Religious Society of Friends

INTRODUCTION When I discovered that I had to write a dissertation as part of a history honours course at the University of North London I naturally turned to the library and archive of my employer: the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain. The library is a treasure trove of fascinating archives and artefacts recording Quaker history over a period of 300 and more years. Discussions with the Head Librarian, Malcolm Thomas, narrowed the immense range of dissertation possibilities to two: Quaker diplomacy around the building of the Berlin Wall and relief work in Russia during the revolutionary period. These conversations took place before German reunification and it was apparent that many documents held by the governments of Federal…

caused a rift. As well as the school, his father didn’t approve of this and beat him for it. Penn joined the Religious Society five years later known as the Quaker religion. While participating, he went to jail several times for resisting the Church of England. At that time, Friends, commonly called "Quakers," were subject to official persecution which is what landed him in jail. In 1647 the religion Quaker was established for those who were tired of being taught about Christ through a church…

The idea of simple living was both widely promoted and discouraged from the arrival of the earliest Puritan colonists in 1630 to the extensive industrial growth of the middle 1800s. Many groups and societies aimed to resurrect the simple life and promote it among the masses. Yet each of these revivals were either stopped or drastically slowed down by the American majority’s desire for wealth. A small percentage of Americans consistently lived interpretations of the simple life but they were…

William Penn and "The Holy Experiment" was his vision to allow Quakers to express their religious beliefs openly without persecution and harassment. Penn also freely and willingly expressed his thoughts of government and how combining both church and state could help change the Pennsylvania way of law and order. He wanted the treatment of Indians to be with civility and respect; However, there were those who did not agree with this "Holy Experiment", and action was taken towards the destruction…

few lots to the west of the two Jennings’ farm was the Pelham branch of the Quaker’s the oldest such branch in Canada. The Friends, as they call their members settled in the Niagara region in 1786 many from New Jersey in Sussex County, the same county in which Hannah was born. As Quaker’s they disavowed anything to do with violence and hence took no active part in the Revolutionary War. This stance of neutrality had members suffer double taxation and the loss of some civil rights – and not just…

permanent. The right to keep the land pass's to Henry's heirs, but the payment is still a necessity and goes to the Frankfort land company or its heirs. 1 1 One can imagine the German conversation between Pastorius and the Tibbens. Anything from the weather, religion to legal matters of the day. They looked to the future. Education, was the key to the future in this new land. A thought echoed through next ten generations. America must be built on education, tolerance and freedom of…

important leader. The core beliefs of Quakerism were based on the doctrine of Inward Light. Adherents of Quakerism believed that the spirit of God was within them and guided their actions. This idea that they held divinity within themselves encouraged many to face groups and governments which opposed their beliefs. The name Quaker was a name that was applied to them, but in reality they preferred to be referred to as “Friends.” During the age of Puritanism in America the Quakers faced enormous…

"I, the said William Penn, have declared, granted, and confirmed, and by these presents, for me, my heirs and assigns, do declare, grant, and confirm unto all the freemen, planters and adventurers of, in and to the said province, these liberties, franchises, and properties, to be held, enjoyed and kept by the freemen, planters, and inhabitants of the said province of Pennsylvania for ever," said William Penn in his First Frame of Government. His ideas here clearly mirror the Declaration of…

their own butter. The document written by Francis Pastorius encourages both positive and negative aspects of the colony. His positives were freedom of religion, ethnic and religious complexity, wetland and water, crops and streams. Penn’s positives were soil, water, the weather, and all of the finer things in nature. Pastorius names a few negatives, but the one that I will elaborate on is sickness. This is one of the main things that occur in our time of day. Sickness was a big thing back in…

me clean.” His first challenge was getting Quakers to leave England to make the high, risking journey to the New World. Some Quakers were already in Maryland and New Jersey, but the population of them was small. He called throughout Europe in many languages, by writing a prospectus that promised religious freedom plus material advantage to attract settlers in large numbers. Exchange The colony became his “Holy Experiment.” They got peace, equal rights, and a colony of brotherly love. Other…