Quaker Patriots: the Leadership of Owen Biddle and John Lacey, Jr
Kenneth A. Radbill UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA QUAKER PATRIOTS: THE LEADERSHIP OF OWEN BIDDLE AND JOHN LACEY, JR. T wo CENTURIES ago, the trauma of revolution provided an 1unprecedented crucible for many Americans, testing their inclinations, beliefs, and backgrounds. No group of individuals was more sorely tried than that of the Society of Friends. The Friends, or Quakers as they are commonly called, had experienced serious religious schisms before the Revolution,' but few of their member- ship had questioned the central nonpacifist credo of their particu- lar persuasion until the outbreak of open conflict at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. This dramatic event precipitated a profound crisis within Quaker ranks. Between 1775 and 1783, twenty Monthly Meetings in southeastern Pennsylvania alone,' with a membership of over 8,000, expelled 420 belligerent Friends.3 Residing in the original counties of Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks, the area of the 1. Rufus M. Jones, The Quakers in the American Colonies (New York: Russell and Russell, 1962), pp. 446-458; Gary B. Nash, Quakers and Politics, Pennsylvania, 1681- 1726 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968), pp. 146-161, 179-180, 295- 296; Jon Butler, "Gospel Order Improved: The Keithian Schism and the Exercise of Quaker Ministerial Authority in Pennsylvania," William and Mary Quarterly, 21 (July 1974): 431-452. 2. Monthly Meetings formed the second lowest level of four organizational strata within the Society of Friends (Preparative, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly). Functions of the Monthly Meetings included appointing trustees to hold titles to meeting houses and other property, keeping graveyards, supervising marriages, providing aid for the indigent, communicating with other Monthly Meetings, and, most significantly for the nonpacifists, reproving improper conduct of mem- bers.
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