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Seventeenth Through Nineteenth Century Philadelphia Quakers As the First Advocates for Insane, Imprisoned, and Impoverishe

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Seventeenth Through Nineteenth Century Philadelphia Quakers As the First Advocates for Insane, Imprisoned, and Impoverishe Seventeenth through Nineteenth scholars Hugh Barbour and J. William Frost Century Philadelphia Quakers as the note how “In the English Northwest, Fox and Nayler were at first violently beaten or stoned First Advocates for Insane, and called Puritans.”[1] Friends seeking to Imprisoned, and Impoverished escape religious intolerance in England clashed Populations with Puritan ideology in the early American colonies. The average Quaker was ostracized and persecuted in England, and more so in New Joanna Riley England. Puritans carried out harsh, cruel Senior, Secondary Education/Social Studies punishments freely in the new world, effectively stunting the spread of Quakerism in The Society of Friends, especially in the New England. As a result, Philadelphia city of Philadelphia, was the only group in the provided ample audiences who would attend seventeenth century through mid-nineteenth weekly, monthly, and annual major meetings, century to align themselves with the plight of but also to further advancement in policy and those deemed insane, imprisoned, or reform efforts. impoverished. While the connection to the Concerned with the lack of Quaker insane was seemingly decided on by those institutions for those within the Society of outside of the Society of Friends, their Friends, and excluded from English first-hand experience of being thrown into institutions, they began founding their own. prison simply for being Quaker brought to light Originally, these places were to be created by the awful conditions within. Women served not and for the Quakers themselves, in order to only as ministers and proponents within the better facilitate rehabilitation to fellow Friends. Quaker movement, but also as caregivers and Gradually, they expanded their mission to nurses within the institutions created by the include those outside the faith; Quaker or not, Friends in order to improve society as a whole. anyone was welcome into these institutions. They were also observed within these The existing asylums and prisons in England institutions as patients and prisoners. The were overcrowded, dark, and ridden with names Hannah Mills and Julia Moore may not disease; before Quaker intervention, no school yet be familiar, but the course of this research of thought championed treating each ailment or requires their experiences with the Society of situation separately. Existing research on the Friends be included. Quakers as leading humanitarian reform are In England, early Quakers were plentiful, but often only discussed in English or themselves be seen as mad, possessed by American terms, rather than both demons, and acutely radical. The popular belief simultaneously. was, the Inner Light would enter their bodies so The York Retreat, in York, England is a profoundly and cause them to literally shake; shining example of an improved asylum and hence, the term Quaker. English founder has been modeled after by other institutions on George Fox and minister James Nayler, were nearly every continent. There, the Friends' regularly victims of hate. Prominent Quaker unwavering belief of the Inner Light, regardless 1 of wealth or state of mind, allowed them to subhuman. Philadelphia, more so than any begin and continue humane treatment methods, other colonial city, was the figurative center of with the goal of reintegration back into society. the newly born United States. In their efforts to Some of the first, crucial Friends, found great rehabilitate anyone willing to undertake doing talents in spreading the word of George Fox so, the Society of Friends greatly reduced the and Quaker doctrines, especially women. stigma directed at these disadvantaged groups Within the institutions set up to serve the in America. The benevolence of Philadelphia insane, imprisoned, and needy, women found Quakers can also be seen in abolition efforts, great success working as nurses, compassionate public education, and the temperance caregivers, and key reformers in the movement. movement. By having their own, Quaker English women Friends would travel institutions and faith as a means to reach the throughout Europe and even into the colonies seemingly lost, they urged the construction of to spread Fox’s teachings. While the existing new and improved establishments, such as scholarship acknowledges the many Friends Hospital and Eastern State Penitentiary contributions of early female Friends, there is in Philadelphia. Before the reforms ushered in little discussion of the female experience within by prominent Philadelphia Quakers, the the insane, imprisoned, and impoverished treatment of the insane, imprisoned, and poor populations; hence the inclusion of both was cruel, harsh, and all around unpleasant. Hannah Mills and Julia Moore. Often chained to filthy, windowless cells, violent offenders along with those suffering The very notion that those who had lost from neurological or chronic disabilities only their will or ability to reason deserved more made the overcrowding within prison walls than confinement and neglect, and were in fact more intense and dangerous. The Walnut Street able to become productive citizens was radical Jail had become severely overcrowded, and to most English thinkers of the seventeenth disease and danger ran rampant. Emphasis was century. Prisoners were chained to windowless placed on severe punishment, rather than the walls, covered in filth and vermin and often rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners kept alongside those who had lost their will to back into society. Philadelphia Quakers aimed reason, deemed mad, or those just in debt. In to instead focus on rehabilitating the human, both Europe and America, the existing regardless of their illness, crime, or income, institutions for these marginalized groups and did so by founding both institutions and proved insufficient to serve the diverse, organizations. growing populations of cities such as York, or Philadelphia. Quaker women and men, both Much is known about William Penn and new and veteran, became pioneers in founder George Fox, but what of Hannah Mills, humanitarian efforts; many of their institutions or Julia Moore? These women's stories present remain in operation today. readers with accounts of the female experience in pre-and post revolutionary England and Similar to conditions of the insane and Philadelphia asylums, prisons, and almshouses. imprisoned found in England, the destitute Hannah Mills was a young Quaker patient population in colonial Philadelphia were seen being treated at the York Insane Asylum in as a burden on society, and often treated as 2 England. It was her sudden death, surrounded I aim to answer the question, how did by mysterious circumstances, that prompted a Philadelphia Quakers assist in these early renewed sense of urgency to reform these reform efforts? Why was it the Society of institutions. Wealthy and well-respected Friends chose to take up the sizeable task of merchant William Tuke and his grandson, making life for those largely ignored by Samuel Tuke, successfully lobbied for the English society, their own personal mission construction of a new safe haven for the insane once in America? The dedication to discipline in England. Penn would continue the mission on the part of early Friends was clear, and their of English Friends in Pennsylvania, ensuring desire to spread enlightenment through prisoners would be limited to violators of the personal means with God allowed many to find newly instilled penal code, and only after a fair his love. Simultaneously, seventeenth century trial. Friends began to study medicine as a respected science. Hannah Mills, in late eighteenth Each book encountered during this century England, had no idea her premature research referenced at least one other source in death would inspire a century-long movement the accompanying bibliography. While George geared at improving methods for the treatment Fox would have likely prayed for an ailment of the impaired. At the turn of the eighteenth cure, or treatment for those who had lost their century in America, William Penn made the reasoning abilities, Quakers soon realized that necessary penal reforms to allow for just, fair science also held merit. They chose to begin trials and/or punishment or rehabilitation for all studying medicine before it had become the Pennsylvanians. Julia Moore is just one norm, especially women seeking to help others example of how those who have lost their way and remain ardent in their faith. The emphasis were able to find new hope in their lives, on prayer and individual devotion to attain a thanks in part at least to nineteenth century cure would have been the average course of Philadelphia Friends. Julia herself did not write action for most Quaker doctors, ministers, and the account of her time and death in Eastern elders of the seventeenth century. However, State Penitentiary, yet it is a riveting primary subsequent centuries would see women source, well-documented and published by beginning to study medicine, though not until female Friends in Philadelphia. The Friends the early nineteenth century in growing who donated their time, efforts, and energy to numbers. The shifts in political, religious, and those otherwise abandoned by society economic values within the society of Friends demonstrate clearly their doctrine of Inner during the eighteenth century served to further Light. The document, published by the Female innovate techniques first introduced in the prior Prison Association of Friends in Philadelphia, century, and introduce new
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