Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary. Vol. Two: 1710-1756 (review)

Book Reviews Edited by Thomas D. Hamm Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary . Vol. Two: 1710-1756. By Craig W. Horle et al. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. xxii + 1210 pp. Maps, charts, tables, appendixes, notes, bibliography, and index. $145. To say that volume two ofLawmaking and Legislators is more of the same is high praise; volume one was extraordinary for its ambitious goals and achievement, and volume two is too. This sequel includes 224 biographies oflegislators active between 1710and 1756. Sixty-sixpercent ofthem were Friends. 1710 and 1756 bracket a significant period in Pennsylvania and Quaker history: the 1710 election marks the greatest turnover of legislators inprovincialhistoryand 1756, thebeginningoftheendofQuaker dominance ofthe Pennsylvania assembly. Important religious Friends after 1756 were not important public officials and so volume three will not have the compelling significance for Quaker history that the first two have. In this period, the Quaker party, the most robust and durable party in colonial America, flourished and most ofthe 66 percent belonged to it. For political historians these biographies are a unique resource about a unique feature of our colonial past. As earlier, the biographies contain the indispensable data ofpolitical life: elections, offices (in and out ofthe assembly), votes, committee appointments, attendance records, bills, petitions, and letters drafted, and more. The labor-saving, profuse detail here is no more apparent than in the case of listing everyone to whom a statement applies: when six Friends resigned from the assembly, all six are listed; if three legislatorswrote aresponse to the governor, allthree are listed. Also here are geographical, genealogical, religious, wealth and probate data. Almost as detailedis any Quakerlegislator's service to the Society—meetingmemberships , committee appointments, epistles drafted, disciplinary records, and more. And as in volume one, summary data on all legislators and laws are present intopical essays, charts, tables, andappendixes. Everything is richly annotated. More so than volume one, these biographies engage the reader. If one wants scandal, there is William Fishbourne, embezzler and prevaricator. If family life, there is Lawrence Growdon's advice to his daughter. IfQuaker moral enigmas, there are Joseph Gibbons and Joseph Hampton. Ifthe rich and famous, there is Isaac Norris, Sr. Ifone wants two points ofview for the same episode, read the biography of Isaac Norris and then that of his antagonist, Sir Wiliam Keith. The biographies are expansive. Rather than merely addressing a legislator's years ofservice in assembly, one gets, for example, the whole career of Hugh Roberts and his affiliation with Ben- Book Reviews61 jamin Franklin and role in politics of the 1760s. Roberts served in the assembly only in 1751 and 1752. Similarly, we get a splendid small biography ofGovernorWilliamKeith andhistory of1720s politics, whereas Keith served only in 1726 and 1727. Several topical essays are new to volume two (while others follow from those in volume one) and some are special to Quaker historians: "The Struggle to Secure the Affirmation," "Quaker Pacifism," and "Quaker Influence on Elections." Six editors commendablyproduced volume two in abriefsix years. Unfortunately, the departure ofseveral ofits sponsors has cuttheproject's staffto three, surely delaying theappearanceofvolume three. Weattestthatmorepeoplethanthe editors will suffer from this unhappy event. Jack D. MariettaUniversity ofArizona The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks. By Carolyn J. Weakley with the assistanceofLauraPassBerry. Williamsburg, Va.: AbbyAldrichRockefeller Folk Art Center, 1999. xvi + 254 pp. Illustrations, map, chart, notes, bibliography, and index. $39.95. Edward Hicks (1780-1849) is, with the possible exception ofthe genial old man whose visage ornaments the Quaker Oats box, the most publicly visible Friend ever to live inNorth America. For many, he is the quintessential American folk artist. His various interpretations of The Peaceable Kingdom have become icons of harmony and idealism, doubtless for millions their sole exposure to Quakerism. Carolyn Weakley's attractive and thoroughly researched book, produced in conjunction with a major traveling exhibition ofHicks's work, provides us with the best account we have had to date ofthis paradoxical Friend. Hicks was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, into a family with extensive Quaker ties, although his own parents were Episcopalians. Loyalists during the Revolution, the Hickses lost most of their property and position, and the death ofEdward's mother in 1781 left the infant Edward in the care...