Philadelphia Merchant: The Diary of Thomas P. Cope 1800-1851 (review)

BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTES49 Furthermore, it is difficult to measure just how much power any single body had in the Society of Friends during this period. Each local meeting had a great deal of autonomy; quarterly meetings had little authority over monthly meetings; and the yearly meeting, which met for only a few days each year, had no mechanism for exercising any authority over the so-called subordinate groups. Friends in the Delaware Valley did not have a Recording Clerk, or executive secretary, as was the case in England, nor did they have an administrative body like the Second Day Morning Meeting or Meeting for Sufferings. Having said all that, it must be added that Butler is correct in suggesting that relatively few Quakers participated in the various business meetings, and that persons in Philadelphia were more likely to make decisions than those in the rural meetings. It is also correct to say that Friends were not nearly as democratic as many scholars have supposed, nor as egalitarian as many today. Butler, who has been studying George Keith and the Keithian controversy for some time, stresses his challenge to the authority of the ministers, and places less emphasis upon his effort to create a creedal statement for Friends than some other scholars. Tully's volume goes over familiar territory, and provides little that is new beyond his assertion that affairs in the colonial period were more peaceful than is generally assumed. It is true that the three decades he examined were relatively tranquil, and he has chosen to play down the bitter struggles between Governor George Thomas and the General Assembly during the episode called King George's War. However, these 30 years were preceded by nearly a half century of conflict and the traumatic confrontation brought about by the French and Indian War immediately follows the years of this study. The author gives Quakers most of the credit for the peaceful conditions during these decades. He writes: "Friends preferred the peace of concession to the unity of sectarian purity." (p. 152) This conclusion runs exactly counter to the judgement of Daniel J. Boorstin in The Americans, The Colonial Experience, who denounced Friends for their perfectionism, their refusal to compromise (pp. 48, 63-69). This reviewer takes a third position , between these two, namely: Friends were willing to compromise, as long as their deepest principles were not endangered. Tully summarized the political developments in the first one-diird of the book, and dien turned to social, economic, and cultural aspects of colonial society in the last two-thirds. This text is supplemented with a number of appendices, which provide data about the members of the Assembly, and an analysis of court cases in Chester County for these years. He also made a statistical study of disciplinary actions in Chester, Darby and Sadsbury Monthly Meetings. Haverford CollegeEdwin B. Bronner Philadelphia Merchant: The Diary of Thomas P. Cope 1800-1851. Edited with an introduction and appendices by Eliza Cope Harrison. Soudi Bend, Indiana: Gateway Editions, 1978. 628 pages, illus. $19.95. 50QUAKER HISTORY Thomas Pym Cope (1768-1854) was a remarkable man; not the least remarkable thing about him is how little impact he has had on our historical consciousness, considering the scope of his accomplishments and the length of his life. His active years as a Quaker merchant, public-spirited citizen of Philadelphia, and philanthropist extend from the closely-knit mercantile community of the post-Revolutionary period to the rapidly industrializing world of the 1840's. Even a partial listing of his achievements is almost incredible. As a young man, he witnessed the terrible yellow fever epidemics of the 1 790's and helped feed and care for their victims. He was the moving force behind the Watering Committee of the Philadelphia Councils which brought pure Schuylkill water to the city and the first public works project to the United States. In spite of business reverses resulting from defaulting partners, he became one of the wealthiest merchants of Philadelphia. He was a long-time associate and friend of Stephen Girard's. Active in Quaker affairs, he was continually called upon to chair committees, arbitrate disputes and aid charitable causes with money...