A POWERFUL CRUSADE FOR MORAL REFORM TAKES SHAPE AS QUAKERS STRENGTHEN THEIR STANCE AGAINST SLAVERY

Extracts from the Minutes of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held at Philadelphia, for Pensilvania [sic] and New-Jersey, by adjournments from the 20th day of the ninth month, to the 26th day of the same (inclusive) 1755. Manuscript extracts in unknown clerical hand, certified and "Signed on behalf of the Yearly Meeting" by Israel Pemberton (1715-1779) as Clerk of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], [1755]. String bound, 11pp, 8 x 12 3/4 in. Docketed to verso "Extracts 1755."

In the eighteenth century, abstracted reports of the Yearly Meeting, or "Extracts," were hand-copied by clerks and distributed to local Quarterly and Monthly meetings to provide members with an official, standardized record of the yearly assembly's core activities and discussions. The year 1755 represents a pivotal, transformative moment in Quaker history, as it falls within the early years of the "Quaker Reformation" (ca 1748-1783) and the second year of the French & Indian War, a conflict that would redefine the political landscape for Philadelphia Quakers. As the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting unfolded in September 1755, the Society of Friends was grappling with two emerging dilemmas: that of Quaker members who continued to enslave African Americans and questions of Quaker political support for the French and Indian War versus their pacifist beliefs. These politically and morally sensitive topics are reflected in the extracts from the meeting. Among the queries revised and to be read at Monthly and Quarterly Meetings are "8th Do you maintain a faithful Testimony against ...Bearing of Arms, Training or Military Services...10 Are Friends clear of importing or buying Negroes, & do they use those well they are possessed of by Inheritance or otherwise endeavoring to train them up in the Principles of the Christian Religion?"

Significantly, the 1755 Extract then expounds upon the discussion of slavery in light of the Society's efforts to reform its religious community. Citing efforts "to Labour to repair the Breaches too obvious in many places, that there may be some well grounded hopes of the primitive Beauty and purity of the Church being gradually restored," the slavery query is then strengthened in opposition to slavery: "the consideration of the inconsistency of the Practice of being concerned in importing or buying Slaves with our Christian Principles, being weightily revived and impressed by very suitable advices and cautions given on the occasion; it is the sense and judgement of this Meeting, that where any transgress this Rule of our Discipline, The Overseers ought speedily to inf[orm?] the Monthly Meeting of such Transgressors, in order that the Meeting may proceed to treat further with them, as they may be directly in the wisdom of Truth." This statement marked a significant declaration on the part of Quaker leadership who officially ruled that buying or importing enslaved individuals directly contradicted Quaker and Christian values. This stance here became more than a recommendation, instead moving to a rule where church Overseers were essentially ordered to quickly report members in violation of this rule to the regional governing body (the Monthly Meeting) who would initiate a formal intervention ("treat further"). Should the community member engaged in buying and selling slaves determine s/he did not wish to refrain from this trade and refused to repent following the intervention, disownment or expulsion from the Quaker community could be initiated. This query thereby strongly intensified the Quaker's disciplinary stance against Quaker slaveholding, and set the stage for the emerging Quaker abolitionist movement.

Signing the Extract as clerk and offering his endorsement on the accuracy of the text was the powerful Quaker merchant Israel Pemberton. Dubbed the "King of the Quakers" by his political rivals, Pemberton was a central figure in the Philadelphia Quaker community and in the broader Pennsylvania political world as well. As a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, in 1755 he fiercely opposed a military tax bill to fund the French and Indian War and would resign his seat the following year to hold fast to his pacificist principles. With a lucrative business empire, he turned in the 1750s towards philanthropy focusing in large part on Quaker schools as well as Native American diplomacy. As an influential leader within the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting, Pemberton was at the intersection of Quaker faith and colonial governance. His signature is exceptionally scarce at auction.

An additional item of note addressed in the Extract is the report on Edward Dawes, a Wilmington [Delaware] merchant who reported losses arising from the seizure of unlawfully imported goods after a 1753 riot. The Quaker committee appointed to review Dawes's appeal against the Chester Quarterly Meeting discourages any Quakers from becoming involved in disreputable trade, and members are instructed not to evade paying duties to the King. They are reminded that it has been the practice of the Friends to comply with laws of the government so long as those laws do not contradict their religious doctrines.

A historically significant document that reflects the tensions building in the Quaker community, and the Society's emerging role as a leader in moral reform and anti-slavery activism.

[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [African Americana, African American History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation]

Light chipping especially along bound edge, toning, creases at folds, some pages with tears along horizontal fold lines.