A Study Of Quakers Abolition Movement In Colonial Pennsylvania

The radical Christian sect Quakers, also named Society of Friends, which thrived fromEngland in Cromwell period, was one of the most important Christian sects in colonial NorthAmerica. The Quakers paid their attention to the most depressed people Negros in the18thcenturies after the Quakers took the political and economic power in colonial Pennsylvania.With continuous hardworking of several abolitionist, including individuals and groups such asJohn Woolman, Anthony Benezet, Chester Monthly Meeting, the Quakers eventually isolatedfrom slave trade and slave labor in eve of American Revolution. The Quakers became themost influential and absolute abolitionist group in the later period of colonial America. Thethought of Quaker antislavery also became significant spirit source of intense AbolitionMovement in1830s America and brought much thought aspiration to the abolitionist in1830s.The main text of my thesis concludes three parts. The first part mainly describesbooming and decline of slave trade in colonial Pennsylvania, and analyses the characteristicof slavery in colonial Pennsylvania. The scale and organization of slavery and slave trade incolonial Pennsylvania were obviously different from South and New England, even from NewYork. The scale and organization depended on the economy structure consisted of commerce,wheat farming and manufacture in Pennsylvania. There was no prosperous slave economy inPennsylvania. The amount of slaves consistently was rushed by immigrants from Europe andgradually slave labor was instead of abundant immigration labor. Eventually Pennsylvaniabecame Free State in1780.The second parts talk about Quakers antislavery thought and activities in differentperiods. The early abolitionists were German Quakers, William Sotheby, Chester MonthlyMeeting and the monster Benjamin Lay. The latterly abolitionists were John Woolman andAnthony Benezet. In general the antislavery thought experienced a rough process which fromindividual and faint sounds to common sense. And the leadership of Quakers, PhiladelphiaYearly Meeting’s attitude was from silence, attention to advice, and eventually upgraded todiscipline.The third parts mainly take analyzes to the reason that why Quakers were the initialabolitionist in America. In fact Quakers were not a professional antislavery group in its earlyEngland stage and significantly until America stage. Thus this process consisted of adaptationin America land and insistence on the tradition from British. The important change was fromworld ideal to inward looking. However Quakers obtained the spirit heritage from earlyQuakers, which consisted of egalitarianism, plainness and pacifism. The moral perfectionismand stubborn character in Quaker’s blood accelerated the conflict between slavery andQuakers’ belief. Of course we can’t neglect the social environment in colonial Pennsylvania,which offered a suitable room for Quakers to do abolition work.