themselves being treated just like when they Britin, with Some they hanged and others they banished. Later on, a number came to New Jersey, where they soon became so numerous that Penn took part with other Quakers in the purchase of that province. Some of these settlers crossed the Delaware to its western side. Thus when Penn reached America he found Quakers in his new province.

Puritans and Pilgrims settled in the New England colonies of Massachusetts, Rode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The Puritans came to seek religious freedom and new settlements and to escape the religious persecution they were facing in England. The colonies in New England had sandy coasts with assessable ports, forest hills, and flat woodlands. The soil was thin and rocky which was bad for farming. Lumbering, trading, shipbuilding, fishing, and whaling were all common occupations in the New England colonies. Slavery was allowed In the New England colonies, however very few people had slaves. The soil made it difficult to grow crops, so most colonist had small independent farms they could care for on their own, the colonist only grew enough food to feed their families and didn't' have enough to feed slaves. (https://prezi.com/vnfchvubifzb/the-new-england-middle-and-southern-colonies/) The New England colonist was self-governed. The government was highly influenced by religion. When New England sailed over, they found a developed region with a lot of Native Americans. The English and Native Americans didn't get along very well. The English people thought Native Americans were inferior on how they lived. The English people got farming and other skills from the Native people. The four Middle Colonies were New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. English Quakers originally settled in the Middle Colonies. People from France, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Finland,

The colonial capital was called New Amsterdam and was built in the mouth of the Hudson River. The colonies welcomed Europeans from Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, France, and Spain to live in their colonies. Settlers traded goods with Native Americans from the tribe Iroquois. Colonists also traded with the Delaware confederation. In 1644 England took control of the Dutch colony in the middle Atlantic region. They split the land giving each side one name New Jersey and New York (old New Amsterdam). Quakers also moved to the land. Quakers were a society of friends that left their countries to seek religious freedom. One of the most important Quaker was William Penn, he founded the colony of Pennsylvania. He believed in freedom of speech and his colony would stand above the differences of religion. Penn kept good relationships with the Indians. The middle Atlantic colonies were starting to take

These people who lived here were called Quakers were more of the peaceful type of people who worshipped god. They were not the brutal kind of people like the people living in Georgia in the Southern Colonies. The people here came over to worship the way that pleased them. The people surrounding the busy port cities of the Boston harbor lived in small towns or villages and church was the center of their daily life. These people were more content and were not the people who would look to do well in war. These people are not interested in war and seem to want to live their peaceful lives.

After traveling throughout Europe with George Fox, the founder of the Quaker belief, William Penn was finally granted land over in the new world by the King Charles II, the king of England at the time. The land was a way to settle the king’s debt with Penn’s father, however William Penn had requested the land for a different purpose- a place the Quakers could finally live and not be oppressed. Through his construction of Pennsylvania, Penn had an enormous influence on the future United States of America through his belief of religious freedom, being a humanitarian, and by creating an ethnic diversity in the middle colony. His Quaker religion had a major influence on Pennsylvania, since each Quaker let each person follow “the light” of Jesus in their own way. Also, Penn promoted the human welfare for each group that came into Pennsylvania, and tried to create a sufficient government that ran well enough to support each group. However when developing the population of Pennsylvania, Penn did something that was extremely uncommon at the time- he invited extremely ethnically diverse groups to live in harmony. It was hard to predict how critical William Penn’s ideas would

Completely unlike Massachusetts, a strong selling point of the colony Pennsylvania, founded by William Penn, was its acceptance and tolerance of all religions. Penn, born into Anglican family, found himself attracted to the Quaker faith. Quakers did not believe that any higher authorities, whether civil or religious, needed to be in control of religious affairs; thus they refused to pay support the Church of England. Additionally, the Quakers saw everyone as a “child of God”, meaning equal, and refused to bow down to any higher authority. Because of Penn’s Quaker affiliation, he implemented these ideals and beliefs in Pennsylvania. Mentioned before, Pennsylvania offered freedom of worship for all religions; the only oppression coming from

Roughly around the beginning if the year 1646, Fox had several revelations that would lead to the creation of the Religious Society of Friends. He asked himself things about Christianity that made did not make sense, but the majority of people believed in spite of it . For example, on one day, he walked though a field, when suddenly “the Lord opened unto him” that “being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of Christ”. However, this was the common belief of nearly all of the Christians at that point in time. Nonetheless, Fox knew it must be true, because the Lord opened it directly unto his soul. This statement did not go over well at the

He became a believer in what the Quakers stood for and became a part of the Quaker community. The Quakers, founded by George Fox, was based upon simplicity, pacifism, and social and religious equality. Every man and women, no matter the race, color, ethnicity, or religious belief had the same opportunities of fellowship and equality in the Society of Friends. They also did not impose their religion on anyone else. The Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, also lived by a strict moral code. They had a strong belief in keeping themselves “holy” physically, mentally and spiritually. Their society did not condone the acts of adultery, drunkenness, foul language, gambling and other immoral acts that tainted the idea of their “City on a Hill.” Penn, upon the colonization of Pennsylvania, carefully created a code of laws with the ideals of “As long as men are good, good government will prevail; but if men are evil, then government will likewise be

17. The religious sect that settled in Pennsylvania were the Christian sect who were called the Quakers. They believed in the equality of all men and women, nonviolence, and resistance to military service.

the idea that they were the true keepers and purveyors of God’s will. Relying on the continuing inner revelations of God, they had been set apart “from the unrighteous world…[and] are heirs of a world in which there is not end.” The Quakers were to an appointed people, called upon by God to carry out spiritual warfare against “the Prince of this World, the Beast and His seat.” Although they Quakers were set apart as spiritual warriors, one could become a part of the community by accepting God’s revelation of the inner light. The Quakers believed that “none are shut out by him [God] before they were born into the world.” In this way, the Quakers were a corporate body who allowed a degree of inclusiveness to those who accepted God’s revelation. At the same time, the Quakers identified and distance themselves from the