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Quaker Pennsylvania: Refuge from Priestcraft?
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Calvert – 19
was achieved when Quakers were elected by a substantial margin over other candidates for the Assembly.
On the other hand, letters and epistles from London Friends that did not support the
position of Pennsylvania Quakers were effectively boycotted. One week before the general election in 1741, elderly James Logan, former secretary to William Penn, presented Philadelphia Yearly Meeting with an epistle criticizing the Quaker Assembly for not defending the province. Instead of letting him read it aloud, the Yearly Meeting formed a committee to see if the contents were appropriate for general consideration. After looking it over, the committee decided it was not, and was ostensibly better suited for people who would understand the military and geographic issues it dealt with. One member, however, dissented. He stood and observed that since it was written by a weighty Friend and was meant “for the Good of the Society at these fickle & precarious Times,” it should be considered by the whole group. But instead this Friend was rebuked and silenced. In the meeting, “Jonathan Bringhouse pluck’d him by the coat and told him with a sharp Tone of Voice, ‘Sit thee down Robert, thou art single in that opinion.’”
116
At the height of the power and controversy of the Quaker Party, Norris could write confidently that “ye People are very unanimous without Doors and ye Assembly without any Dissenting Voices among Themselves.”
117
The Political Testimony
Of the means that Quakers used to disseminate their views, the most usual was the
testimony. Traditionally, the testimony was a form of religious expression for Quakers, a visible way to act as God’s witness to the world.
118
In Kinsey’s hands, however, this oldest form of
Quaker religious expression, took on a new meaning and purpose. In the era of the Quaker Party, some testimonies evolved from their original religious use for new political purposes.
Kinsey used a number of religious testimonies for political ends. A relatively
insignificant example is the hat testimony. Traditionally, Quakers refused to remove their hats before their social superiors to symbolize the spiritual equality of all mankind. Kinsey insisted on leaving his hat on before the governor to assert his political equality.
119
Much more
significantly, Kinsey managed for a time to co-opt “the most important political doctrine of the Quakers,” the Peace Testimony.
120
For a brief period in the early 1740s, Kinsey took the Peace
Testimony to an extreme that was out of keeping with Quaker tradition. And he clearly did it for purposes that were more political than spiritual.
In the early years of Pennsylvania government, Quakers distinguished between the
religious and civil realms where their Peace Testimony was concerned. They did not find it inconsistent with their principles to give money for the Crown’s use, whatever that may be.
116
Peters, 33.
117
Ibid., May 18, 1755. p. 72.
118
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting defines the Quaker “testimony” as “a guiding principle of conduct that bears
witness to the presence of God in the world and in our lives.” Faith and Practice: A Book of Christian Discipline (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1997), 220. Traditional testimonies include such things as using the plain speech (thee and thou), plain clothing, leaving one’s hat on before a social superior, and not taking oaths. These testimonies had historically been used to express religious conviction.
119
John Kinsey, Journal, 1745, FHL.
120
For more on the evolution of the Peace Testimony during this period, see Herman Wellenreuther, “The Political
Dilemma of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, 1681-1748,” PMHB 94 (1970): 135-72. 172. Peter Brock, in Pioneers of the Peaceable Kingdom: The Quaker Peace Testimony from the Colonial Era to the First World War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968); Jack D. Marietta, “Conscience, the Quaker Community, and the French and Indian War,” PMHB 94 (1971): 3-27.
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Calvert – 19
was achieved when Quakers were elected by a substantial margin over other candidates for the
Assembly.
On the other hand, letters and epistles from London Friends that did not support the
position of Pennsylvania Quakers were effectively boycotted. One week before the general
election in 1741, elderly James Logan, former secretary to William Penn, presented Philadelphia
Yearly Meeting with an epistle criticizing the Quaker Assembly for not defending the province.
Instead of letting him read it aloud, the Yearly Meeting formed a committee to see if the contents
were appropriate for general consideration. After looking it over, the committee decided it was
not, and was ostensibly better suited for people who would understand the military and
geographic issues it dealt with. One member, however, dissented. He stood and observed that
since it was written by a weighty Friend and was meant “for the Good of the Society at these
fickle & precarious Times,” it should be considered by the whole group. But instead this Friend
was rebuked and silenced. In the meeting, “Jonathan Bringhouse pluck’d him by the coat and
told him with a sharp Tone of Voice, ‘Sit thee down Robert, thou art single in that opinion.’”
At the height of the power and controversy of the Quaker Party, Norris could write confidently
that “ye People are very unanimous without Doors and ye Assembly without any Dissenting
Voices among Themselves.”
The Political Testimony
Of the means that Quakers used to disseminate their views, the most usual was the
testimony. Traditionally, the testimony was a form of religious expression for Quakers, a visible
way to act as God’s witness to the world.
Quaker religious expression, took on a new meaning and purpose. In the era of the Quaker
Party, some testimonies evolved from their original religious use for new political purposes.
Kinsey used a number of religious testimonies for political ends. A relatively
insignificant example is the hat testimony. Traditionally, Quakers refused to remove their hats
before their social superiors to symbolize the spiritual equality of all mankind. Kinsey insisted
on leaving his hat on before the governor to assert his political equality.
significantly, Kinsey managed for a time to co-opt “the most important political doctrine of the
Quakers,” the Peace Testimony.
Testimony to an extreme that was out of keeping with Quaker tradition. And he clearly did it for
purposes that were more political than spiritual.
In the early years of Pennsylvania government, Quakers distinguished between the
religious and civil realms where their Peace Testimony was concerned. They did not find it
inconsistent with their principles to give money for the Crown’s use, whatever that may be.
116
Peters, 33.
117
Ibid., May 18, 1755. p. 72.
118
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting defines the Quaker “testimony” as “a guiding principle of conduct that bears
witness to the presence of God in the world and in our lives.” Faith and Practice: A Book of Christian Discipline
(Philadelphia: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, 1997), 220. Traditional testimonies include
such things as using the plain speech (thee and thou), plain clothing, leaving one’s hat on before a social superior,
and not taking oaths. These testimonies had historically been used to express religious conviction.
119
John Kinsey, Journal, 1745, FHL.
120
For more on the evolution of the Peace Testimony during this period, see Herman Wellenreuther, “The Political
Dilemma of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, 1681-1748,” PMHB 94 (1970): 135-72. 172. Peter Brock, in Pioneers of
the Peaceable Kingdom: The Quaker Peace Testimony from the Colonial Era to the First World War (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1968); Jack D. Marietta, “Conscience, the Quaker Community, and the French and
Indian War,” PMHB 94 (1971): 3-27.
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