#quaker

As we mark 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we're reflecting on the complicated history and character of the American democratic experiment. We asked several of our authors to reflect on how their books intersect with this important anniversary. In this post, Prisoners of Congress author Norman E. Donoghue II ponders the irony that can be found in America's 250 years.

As the author of Prisoners of Congress, I see a lot of irony in the nation’s celebration of 250 years of independence. It is ironic, for instance, that in 1777–78 the people of Pennsylvania, at Congress’s insistence, arrested and punished peaceful Quaker leaders whose families had largely founded and ruled over the colony’s first century of rapid progress. Indeed, the patriots charged them with no crimes but persecuted them in ways similar to those by which Parliament harassed and persecuted the thirteen colonies. Moreover, the patriots harassed the Quakers with political strategies from the playbook Parliament had used in previous centuries to support divine-right monarchs: bullying, political chicanery, suspending habeas corpus, denying them a hearing, preventive detention, and fake news (as in the Spanktown Papers).

It is also ironic that for 250 years, almost no one has written about the Quaker Exile of 1777. It was a story that escaped the attention of both historians and the general public. Even Quakers scarcely wrote about it, though it was the worst episode in the history of their political life in North America and the worst case of religious persecution during the American Revolution. The patriots made Quaker leaders political prisoners, though no one would use that term for two more centuries. And one other irony: the same John Adams who had represented the British soldiers accused of murder in the Boston Massacre of 1770, standing up for those soldiers’ individual rights, recommended to the Congress in September 1777 that the Quakers—who were never charged with any crime—not be afforded any rights to be heard in their own defense. These were perilous times, not unlike today’s political atmosphere. 

1875, June 20.

A meeting of the Officers of Congress was called at the house of Mrs. Hanaford, 5 Summit Ave., Jersey City.  The weather was intensely cold.  I went to New York on the 19th and stopped with my friend Mrs. Clapp, 100 W. 54 St . . . .It was a question who should preside.  Mrs. Hanaford thought the Chairman of the Executive Committee should and I had been told that I should, etc. The question was decided by the non-arrival of the Chairman of Ex.Com.  I called them to order at an hour after the time appointed.  Of course I made many blunders, as I have never presided before, but I continued for 4 hours.  We did a few good things . . .

The thing most weighing on Maria’s mind at this meeting was the looseness of membership for the Congress.  She felt people were not being vetted properly in some areas of the country and thus they may allow in “undesirables.”   I would take this to mean women who were not entirely behind the cause of the Congress and the Association for the Advancement of Women.  I am not surprised by her suspicions and likely she was correct – one could see naysayers gaining access to this group and trying to destroy it from the inside.  The women’s rights movement would have many schisms within it as people disagreed and broke into smaller factions.

Another important thing to point out is that Mrs. Hanaford is Nantucket-born Phebe Coffin Hanaford.  Raised a Quaker, like Maria, Coffin Hanaford would become the first woman Universalist minister in New England – among many other firsts.  She grew up with Maria, attended and taught at the Coffin School here on Nantucket, and was a founding member of another women’s organization, Sorosis, which Maria was also a founding member of.  It’s nice to see two sister Nantucketers continuing to work together as adults – far from home!

“I’m the Public Universal Friend.”

“What gender are you?”

“Christian.”

“Yeah, but what’s in your pants?”

Really just reminds me that life is meant to be spent WITH FRIENDS!! SPEND AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE WITH THEM!! That’s why high-school and college feels so fun and fulfilling. Normalize staying at friend’s houses as an adult, even if they aren’t in need!! Don’t let work, life, or your partner dim that light!, See each-other more often, Keep having sleepovers, it’s a god given right!!