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Quaker Pennsylvania: Refuge from Priestcraft?
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Calvert – 15
pages will explore how the Quakers’ aggressive promotion of their religiously informed political culture caused hostility among the non-Quaker denizens of Pennsylvania. The Era of the Quaker Party, 1740-1776
In the early days of Quaker government, from the founding of the province in 1681 until
about 1726, Quaker factions were too busy struggling amongst themselves for control of the province to worry much about the rest of the population.
88
But once they sorted out their
differences, the focus became the solidification of Quaker political power in Pennsylvania through the spread of civil Quakerism. And they were very successful. “So compelling and powerful a persuasion was it,” writes Tully, “that the idiom of civil Quakerism completely dominated political debate in the colony, forcing others to come to terms with its grammar and the assumptions its syntax expressed.”
89
The strength of their new position was solidified by the
evolution of their political style from internally combative to, at once, externally defensive and paternalistic. Furthermore, with their increasing wealth and status, Friends had added incentive to retain their political control of the colony, as well as a greater ability to do so. Effectively, now that the Quaker leadership had become internally stable, it united to preserve its power while dominating Pennsylvania civil society. Although many lived contentedly under Quaker rule, others chafed under the discipline, accusing Friends in office of trying to Quakerize them.
90
The early 1740s witnessed a harmony in the Quaker Assembly not seen before or since.
If Quakers did not succeed in gaining members to their religious fellowship in droves, their mission to convince large numbers of people of their political cause was much more effective. The period from 1740 to 1776 was a period of widespread popular recognition of and adherence to the “Quaker Party.” As it gained momentum, it evolved from being a party composed primarily of Quakers to one composed of men who belonged to other religious societies or none. But they all had one thing in common—they spoke the language of civil Quakerism. Despite frequent challenges to their power, Quaker leadership was hegemonic.
The rise of the Quaker Party can be attributed largely to one man, John Kinsey. Kinsey,
considered by some historians to be the last great Quaker political leader, dominated public life in mid-century Pennsylvania.
91
In this one man, religion and politics converged and were used as
means to the same end—the political autonomy and hegemony of the Quakers. At one point or another, and often simultaneously, this man held all the highest posts in both church and state. He was variously Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, acting trustee of the General Loan Office, and provincial treasurer. But more than this, he was also by all accounts an active Quaker. As the Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, he was the most prominent Quaker in the Delaware Valley. Significantly, he held the clerkship concurrently with the Speakership of the House, “thereby enabling him to intertwine religion and politics in such a way as to support the Quaker political agenda.”
92
Kinsey was acknowledged by
all his contemporaries as “the Hinge on wch ye Quaker Politicks all turn.”
93
88
On the disputes in the Assembly among Quaker politicians, see Gary B. Nash, Quakers and Politics:
Pennsylvania, 1681–1726. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993. (Originally published by Princeton in 1968.); Jane E. Calvert, “Dissenters in Our Own Country”: Eighteenth-Century Quakerism and the Origins of American Civil Disobedience. (University of Chicago dissertation, 2003).
89
Tully, 258.
90
Ibid., 157, 287-88.
91
See Isaac Sharpless, Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania (New York: Macmillan, 1919).
92
Lawmaking and Legislators, 2: 593.
93
Peters, 58-59.
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Calvert – 15
pages will explore how the Quakers’ aggressive promotion of their religiously informed political
culture caused hostility among the non-Quaker denizens of Pennsylvania.
The Era of the Quaker Party, 1740-1776
In the early days of Quaker government, from the founding of the province in 1681 until
about 1726, Quaker factions were too busy struggling amongst themselves for control of the
province to worry much about the rest of the population.
differences, the focus became the solidification of Quaker political power in Pennsylvania
through the spread of civil Quakerism. And they were very successful. “So compelling and
powerful a persuasion was it,” writes Tully, “that the idiom of civil Quakerism completely
dominated political debate in the colony, forcing others to come to terms with its grammar and
the assumptions its syntax expressed.”
The strength of their new position was solidified by the
evolution of their political style from internally combative to, at once, externally defensive and
paternalistic. Furthermore, with their increasing wealth and status, Friends had added incentive
to retain their political control of the colony, as well as a greater ability to do so. Effectively,
now that the Quaker leadership had become internally stable, it united to preserve its power
while dominating Pennsylvania civil society. Although many lived contentedly under Quaker
rule, others chafed under the discipline, accusing Friends in office of trying to Quakerize them.
The early 1740s witnessed a harmony in the Quaker Assembly not seen before or since.
If Quakers did not succeed in gaining members to their religious fellowship in droves, their
mission to convince large numbers of people of their political cause was much more effective.
The period from 1740 to 1776 was a period of widespread popular recognition of and adherence
to the “Quaker Party.” As it gained momentum, it evolved from being a party composed
primarily of Quakers to one composed of men who belonged to other religious societies or none.
But they all had one thing in common—they spoke the language of civil Quakerism. Despite
frequent challenges to their power, Quaker leadership was hegemonic.
The rise of the Quaker Party can be attributed largely to one man, John Kinsey. Kinsey,
considered by some historians to be the last great Quaker political leader, dominated public life
in mid-century Pennsylvania.
In this one man, religion and politics converged and were used as
means to the same end—the political autonomy and hegemony of the Quakers. At one point or
another, and often simultaneously, this man held all the highest posts in both church and state.
He was variously Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court,
acting trustee of the General Loan Office, and provincial treasurer. But more than this, he was
also by all accounts an active Quaker. As the Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, he was the
most prominent Quaker in the Delaware Valley. Significantly, he held the clerkship
concurrently with the Speakership of the House, “thereby enabling him to intertwine religion and
politics in such a way as to support the Quaker political agenda.”
all his contemporaries as “the Hinge on wch ye Quaker Politicks all turn.”
88
On the disputes in the Assembly among Quaker politicians, see Gary B. Nash, Quakers and Politics:
Pennsylvania, 1681–1726. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993. (Originally published by Princeton in
1968.); Jane E. Calvert, “Dissenters in Our Own Country”: Eighteenth-Century Quakerism and the Origins of
American Civil Disobedience. (University of Chicago dissertation, 2003).
89
Tully, 258.
90
Ibid., 157, 287-88.
91
See Isaac Sharpless, Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania (New York: Macmillan, 1919).
92
Lawmaking and Legislators, 2: 593.
93
Peters, 58-59.
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