The Quaker Colonies | Page 4

his fame, is indissolubly linked.
Quakerism was one of the many religious sects born in the seventeenth
century under the influence of Puritan thought. The foundation
principle of the Reformation, the right of private judgment, the Quakers
carried out to its logical conclusion; but they were people whose minds
had so long been suppressed and terrorized that, once free, they rushed
to extremes. They shocked and horrified even the most advanced
Reformation sects by rejecting Baptism, the doctrine of the Trinity, and
all sacraments, forms, and ceremonies. They represented, on their best
side, the most vigorous effort of the Reformation to return to the
spirituality and the simplicity of the early Christians. But their intense
spirituality, pathetic often in its extreme manifestations, was not wholly
concerned with another world. Their humane ideas and philanthropic
methods, such as the abolition of slavery, and the reform of prisons and
of charitable institutions, came in time to be accepted as fundamental
practical social principles.
The tendencies of which Quakerism formed only one manifestation
appeared outside of England, in Italy, in France, and especially in
Germany. The fundamental Quaker idea of "quietism," as it was called,
or peaceful, silent contemplation as a spiritual form of worship and as a
development of moral consciousness, was very widespread at the close
of the Reformation and even began to be practiced in the Roman
Catholic Church until it was stopped by the Jesuits. The most extreme
of the English Quakers, however, gave way to such extravagances of
conduct as trembling when they preached (whence their name),
preaching openly in the streets and fields--a horrible thing at that
time--interrupting other congregations, and appearing naked as a sign
and warning. They gave offense by refusing to remove their hats in
public and by applying to all alike the words "thee" and "thou," a form
of address hitherto used only to servants and inferiors. Worst of all, the
Quakers refused to pay tithes or taxes to support the Church of England.
As a result, the loathsome jails of the day were soon filled with these
objectors, and their property melted away in fines. This contumacy and

their street meetings, regarded at that time as riotous breaches of the
peace, gave the Government at first a legal excuse to hunt them down;
but as they grew in numbers and influence, laws were enacted to
suppress them. Some of them, though not the wildest extremists,
escaped to the colonies in America. There, however, they were made
welcome to conditions no less severe.
The first law against the Quakers in Massachusetts was passed in 1656,
and between that date and 1660 four of the sect were hanged, one of
them a woman, Mary Dyer. Though there were no other hangings,
many Quakers were punished by whipping and banishment. In other
colonies, notably New York, fines and banishment were not uncommon.
Such treatment forced the Quakers, against the will of many of them, to
seek a tract of land and found a colony of their own. To such a course
there appeared no alternative, unless they were determined to establish
their religion solely by martyrdom.
About the time when the Massachusetts laws were enforced, the
principal Quaker leader and organizer, George Fox (1624-1691), began
to consider the possibility of making a settlement among the great
forests and mountains said to lie north of Maryland in the region
drained by the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. In this region lay
practically the only good land on the Atlantic seaboard not already
occupied. The Puritans and Dutch were on the north, and there were
Catholic and Church of England colonies on the south in Maryland and
Virginia. The middle ground was unoccupied because heretofore a
difficult coast had prevented easy access by sea. Fox consulted Josiah
Coale, a Quaker who had traveled in America and had seen a good deal
of the Indian tribes, with the result that on his second visit to America
Coale was commissioned to treat with the Susquehanna Indians, who
were supposed to have rights in the desired land. In November, 1660,
Coale reported to Fox the result of his inquiries: "As concerning
Friends buying a piece of land of the Susquehanna Indians I have
spoken of it to them and told them what thou said concerning it; but
their answer was, that there is no land that is habitable or fit for
situation beyond Baltimore's liberty till they come to or near the
Susquehanna's Fort."* Nothing could be done immediately, the letter
went on to say, because the Indians were at war with one another, and
William Fuller, a Maryland Quaker, whose cooperation was deemed

essential, was absent.
* James Bowden's "History of the Friends in America," vol. I, p. 389
This seems to have been the first definite movement towards a Quaker
colony.