The Quakers And The Religious Society Of Friends

In 1682, he wrote the Pennsylvania Act; in it in Pen planned out his laws for freedom in the colony. Because he was a Quaker, Penn did not believe in war and he wanted religious freedom for all, but he also wanted all to at least believe in a God. Like Williams, he wanted freedom of religion but he had government much more involved in religious matters than William did.  In Pennsylvania any religion that believed in God was tolerated and all citizens also received the freedom of worship. Despite the religious freedom, the citizens of Pennsylvania did have religious obligations; they were required to acknowledge God, keep the Sabbath, not take the Lords name in vain, or speak any blasphemy. In order to hold an office in government in Pennsylvania one had to take a religious test (Frohnen, 65). Their Freedom of religion was limited, and would not be considered ‘religious freedom’ by today’s

There are many different views in the world on how and why we all came to be and by who’s power. This leads to the formation of many unique religions, who each have developed separate distinguishable views about a personal God or lack thereof. While there may be significant differences between each religion, they also have many similarities. This is true for Quakers and Catholics. Although Quakerism and Catholicism share similar beliefs in the "historical Jesus", Quakers seem more accommodating to today’s religious people when considering current uprising issues, including homosexuality, abortion, and authority of their faith than are Catholics.

The New England colonists, except for Rhode Island, were predominantly Puritans who practiced very strict religious lives. The civil government in these colonies dealt quite harshly with those who dared to disagree with the Puritan church. People were being exiled for speaking out against Puritanism. They whipped baptists. They cropped, or cut off, the ears of Quakers. They even went as far as to hang Quaker missionaries. They did all of this in an order to proselytize and convert people to be Puritan.

The biggest motivation in Penn and Winthrop was their views on religion and how it should be carried out in the community. Penn was one the few and first to believe in religious toleration and freedom to worship any religion without the fear of persecution. The Quaker communities would welcome all forms of religion such as Baptism and Evangelism while the Puritans would be very secluded. The Puritans thought any other religion would bring in vile thought and immoral ideals that would affect their community. Puritans would discourage any other form of religion which made them a very isolated, homogenous, group of people. Penn's views would also shape the future government of the United States.

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

In 1681, Penn and 11 other Quakers brought the Proprietary rights to east New Jersey. King Charles II owed Penn’s father, Admiral Sir William Penn, and in return Penn persuaded the king to grant him a “vast province on the west bank of the Delaware River” (Samuel, 2000). It was named Pennsylvania, which means Penn’s woods, after his father. Penn decided that his colony was going to be different from the rest of the colonies in that they were going to be a Quaker based colony. He believed in a “divine right of government” and formed the government of Pennsylvania as a “holy experiment” in governing. This type of government is considered being ahead of its time as it set forth a representative form of government. The penal system was designed to reform not just punish, and “all prisoners except capital prisoners were entitled to bail, work houses were substituted for dungeons and the death penalty was limited to murder and treason”. Also, Penn instituted public education and designed Philadelphia and other towns to promote health and fire safety. Being that Penn was in charge of the colony, he was given the opportunity to practice the Quaker Peace Testimony. He realized that a lot of the land that he was living on

With proprietary rights, Penn was allowed to create the constitution for the colony which he called, Frame of Government of Pennsylvania. This law code immediately stood out from the previous two because of the religious freedom that it allowed. As a Quaker who experienced persecution himself, Penn created an environment of religious toleration for people in the colony of Pennsylvania as long as they worshiped God. Rather than focusing on maintaining proper worship, Penn's law code was implemented to promote civic order and emphasize the rule of law to avoid the types of persecution that were being experienced in England. This is not to say that the laws did not involve religion at all. In fact, the preface to the laws clearly states that the laws are divinely inspired and that all power comes from God. Furthermore, Law thirty-four requires that all government officials, "shall be such as possess faith in Jesus Christ…" (Reader, p.44) In other words, to be an official in Pennsylvania, or to even vote for an official, one must be a professed Christian. This suggests that the laws will pertain to upholding Christian beliefs and obeying a covenant with God in order to avoid his wrath. A clear example of this can be seen in law 37 when it says, "the wildness and looseness of people provoke the indignation of God against a country." (Reader, p.45) So,

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.

The original Pennsylvania colony was founded in 1682 by William Penn, when the king owed Penn’s father a large deal of money so he gave him land in the New World. Penn used the land to create a new colony so that people who belonged to one of the many religions that were being heavily persecuted at the time would have a place to go. Most of the people of the people that came to Pennsylvania were Quakers that had nowhere else to go. Though the colony did have religious freedom, it was lead by and the majority of the rules were set by Quakers. It was a very strictly run colony, as the Quakers were very intolerant of immorality, so activities like drinking, gambling, and lying were banned, to the point that owning cards or dice was illegal. While

Many places around the world, did not have religious freedom. If you lived in England during the 1600’s, you had to practice at the Church of England. Many people did not want to practice this religion because it was not their own. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was a

In 1676, Robert Barclay wrote the Apology for the True Christian Divinity in response to the reiglious and political persecution that the Quakers were receiving from non-Quakers.1 In the apology, Barclay seeks to explain fifteen propositions that make up the Quaker faith in hopes that King Charles II and his people will see that the Quakers do not deserve the persecution they are receiving because of their beliefs. He also explains how their beliefs were sound and could be explained with scripture.2 Even though some of the Quaker beliefs may go against the other Christian denominations that were present or were forming at the time, Barclay’s apology was well received by its audience, and becomes a classic that both Quakers and non-Quakers can use as a reliable source that summarizes helps to better understand the Quaker faith.3

In England, the Quakers beliefs were thought of as dangerous and devilish. Their beliefs were to different from England’s version of orthodox Christianity so England started persecuting the group. After 10,000 Quakers had been thrown in to jail and 243 had died from the torture in the jails, they came to America to find refuge. From 1681 to 1685 over 8,000 Quakers had come to the New World and settled in Pennsylvania.

The intention of the Quakers was to rehabilitate the offender and bring him/her to repentance understanding that all answers came through God. As the laws changed abolishing the use of capital punishment for any crime other than first-degree murder, Quaker ideology recognized that the opportunity to rehabilitate individuals incarcerated or their crimes would make them better citizens and not merely institutionalized individuals when they were released. “It was believed that penitence; pastoral counseling and reasonable discipline would correct antisocial behavior” (Bartollas, 2013). The goal of the institution was solitude as this would provide the individuals time for reflection