Evangelical Quakerism and the Early American Penitentiary Revisited: The Contributions of Thomas Eddy, Roberts Vaux, John Griscom, Stephen Grellet, Elisha Bates, and Isaac Hopper

Evangelical Quakerism and the Early American Penitentiary Revisited: The Contributions ofThomas Eddy, Roberts Vaux, John Griscom, Stephen Grellet, Elisha Bates, and Isaac Hopper Christopher Adamson * Quaker leadership in prison reform has not been central to recent interpretations ofthe rise ofthe penitentiary in the United States. There are two reasons for this. First, some scholars have contended that the early state prisons were essentially hard-labor houses, not penitentiaries. Adam J. Hirsch, for example, emphasized that the regime of hard labor in the first American state prisons mirrored the disciplinary and administrative arrangements which existed inthe Englishhouses ofcorrection and Continental prison-workhouses ofthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. According to Hirsch, historians have been wrong to point to the Quaker state's pioneering role in penology, for it was actually "Massachusetts which stood in the vanguard ofthe penitentiary movement in America, establishing the first statewide program of incarceration following independence."1 Second, scholars who acknowledge the role played by Quakers in bringing aboutprisonreform inthe earlyrepublic focus less onthe influence ofQuaker philanthropy and theology than on the effects ofa general theory ofcrime causation. David Rothman, in his influential 1971 book, identified what was common to prison reform in Pennsylvania, New York, New England, and Ohio. The stateprisons builtthere during the 1 820s, he argued, were the product of an essentially secular theory which attributed crime to the breakdown of community.2 While Rothman was correct to argue that prison reformers saw crime as an indicator of social disorganization rather than original sin, he accorded little significance to the fact that many prison reformers were intensely devout men and women forwhom social disorganization was the product of the spread of irreligion. In an argument similar to Rothman's, Michael Meranzehas shownhow fearofsocial fluidityanddisorderledPhiladelphia's prison reformers to substitute imprisonment at hard labor for public forced labor, and to embrace the beliefthat solitary confinement was the sine qua non ofconvict reformation. For Meranze, the fear ofsociety's contaminating influence on the community, and the solitary penitentiary ideal engendered by that fear, derived primarily from secular perceptions, not from the worldview of evangelical Quakerism.3 For interpretations which assign importance to thereligious origins ofthe penitentiary, we need to revisit the work ofNegley K. Teeters, Harry Elmer *Christopher Adamson, an historical sociologist, has taught at Hofstra University and York University. 36Quaker History Barnes, andothers. In avariety ofbooks, they describedthe work ofQuakers in ameliorating conditions at the jail on Walnut Street, in building the Eastern State Penitentiary north of Philadelphia, and in formulating the Pennsylvanian system ofprison discipline which kept prisoners in solitary confinement both day and night.4 In their analysis of Quaker attitudes toward punishment, these scholars highlighted the significance of Quaker soteriology. Since salvation was, Quakers believed, available to anyone who would open himself or herself to the Inner Light, there was a real possibility that prisoners could be redeemed. But, important though Quaker soteriologywas, therewere otherreasons why Quakerswere drawnto prison reform work. The sources ofQuaker prison reform lay notjust in doctrines unique to Quakerism, but in evangelicalism more generally. Indeed, it is impossible to understand the role which Quakers played in humanizing punishmentwithoutconsideringtheevangelicalrevitalizationof Quakerism.5 The American Revolution accelerated a process ofreformation already occurring within Quakerism.6 Evangelical rejuvenation was manifested in a more intense psychological identification with suffering; a growing appreciation ofthe spiritual risks attached to moneymaking; and the belief thatitwas more importantto convert sinners thanto establishthe correctness of a doctrine. Quakers who embraced evangelical norms ofpiety resurrected the heroic philanthropy of men like Daniel Stanton and John Woolman, who had preached that spiritual renewal came with personal efforts to alleviate the suffering of others. Christ's redeeming work on the cross led Quakers to identify with wounded soldiers, needy families, African slaves, American Indians, and anyone victimized by inhumane treatment in a poorhouse, hospital, or prison.7 Christ's redeeming work also led Quakers to identify with the condemned. In Philadelphia during the early 1780s, William Savery and Thomas Scattergood jumped up on the tumbrel carrying a number ofcondemned prisoners to the place ofexecution. Feeling an inner empathy for the state ofmind ofthe criminals, the two ministers climbed the scaffold and stoodby them while they were hanged. Afterwards, Savery and Scattergood urged...