'KEEPING CLEAR FROM THE GAIN OF OPPRESSION': 'PUBLIC FRIENDS' AND THE DE-MASTERING OF QUAKER RACE RELATIONS IN LATE COLONIAL AMERICA By ANDREW PIERCE WHITE A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of English MAY 2003 ii To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of ANDREW PIERCE WHITE find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. _______________________________ Chair _______________________________ _______________________________ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people to whom I owe the debt of gratitude for the completion of this dissertation, the culmination of six years of graduate school. First and foremost, I want to thank my advisor, Albert von Frank, for encouraging me to delve more deeply into Quaker life-writings. During my studies, he consistently has challenged me to explore the lesser known bi-ways of early American literature, in order that I might contribute something fresh and insightful to the field. Through his exemplary thoroughness, he has also helped me to improve the clarity of my writing. I owe much to Joan Burbick and Alexander Hammond, who both pointed to the context of British colonial discourse, in which many of the texts I consider were written. That particular advice has been invaluable in the shaping of the theoretical framework of this study. In addition, I would like to thank Nelly Zamora, along with Ann Berry and Jerrie Sinclair, for their administrative support and guidance during my studies at Washington State University. I also am grateful to the Department of English for generously providing a Summer Dissertation Fellowship in 2001, which made it possible for me to do research in the Philadelphia area. I want to thank the staff members of the Library Company of Philadelphia (particularly Edward Collins-Hughes), the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College for their assistance. I am especially grateful to the staff of the Quaker Collection at the Haverford College Library (particularly Elisabeth Potts Brown), who offered tireless aid in accessing hard-to-find primary materials that have proved to be instrumental to the writing of this dissertation. iv In addition, I wish to thank previous mentors who made it possible for me to pursue doctoral studies in English at Washington State University. I owe much to David Robinson, my thesis advisor at Oregon State University, whose congeniality and intellectual vigor epitomize what it means to be a scholar. I also am grateful to Chris Anderson and Jeff Sklansky who provided insightful feedback and necessary support, particularly in reference to my thesis project which was completed in June 1999. Going back even further, to the time of my undergraduate studies in English, I wish to thank Pamela Plimpton of Warner Pacific College and Kurt Fosso of Lewis and Clark College, who both challenged me in my written work and encouraged me to go on to graduate studies. And, of course, I am indebted to friends and family for their assistance during my doctoral studies. I cannot name all the individuals who have made a positive difference during this time, but the following have been especially supportive. I wish to thank Touria Mansouri for babysitting Julia, so I could make serious headway on this project. She and Mohammed are not only perfect neighbors, but also dear friends. For their invaluable friendship and persistent encouragement, I want to thank Tim and Jessica Kirkland. I am also grateful to my parents for their never-ending generosity and continuing belief in me and my seemingly never-ending education. I owe much to Curt and my gifted sister, Sarah, particularly for their encouragement and practical advice regarding baby care, based on their eight week's head start with beautiful little Madeline. I also wish to thank Matthew and David, who are not only wonderful brothers, but also fellow audiophiles who helped me maintain my sanity in the midst of my studies. And, finally, I wish to express the deepest gratitude to my wife, Daria, whose love is my life v and breath, and to our eight-month old daughter, Julia, who is pure joy. I love you both more than words can say. Vie ste moiat nai skup bozhi dar. vi 'KEEPING CLEAR FROM THE GAIN OF OPPRESSION': 'PUBLIC FRIENDS' AND THE DE-MASTERING OF QUAKER RACE RELATIONS IN LATE COLONIAL AMERICA Abstract by Andrew Pierce White, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2003 Chair: Albert von Frank This dissertation focuses on the site of eighteenth-century Quaker texts – particularly the journals of traveling ministers – as they converge on the political and military crisis of late colonial Pennsylvania. In particular, the present study is concerned with the religious and ideological response to these events that triggered major reforms in the Society of Friends, including efforts to protect the land rights of the Delaware Indians and the abolition of slavery. One always writes in reference to power structures, and the foregrounding of Quaker life writings in the Seven Years' War (1756-63) elucidates a nascent critique of the British colonial modes of expansion and production (particularly dishonest land deals and slave labor), in which binaries such as self / Other, civilized / savage, us / them are complicated and challenged. Chapter 1 examines the nature of the declension diagnosed by reformist ministers and the consequent redefinition of Quaker relations with the world in the face of secularization. Unlike earlier leaders of Pennsylvania, the ministerial elite saw material prosperity as detrimental to spiritual health, rather than an accompanying blessing. vii Chapter 2 takes up the revitalization of pacifism by Quaker ministers in the 1750's, the "testimony" that typifies this newly constructed relationship of opposition with the world. Increasingly, they recognized the inextricable connection between material prosperity and the exigency of defense. Chapter 3 discusses Quaker-Indian relations during the Seven Years' War. The revitalization of pacifism involved an attempt to counter racialized violence in the colony, a position which Quaker leaders came to reluctantly because of their commitment to the myth of Pennsylvania as a uniquely peaceable space in British North America. Chapter 4 examines the issue of Quaker anti-slavery as it relates to pacifism and the advocacy of Indian land rights. Ministers denounced the inherent violence of slavery, emphasizing universal "love" which, when put into practice, de-mastered inequitable power relations and had the potential to "extirpate oppression" from the world. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1 Methodology .........................................................................................................11 The World of Quaker Meetings and Ministers .....................................................17 Chapter Overviews ............................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 1, Re-cultivating the Inner Plantation: Quakers and the "World". ............... 26 The Pilgrim Motif in George Fox's Journal ........................................................ 37 Fox's Inner and Outer Plantations ........................................................................ 40 Material Blessing Becomes a Curse .................................................................... 42 "Waxing Fat" in Pennsylvania ............................................................................. 48 The Intensified Denunciation of Worldliness in London Yearly Meeting Epistles ................................................................................................ 53 Renouncing Materialism ...................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER 2, Pacifism Reclaimed: Withdrawing from the Legislation of Violence ...... 67 Quaker Pacifism Contrasted with Militarism ...................................................... 70 The Moral Dilemma of the 1755 Militia Act ....................................................... 75 Samuel Fothergill and Quaker Withdrawal from the Pennsylvania Assembly .................................................................................................. 85 Trusting in God's Sovereign Protection of Pennsylvania .................................... 89 ix CHAPTER 3, Racialized Violence and the Land: Negotiating the "Situation" of the Delaware Nation in Pennsylvania ................................................................................. 99 George Fox and Thomas Chalkley on Indian Relations .................................... 109 Penn's Mythical Legacy of Peace ...................................................................... 117 Quaker Response to the Declaration of War Against the Delawares ................ 124 Anthony Benezet's Deconstruction of Representations of the Indian Other ..... 130 John Woolman's 1763 Journey to Wyalusing .................................................... 135 CHAPTER 4, Racialized Violence and Labor: Encountering