Evangelical Friends were concerned with emphasising the inerrancy and uniqueness of the Bible, the incarnation and atonement of Christ, and other characteristic Protestant doctrines which, although seldom denied outright by Friends, had tended to be subordinated to the quietistic emphasis on the Inner Light . In the early 19th century most leading English Friends were sympathetic to evangelical ideas, although they did not lose their unity with more traditional-minded Friends. In the United States unity proved more difficult. Friends had gone west - from Virginia and North Carolina because of difficulties over slavery, but also from Pennsylvania. Since the various American yearly meetings corresponded with one another, the Hicksite separation spread to other yearly meetings that had to decide to which portion of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to write.
Schism is often a sign of religious vitality, and so it proved then.
Whether Hicksite, Wilburite, or Gurneyite, all branches of Quakerism began to show vigour unknown in their days of torpid unity. In doctrine, worship, and polity they were not unlike Congregational churches, though they remained faithful to Friends' social testimonies. Even in England, where such innovations were not introduced, Friends, under the influence of the evangelical revival, discontinued disownment for irregular marriages and curtailed the powers of elders and overseers, which had been a profoundly conservative force.