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INTERCOLONIAL RELATIONS AMONG QUAKERS BEFORE 1750 By Edwin B. Bronner* Students of the history of the Religious Society of Friends have frequently discussed the relationship between Quakers of the British Isles and America, and there are many reasons for regarding the Friends of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a large British family with branches in various parts of the western world, and London as the center.1 This paper will not attempt to destroy that tradition, but will make an effort to examine the related developments on the western shores of the Atlantic in the years prior to 1750.2 There are actually three interrelated aspects of this question of intercolonial contacts. First, there is the constant attachment to London Yearly Meeting; secondly, the effort made to establish Philadelphia as the center of American Quakerism; and thirdly, the progress made in the development of intercolonial relations among the various American Quaker groups.3 It should be added that London approved of the plan to make Philadelphia an American leader, and did not regard this effort as a threat to her own preeminence . By the end of the seventeenth century, there were six yearly meetings on the North American mainland, plus Quaker groups on many of the British islands in the West Indies, and in Bermuda. No additional yearly meetings were formed until 1813, when westward migration led to the creation of Ohio Yearly Meeting. * Edwin B. Bronner is Curator of the Quaker Collection at the Haverford College Library and Professor of History at Haverford College. 1 In recent years Frederick B. Tolles has written Quakers in tLĀ· Atlantic Culture (New York, 1960), containing two essays on the subject, and Thomas E. Drake published a paper entitled Patterns of Influence in Anglo-American Quakerism (London, 1958). 2 There is no special significance in the year 1750. However, shortly after that date the French and Indian War broke out, which led to new relationships between Friends, and the concerted effort to reach a decision to oppose slavery began at the same time. 3 Henry J. Cadbury wrote a perceptive essay, "Intercolonial Solidarity of American Quakerism," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LX (1936), 362-374. 4 Quaker History The first Quaker missionaries to Massachusetts, Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, arrived in America in 1656, and others soon followed. New England Friends organized in 1661, and New York Yearly Meeting was set apart as a separate body in 1695. In the southern colonies Maryland Yearly Meeting was formed in 1672, Virginia in 1673, and North Carolina in 1698. In the meantime, the Quakers of the Delaware Valley organized Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1681. Most of the persons in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting migrated as Quakers to America, while the majority of the members of the other five yearly meetings were colonials who were converted to the Society of Friends by missionaries and ministers. The Quakers on Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua, Bermuda, and other islands, as well as those who later lived in Charleston, South Carolina, were also largely converts.4 London Yearly Meeting Friends believed in the equality of all persons in the sight of God, and they also believed in the autonomy of each meeting for business. However, this did not prevent them from recognizing the authority of London Yearly Meeting. One is reminded of the statement in George Orwell's Animal Farm that some "are more equal than others." Even today, Friends around the world have a special feeling about London Yearly Meeting. It is clear from the records that London regarded the American yearly meetings as subordinate bodies, at least until near the end of the period under consideration in this paper. London sent out an epistle to each yearly meeting and to each island in the West Indies. It expected an annual letter in return, which contained not only greetings, but a statement regarding the condition of Friends and specific replies to a series of questions. The questions raised with American Friends were similar to the ones asked of the subordinate quarterly meetings in England.6 For example, New England Friends in 1708, after replying to questions found in the London epistle for that year regarding the state of the...

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