Campaign Against the Turks

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Campaign Against the Turks March 1, 1982 Quaker Thought ::FRIE·NDS and Life OURNAL Today notorious people known as Quakers who constantly clog our courts and jails? What do we know of their infamous leader, one William Penn? And the so-called "Holy .,,_..,;._:; ,..~. Experiment"? .. AMONG FRIENDS FRIENDS .. The Rocky Road to Truth ong-accepted truths may need to be reaffirmed JOURNAL with renewed fervor or reexamined in fresh perspective. But Friends Journal must also move March 1, 1982 Vol. 28, No.4 L beyond well-established agreement. There are some Contents pretty fundamental questions on which Friends are Cover photo of William Penn portrayed by Erik L. Burro (seep. 23). sharply divided. We can maintain a surface tranquility Among Friends: Rocky Road to Truth ...... ...... .. 2 through judicious silence-.or we can strive for a deeper -Oicutt Sanders unity through daring to pursue hard questions. Yelled VIolence . ...... 3 The latest aid in this quest comes from the· Friends - Herbert R. Hicks Committee on National Legislation. In their 1981 policy Cantering for Problem Solving . .................... 4 statement-following a long list of important public -Joy Weaver issues on which Friends from many backgrounds are Crime Is a Peace Issue ......... .. .......... ..... 5 comfortable to unite-comes a valuable final section -Robert Gross, Fay Honey Knopp, and Howard Zehr listing questions which require further chewing over. You Reflections ofa Prison VIsitor .. ..... ............... 9 will find the ten challenging areas on pages 18 and 19. -Elizabeth Doyle Solomon I hope that you and your meeting will plan to tackle A Prayer ............... ... ... ............... 10 -lnes Ebert some of these troubling issues. And I invite you to submit diverse views for a series of articles-in the loving pursuit The Holy Experiment Has Just Begun .............. 11 -Joe Adcock of truth. Who Ordered the Neutron Bomb? Was It You? ... ... 15 • • • -David McCauley Having made my main point, I see that I have room to Let's All Catch "Hollandltis"! .................... 17 share some choice thoughts from many sources (collected -Charles D. Tauber in my desk folder in recent months) that may relate, at Changing Hearts as wall as Minds .............. .. 20 least indirectly, to the search for truth. - Thomas H. Jeavons Reports ............ ..... 18 Calendar ................ 25 • "Too many in the church are like straight pins; they War Tax Questions . ...... 22 Classified Advertisements . 25 point one way but head the other."-John Wesley White. World of Friends . ........ 23 Meeting Directory ......... 26 Books .......... .. ...... 24 Poem: Rusty North ......... 32 • The ecumenical officer of the Presbyterian Church U.S. told the Consultation on Church Union that eight to Frimdr/011171<1/(ISSN0016-1322) was established in 1955 as the successor to TM Fri«rrd 12 members of other churches make valuable contribu­ (1827-1955) and FMrlds lntdli8~ne6 (1844-1955). It is associated with tbe Relilious Society of Friends. It is a member of Associated Church Press. tions each year as full participants in committees of the STAFF 400-member General Assembly of his denomination. Olcuu Sand~. Editor-Miltrllg~r Larry Spears, Adwrtlslng 11nd Cimdlltion Vinton Demina, Asslstllnt Editor Ruth Lauahlin and Susan Hardee Norris Barbara Benton and John Davis Gwnmcre, Ty-tting 11nd S«retllrlal ServictS ' • Pope John Paul II sent a message to the American Lllyoutllnd Design James Neveil, BookkH~r Catholic bishops recently with his permission to drop VoluntHrs: Donald G. Rose (Office Assistan~). Jane Buraess (lndtx). masculine language in a key portion of the Mass. The 89ARD OF MANAGE~S 1979-1982: Joseph Adcock, ~rtrude Macintosh Brett, Ehzabeth Cooke, Peter Fmaesten, Emily B.H. Phillips Johnson William B. Kriebel change in the eucharistic prayer will now affirm that Helen Man1els'!orf, Kenneth Mill~~ · 198()./98J: Elizabeth Balderston (Asslsllltrl Clerk): Henry C. Beer1ts (S«retary), Mmam E. Brown, James Neal Cavener Rowland K Christ died "for you and for all" in place of the previous Leonard (T-..unr), Linell McCurry, Eleanor B. Webb (Clerk) El~beth Wells. 1981-1984: Frank Bjornspard, Emily Conlon, Mary Howarth, Marda Paullin Virai~ phrase, " for you and for all men." Stetser, William D. Strona, James D. Wilson. ' HONORARY MANAGERS: Eleanor Stabler Clarke, Daniel D. Test Jr. Mildred Binns • A contribution to Princeton (NJ) Monthly Meeting to Youna. ' ' help promote work for peace was made by a lieutenant in FORMER EDITORS: Susan Corson-Finnerty, Rutb Geibel Kllpaek James D Lenhart Alfred Stefferud, Franois Williams Browin, William Hubbcn. ' • ' the U.S. Air Force. The meeting agreed to accept his • Friends Journlll is published the fust and fifteenth of each month (except January check gratefully! June, July, AUJUSI and September, when it is published monthly) by Friends Publisblni Corporation, 152-A N. Uth St., Philaddphia, PA 19102. Tdephone (215) 564-4n9 Seeond-dass J?OSiaJt paid II Pbiladdpbia, PA, and at additional mailiq offices. • "Unity does not necessarily mean agreement; indeed it • Subscnpt1o~ : Urut"'! States and "~ions": one year Sl2, two years $23, three Y~ S~. F~man r<l!"llances should be ID U.S. dollars or adjusted for currency is not inconsistent with wide difference in opinion, differential. ~mate coptes: Sl; samples sent on request. • lnformat';On on and assistance with advertisinl is available on request. Appeatlll<!e expression, and purpose. Unity is love, not likeness." of any advert~Sanent does not imply endorsement by Fri~nds Jourlflll. C'1pyriaht © 1982 by Friends Publishins Corporation. Reprints or articles available at (From Minutes of the Yearly Meeting of Friends held in nom1nal cost. Perm1ss1on should be received before reprintins excerpts lonaer than 200 words. Available in microfilm from University Microfilms International. Philadelphia-Race St., 1908.) ~~='_" tnd edd.-....... to Frleub J011m41, 152-A N. 15t~ St., P~lladol.... , ~s~ 2 March 1, 1982 FRIENDs JOURNAL VEILED V10LENCE by Herbert Hicks n our finest moments Friends have struggled against value of persons is frequently attacked, with the current overt forms of violence and have led an intelligent rash of ethnic and racial jokes serving as a classic example I search for nonviolent methods of conflict resolution. of "violent humor." In this effort we are plagued with an unfortunate human Manipulation is the effort to replace the will of another tendency for our understanding of violence to narrow with our own will. It is a form of violence which in its and to focus only on its more overt forms. This is due, in most refined manifestations is artfully masked. Millions large measure, to the fact that the more overt forms of of dollars are spent every day to influence our wants, and violence are so obvious and continue to interfere with all nothing about us is ignored in the process. Our dreams, of our efforts to create a just and decent society. To fears, feelings of inadequacy, sex drives, and guilt are all recognize this narrowing tendency is to recognize our skillfully exploited in the constant effort to shape our need to expand deliberately our understanding of values and redefine our needs. violence so as to include its covert expressions, which can How do we discover and affirm ultimate values in an be equally destructive. environment which constantly overwhelms us with the It would be a mistake to see violen,ce as simply a trivial? How do we assert intrinsic human value when we physical attack on another person's body; it must also be are not as beautiful, as glamorous, or as young as the seen as an existential affront to a person's humanity and commercials seem to demand? Perhaps the most dignity. Thus violence can, and often does, express itself destructive form of violence in our society is that of mass in many forms. The verbal attack is but one example. The manipulation which trivializes life and exploits the old adage, " Sticks and stones may break my bones, but normal human need for acceptance. words will never harm me," never was true. The truth is What can we, as Friends and as persons committed to a that words are far more often the bearers of ill-will than nonviolent life style, do about all of this? We can begin fists or guns and can be even more hostile and damaging. by recognizing that it is not simply overt violence which Humor can serve as yet another example of "veiled destroys human dignity, but it is violence in all of its vi9lence." In the name of a good laugh the dignity and forms. We can continue by expanding our understanding of what violence is and what it means and what it does to Herbert Hicks is a Disciples of Christ minister and a member of persons. It will be an exercise in sensitivity training for us Blacksburg (VA) Preparatory Meeting. and for our society. 0 FRIENDS JOURNAL March 1, 1982 3 by ]oy Weaver problems. This too easily• provides a way to avoid the personal struggle which is the essence of the process.) The entire program takes three to five hours, s a child I somehow knew that anything I really depending on the size of the group and the amount of wanted I could achieve through prayer. I would discussion. There are six segments, which can be spread A ask for a particular goal to be met and wait to see out over about a week or dealt with all in one day. If done whether my desire was strong enough to persuade God to in a formal group setting, a facilitator or clerk should try make magic for me. Sometimes the magic didn't happen, to keep the group working on one query at a time so that it becomes a corporate experience: so I told myself I must not have wanted it enough. It never occurred to me that it might be the nature of my I-On a sheet of paper, list three decisions or problems goal that was at fault rather · than the strength of the you are facing now.
Recommended publications
  • Pennsylvania History
    PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY VOL. XXI APRIL, 1954 No. 2 THE FAILURE OF THE "HOLY EXPERIMENT" IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1684-1699 By EDWIN B. BRONNER* HE founding of colonial Pennsylvania was a great success. TLet there be no misunderstanding in regard to that matter. The facts speak for themselves. From the very beginning colonists came to the Delaware Valley in great numbers. Philadelphia grew rapidly and was eventually the largest town in the British colonies. The area under cultivation expanded steadily; Pennsylvania con- tinued to grow throughout the colonial period, and her pecuniary success has never been questioned. The Proprietor granted his freemen an enlightened form of government, and gradually accepted a series of proposals by the citizenry for liberalizing the constitution. As an outgrowth of the Quaker belief that all men are children of God, the colony granted religious toleration to virtually all who wished to settle, made a practice of treating the Indians in a fair and just manner, opposed (as a matter of conscience) resorting to war, experimented with enlightened principles in regard to crime and punishment, and fostered advanced ideas concerning the equality of the sexes and the enslavement of human beings. As a colonizing venture, the founding of Pennsylvania was a triumph for William Penn and those who joined with him in the undertaking. On the other hand, conditions which prevailed in Pennsylvania in the first decades caused Penn untold grief, and results fell far short of what he had envisaged when he wrote concerning the *Dr. Edwin B. Bronner of Temple University is author of Thomas Earle as a Reformer and "Quaker Landmarks in Early Philadelphia" (in Historic Philadelphia, published by the American Philosophical Society, 1953).
    [Show full text]
  • William Penn and the Quaker Legacy by John A. Moretta
    PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY John A. Moretta. William Penn and the Quaker Legacy. (New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Pp. xx, 269, bibliographical references, index. Paper, $20.67.) John A. Moretta's stirring biography ofWilliam Penn is a welcome addition to the historiography of colonial Pennsylvania. A volume in Longmans Library of American Biography series, William Penn and the Quaker Legacy two complements earlier biographies in this series (Edmund S. Morgan's Puritan Dilemma: The Story ofJohn Winthrop and Alden T. Vaughan's American Genesis: Captain John Smith and theFounding ofVirginia) by focusing on the life and career of Pennsylvania's founder. The first third of this volume focuses upon Penn's spiritual life, from his conversion toQuakerism while a student at Oxford to his desire to spread the faith in the British Isles and on the continent. Much to his father's chagrin, Penn chose to pursue a career as a religious leader, despite Admiral Penn's efforts to supply his eldest son with all of the benefits that a man with the Admiral's connections could provide. For instance, when the Admiral sent William to Ireland to oversee the family's Irish estates, William chose to was proselytize and arrested for preaching. Young Penn did not spend his error time in jail pondering the of his ways; instead, he wrote several religious tracts explaining the Quaker faith and criticizing laws designed to punish dissenters for their beliefs and actions. William Penn, according toMoretta, also was inconsistent. Penn might have been a devout Quaker, but he behaved more like the elitist his father wanted him to be than a typical Friend.
    [Show full text]
  • Pennsylvania Historical Bibliography
    Pennsylvania Historical Bibliography Donna Bingham Munger Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission I. Bibliography, Research Aids ButlerJon. "Whitefield in America: A Two Hundred Fiftieth Commemoration." Pa. Mag. Hist. Biog., 113 (October 1989): 515-526. Chan, Sucheng. "Koreans in America, 1902-Present: A Selected Bibliography." Immigration Hist. News, 20 (December 1988): 11-15. Conner, Paul and Jill Roberts. Pennsylvania German Fraktur and Printed Broadsides, A Guide to the Collections in the Library of Congress. American Folklife Center, Library of Congress: Washington, D.C., 1988. Cuff, David J., William J. Young, Edward K. Muller, Wilbur Zelinsky and Ronald F. Abler, eds. The Atlas of Pennsylvania. Temple Univ. Press, 1989. Knapp, Vertie, "Robacker, Earl F. and Ada F.: A Bibliography." Pa. Folklife, 39 (Autumn 1989): 30-36. Munger, Donna Bingham. "Pennsylvania Historical Bibliography." Pa. Hist., (April 1989): 114-134. II. Background Factors II.A.1. Background Factors/Physical Features Custer, Jay F. "Lithic Scatter Sites of the Piedmont Zone of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware." Pa. Archaeologist, 58 (March 1988): 30-42. Strohmeier, William. "The Rich Hill Rockshelter, 36BU35." Pa. Archaeologist, 58 (March 1988): 1-6. II.A.3. Natives CusterJay F. "A New Look at the Petroglyphs of the Lower Susquehanna Valley." Archaeology of East. N.A., 17 (Fall 1989): 79-88. Staats, F. Dayton. "Alternative Uses of the Stone Celt." Pa. Archaeologist, 58 (March 1988): 26-29. Stewart, R. Michael. "Trade and Exchange in Middle Atlantic Prehistory." Archaeology of East. N.A., 17 (Fall 1989): 47-48. Ward, H. Henry. "Prehistoric Utilization of Ironstone in the Central Middle Atlantic." Pa. Archaeologist, 58 (March 1988): 7-25.
    [Show full text]
  • William Penn's Experiment in the Wilderness: Promise and Legend Author(S): J
    William Penn's Experiment in the Wilderness: Promise and Legend Author(s): J. William Frost Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 107, No. 4 (Oct., 1983), pp. 577-605 Published by: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20091808 Accessed: 17-05-2017 14:08 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20091808?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography This content downloaded from 130.58.88.100 on Wed, 17 May 2017 14:08:26 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms William Penr?s Experiment in the Wilderness: Promise and hegend A T THE CLOSE of the American War for Independence, a group /% of Quaker whalers from the island of Nantucket, who had A JL experienced wartime deprivation because of English and American embargoes, determined to immigrate to a place where they could regain prosperity.
    [Show full text]
  • William Penn, Quakers, and Unfree Labor in Atlantic Pennsylvania
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2016 The Best Poor Man's Country?: William Penn, Quakers, and Unfree Labor in Atlantic Pennsylvania Peter B. Kotowski Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Kotowski, Peter B., "The Best Poor Man's Country?: William Penn, Quakers, and Unfree Labor in Atlantic Pennsylvania" (2016). Dissertations. 2138. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2138 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2016 Peter B. Kotowski LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO “THE BEST POOR MAN’S COUNTRY?”: WILLIAM PENN, QUAKERS, AND UNFREE LABOR IN ATLANTIC PENNSYLVANIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN HISTORY BY PETER B. KOTOWSKI CHICAGO, IL AUGUST 2016 Copyright by Peter B. Kotowski, 2016 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the four years I have been working on this dissertation, I have incurred a staggering number of debts, both personal and professional, to those who have helped me along the path toward completion. I cannot hope in the space available to properly acknowledge all of those who have made this dissertation possible. One of the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects of the dissertation process has been the opportunity to form a community of mentors, colleagues, and friends who have helped shape this dissertation and my own development as a scholar and an educator.
    [Show full text]
  • Quakers in America
    “I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” - William Penn Quaker Affirmations Quaker History, Part 2: W M Penn, Courtesy Library of Congress, LC-DIG-pga-00455 Quakers in America Quaker Affirmation, Lesson 2 Quaker history in 3 segments: 1. 1647 – 1691: George Fox • Begins with the ministry of George Fox until the time of his death, and encompasses the rise and swift expansion of the Friends movement 2. 1691 – 1827: The Age of Quietism 3. 1827 – present: Fragmentation, Division & Reaffirmation 2 Review: • Fox sought to revive “Primitive Christianity” after a revelation of Christ in 1647 and a vision of “a great people to be gathered” in 1652. • Many people in England were resentful of the government-led church and longed for a more meaningful spiritual path. • A group of Friends dubbed “The Valiant Sixty” traveled the country and the world to preach Fox’s message. • Around 60,000 people had joined the Society of Friends by 1680. • Friends in mid-1600s were often persecuted for their George Fox beliefs, and George Fox was often in prison. • George Fox and many other Friends came to America 1647 - 1691 to preach. 3 George Fox, Courtesy Library of Congress, LC=USZ62-5790 Review: What was the essence of Fox’s message? • There is that of God in everyone. • The Inner Light lives within; it discerns between good and evil and unites us.
    [Show full text]
  • William Penn's Legacy
    William Penn’s Legacy A TrAdiTion of diversiTy AnnuAl reporT 2010–2011 Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Pennsylvania Heritage Society® A Tradition of Diversity COURTESY HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA ounded in 1913 as the Pennsylvania Historical On October 25, 2010, Kim Sajet, president and CEO of the Historical fCommission and reorganized in 1945 as the Society of Pennsylvania (HSP), and Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Nutter unveiled a state historical marker honoring the organization, (PHMC), the commonwealth’s official history agency founded in 1824. HSP, located at 1300 Locust St. in Philadelphia documents, preserves and interprets the Keystone since 1884, is among the nation’s oldest historical institutions. State’s diverse history and heritage. Recognizing the PHMC manages a statewide system of programs enormous diversity of citizens and communities—and supporting the preservation of Pennsylvania’s unique their precious heritage—PHMC employs a wide range and diverse historical and cultural character. Governed of programs to protect and share their stories. To by a board of appointed commissioners, the agency capture and chronicle this historic legacy, PHMC employs 217 individuals through commonwealth installs state historical markers; publishes relevant service and an equal number by nonprofit groups educational and interpretive material both in print and supporting PHMC and its initiatives. In addition, on the Web; designates historic properties—including volunteers contribute
    [Show full text]
  • Pennsylvania Magazine of HISTORY and BIOGRAPHY
    THE Pennsylvania Magazine OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY The First "Purchasers of Pennsylvania 1681-1700 ENNSYLVANIA, like West New Jersey, was a Quaker under- taking and had the wholehearted support of the Quaker leaders. PWithout the backing of this sect as a whole, William Penn would have been only another on a long list of proprietor-adventurers in the New World. As it turned out, when he launched his campaign for purchasers and settlers in the early summer of 1681, he found a response to his idea of a "Holy Experiment" that has no parallel in the story of American colonization. The vigor of the reception given Penn's scheme is to be attributed to the concern of the Quakers with existing conditions in Great Britain and Ireland.1 It is true that the persecutions of nonconform- ists under Charles II did not compare in intensity and harshness with those of earlier periods, that the persecutions were nowhere as vindictive or cruel or as near the extermination point as some thought, and that they were intermittent in the sense that all penal legislation was never enforced everywhere at one time nor anywhere continuously through the reign. And yet, as thinking Quakers re- flected upon the course of the persecution since 1660, as they wit- 1 William C. Braithwaite, The Second Period of Quakerism (London, 1921), discusses fully the nature and extent of the persecutions, 1660-1688. See especially pages 21-211. 137 I38 JOHN E. POMFRET April nessed its quick renewal in 1678 upon the acceptance of the flimsy evidence produced by the Titus Oates Plot, and as they observed the fierce antagonism of the extreme Whigs toward the Crown and the deep suspicion of the machinations of Charles II, they were con- vinced that England, though "sound, solvent, and sober-minded/' was certainly for them no land of promise either for the present or for future generations.2 The Friends were a small sect, but they were peculiarly vulnerable because they refused to meet in secret or to compromise on any principle that would substitute man-made law for the law of God.
    [Show full text]
  • An Holy Experiment and the Separation of 1827-1828
    1 An Holy Experiment and The Separation of 1827-1828 Randal L Whitman 2020 William Penn seized the opportunity granted to him in 1681. The British Crown owed his late father, an Admiral of the Royal Navy, a considerable debt, and Penn persuaded His Royal Highness Charles II to pay it off by granting him Proprietary rights to Pennsylvania. In 1682, Penn set in motion what he called “an holy experiment:” a colony, run by Quakers, and dedicated to Quaker principles, yet open to all religions. In so doing, Penn let fly a flaming arrow which arced across the heaven of slow time to embed itself into Arch Street meeting house in Philadelphia, one-hundred-forty-five years later, at the opening session of the yearly meeting on April 16, 1827, and set it aflame. Mystical and Evangelical The flame of contention that drove Friends apart was at least in part doctrinal in nature. Howard Haines Brinton’s major work, Friends for 300 Years1, focuses considerable attention on what he calls the “tension” between the inward and outward aspects of Quakerism, otherwise called its mystical and evangelical aspects. Primitive is a term frequently used as a synonym for mystical in this context.2 Brinton suggests that the main attraction that George Fox’s new religion brought in the mid-seventeenth century was its strong dependence on inward revelation--that is, the individual’s self-discovery of God and God’s Truth within himself--as opposed to the individual’s dependence on outward authority—clergy and Scriptures. For poor, mostly illiterate or semi-literate peoples, this discovery was electrifying.
    [Show full text]
  • William Penn in Myth and History
    "WEAR THE SWORD AS LONG AS THOU CANST". WILLIAM PENN IN MYTH AND HISTORY n July 1940, before America entered the war, Harold Evans of the AFSC testified before the Senate seeking to justify the Quaker Iclaim for conscientious objectors who would not serve in the military but who would provide alternative public service. Evans told the senators the story of young William Penn and his sword.1 The anecdote says that Penn - who had shortly before become a Quaker - approached George Fox with the question whether he could continue to wear a sword. Fox's answer was: "Wear it (the sword) as long as thou canst." The next time Fox met Penn, he had no sword. The story has long been popular among Friends, but for Quakers, who have a testimony for truth telling, the issue is whether Evans was speaking fiction to power. This article will be examining the documentary evidence for three popular traditions about William Penn - the sword story, the treaty with the Native Americans, and the "holy experiment." The topic is Penn in living memory and the means used by Friends, biographers, and the general public to maintain his fame. We will be concerned with William Penn the hero, or Penn as symbol or myth - bearing in mind that people create myths to capture and preserve what they regard as important truths. The conclusion will address the issue of the relevance of three centuries of traditions about Penn, who remains an elusive and monumental man. The sword anecdote was mentioned in no eighteenth or early nineteenth century biographies of Penn and was not cited in the recent four-volume edition of Penn's letters.
    [Show full text]
  • Fairmount Folio
    1 Fairmount Folio Penn's Sylvania: "A Holy Experiment" Suzanne Alexander In 1681, King Charles II of England granted land in the New World to William Penn. The colony which Penn established, Pennsylvania, was a unique social experiment in religious liberty that lasted for seventy-five years. In order to understand Penn's experiment, and its impact, it is necessary to look at two factors. The first is Penn's convincement to Quakerism, in the face of societal and parental opposition. 1 The second is the unique friendship he enjoyed with the Stuart monarchs--his radical religious views notwithstanding. Penn's ideologies shaped the character of the colony which later became the center of the fledgling government of the United States of America. Penn's "holy experiment", as he called it, became the proving ground for religious tolerance and individual liberty. Penn's grandfather, Giles Penn, came from a long line of wealthy country gentlemen. Giles, however, chose to spend his life at sea and traded with the Spaniards and Moors, establishing a flourishing shipping business. Giles' son William, Penn's father, joined the Royal Na"l and served, in one capacity or another, for the remainder of his life. 1 People are not converted to Quakerism, they are "convinced." "Quakers" was a derisive nickname for the Religious Society of Friends. Edwin B. Bronner, William Penn's "Holy Exooriment•: The Founding of Pennsylyania 1681-1701 (New York: Temple University Publications, 1962), 6. I have used the terms "Quaker' and 'Quakerism" because they are the terms which occur most often in the literature and they are the ones with which people are most familiar.
    [Show full text]
  • In August 1682, the Welsh Quakers Arrived in What Is Now Lower Merion and Narberth
    CELEBRATING WILLIAM PENN’S VISION AND THE FIRST WELSH SETTLEMENT IN LOWER MERION AND NARBERTH 1682-2007 In August 1682, the Welsh Quakers arrived in what is now Lower Merion and Narberth. They were seeking a home in the New World, which they had christened The Welsh Tract. These Merioneth Adventurers from the County of Merionethshire in the North of Wales, were part of William Penn’s vision of the Holy Experiment in which the persecuted peoples of the Old World could find refuge in a land of promise and new beginnings. Dear Fellow Residents of Lower Merion and Narberth, There are many reasons to be proud of our community, but there is one aspect which is paramount: We together with those from the adjoining lands of William Penn’s Pennsylvania, live in the part of the world which has dwelt longest in religious freedom. The fruits of this gift, along with the other personal freedoms conferred by Penn upon the inhabitants of newly-born Pennsylvania, should be prized by every generation in the face of the unfortunate recurrent evidence of human discord elsewhere in the world. Penn’s lands are much more populous and Pennsylvanians are more diverse than in Penn’s day. But the ideals which formed our community are as essential and dear, 325 years later, to ourselves as they were to our forebearers, whether their path to Pennsylvania came in Penn’s day or just the recent past. Bruce D. Reed, President Mary Jo Pauxtis, President Township of Lower Merion Narberth Borough Council Board of Commissioners CELEBRATING WILLIAM PENN’S VISION AND THE FIRST WELSH SETTLEMENT IN LOWER MERION AND NARBERTH A 1682-2007 William Penn (1644-1718) In 1681, William Penn, an English Quaker; namely, a member of the non-conformist religion called The Religious Society of Friends, received a charter from Charles II of England for Penn Sylvania or Penn’s Woods.
    [Show full text]