Philadelphia Quakers and the Antislavery Movement

The Quakers came to America in the 17th century to seek religious freedom. After years of struggle, they achieved success in various endeavors and, like many wealthy colonists of the time, bought and sold slaves. But a movement to remove slavery from their midst, sparked by their religious beliefs, grew until they renounced the slave trade and freed their slaves. Once they rejected slavery, the Quakers then began to petition the state and Federal governments to do the same. When those in power turned a blind eye to the suffering of those enslaved, the Quakers used both legal and, in the eyes of the government, illegal means to fight slavery. This determination to stand against slavery led some Quakers to join with others to be a part of the Underground Railroad. The transition from friend to foe of slavery was not a quick one but one that nevertheless was ahead of the rest of America.

Brian Temple has had book reviews and articles published in America’s Civil War, The Scream Factory, Command and Fencers Quarterly Magazine. He lives in New Jersey.

Brian Temple

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 240
Bibliographic Info: 8 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9407-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1577-6
Imprint: McFarland

Preface  1
Prologue  3

Part I. Removing the Plank
1. Quaker Beginnings  5
2. Quaker Beginnings in America  13
3. Friends and Slavery  21
4. Victory and Retreat  36

Part II. Removing the Splinter
5. The Revolution  47
6. Creating a Free Nation, Not a Free People  67
7. Legal Help In and Out of Court  87
8. The American Colonization Society and the Schism  104
9. Other Avenues Explored  115
Part III. The Underground Railroad
10. Standing against The Tide  127
11. The Tracks of the Underground Railroad  137
12. The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act  148
13. The Penalty for Defiance  153
14. The Tricks of the Trade  167
15. Stories of the Underground  177
16. The Last Fetter Broken  190
Appendix  195
Chapter Notes  205
Bibliography  217
Index  225

“Recommended”—Choice.