American Quakerism through French Eyes: Ampere and Voltaire

AMERICAN QUAKERISM THROUGH FRENCH EYES: AMPERE AND VOLTAIRE By Bertha R. Leaman* The pervading desire in the eighteenth century in western Europe for a less superficial society was embodied in the writings of eighteenth -century Frenchmen, to say nothing of Marie Antoinette and her milkmaids. Whether the French philosophes were the cause or merely the expression of an already disintegrating society may be open to question but their ideas did take hold and if one had been an habitué of the salons of Paris in the eighteenth century he would have participated in discussions which by their implication, at least, advocated a new social order. It is not surprising, therefore, that after the American colonies had successfully revolted against England and had established their own government British and French travelers should have come to America to see with their own eyes this "new" society and to form their own opinions of it. One of these Frenchmen who came was Jean-Jacques Ampère, son of Andre' Ampère who is well-known for his work in electromagnetics. Jean-Jacques, who held a chair at the Collège de France and was a member of the French Academy, was himself an eminent scholar. A close friend of Tocqueville, Ampère came to America in 1851, twenty years later than his illustrious predecessor. He came, as he himself says, to elaborate the theories of his friend. Traveling in Canada, the United States, Cuba, and Mexico, Ampère included Philadelphia in his tour. In this connection his observations about the role of the Quakers in establishing toleration in America are not without interest. This is what he says : 1 Perm's city which had the honor of declaring the independence of the United States had another special influence on the new republic. The Quakers, led by Penn, are the true founders of religious toleration in America . This toleration which was to be one of the glories and one of the strengths of America could not come either from Episcopal Virginia or Puritan New England. It came into existence at almost the same time *Haverford, Pa. 1. Promenade en Amérique (Paris, 1856), pp. 398-400. 116 NOTES AND DOCUMENTS117 in three different places in the United States where the intolerance of the Anglicans in the south and that of the dissidents in the north was law.2 To the great indignation of the Puritans, Roger Williams proclaimed religious liberty in Rhode Island. This generous but bizarre sectarian who taught that the state should not persecute people for their religious beliefs himself refused to attend divine service with his own family because he considered that it had not been regenerated. He thus combined the greatest degree of tolerance with the most narrow "separatism." An Irish Catholic, Lord Baltimore, established religious liberty in Maryland . These Catholics, well acquainted with persecution and enlightened by the new spirit of the times, gave a remarkably fine example which Protestants in Maryland should have imitated instead of banishing the Catholics from the very state where they themselves had been given refuge, thanks to the toleration of the Catholics. These two examples indicate how difficult it was to replace intolerance and persecution with religious liberty. Quakers had started with an outburst of excessive fanaticism but as they grew they changed character. This sect had the honor of establishing in a large colony that religious toleration which they had themselves so little experienced. From the very beginning they insulted ministers in their pulpits and Quakeresses entered the assemblies of the faithful nude in order to express the humiliation of the church but the time of this utter folly was past.3 Reacting from the initial enthusiastic zeal of their first leaders, the Quakers, directed by Penn, professed real tolerance and horror of bloodshed. They did not persecute anyone and, surrounded by savage nations, they alone among the American colonists never took arms nor did they ever have need to do so. In a Philadelphia suburb one still sees the place where the elm under which Penn had his famous interview with the Indians stood. On this occasion Penn sat on the ground according to the custom of the Indians and partook...