The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-02-23
THE SOUTHERN QUAKERs AND
SLAVERY.

than those which aim TO throw
rnon the early religious movements -
80, and their influence upon
slavery. This is the task which Dr.
S+anben b. Weeks, member of the
American Historical Association, and
an attache of the United States Bureau
of Education, has set for himself in his
book on Southern Qualxers and Slavery,
and to which he has brought not only
patience and a critical care suited to
the difficulties of the subject, but
fine scholarly judgment in the selec-
ton of his materials and the marshal
ling of his results.
The Quakers have occupied such
unique position in the social and
economic evolution of the South that
their history is worthy of special and
careful study. In the present volume,
the planting and development of their
various settlements in the States Of
Virginia, North and South Carolina,
Georgia ands Tennessee have been
traced with the greatest care from the
beginning. also their relations to other
religious bodies and to contemporary
institutions.
The most important of these institu
tions was slavery. 1t was their opposi-
ton to slavery that differentiated
Qualkers from other denominations
the effects of slavery differentiated the
meetings in Virginia, the Cardinals,
and Georgia from those to the North
ward, and this fact fixes the geogTa-
phical Limits of the subjects treated
The author traces very carefully the
growth of the opposition of Quakers to
slavery and shows how this opposition
caused them to emigrate in large
numbers to the far West, thus becom-
ing prominent in the early settlement
of the Old Northwest, particularly
Ohio and Indiana. This emigration to
the West because of slavery was so
large that Quakers have disappeared
entirely from South Carolina and
Georgia, while the Virginia Yearly
Meeting was laid down more than fifty
years ago. North Carolina Yearly
Meeting was also much weakened by
removals, but not until it had produced
many men who have become famous in
the annals Of Quallerism. Among these
were Thomas Beales and William Will
liaTns, pioneers; VestaI Coffin, the
founder, and Levi Coffin, for thirty
years the president of the Under
ground Railroad; and Charles Os-
born, who published the first abolition
journal in America and was the first to
advocate immediate and universal
The author has endeayored to pro-
duce narrative strictly in accord with
the manuscript records of the Society
and of other original sources Of infor-
nation. No labor has been spared to
make the work accurate and complete
He has not only traced the earlier
movement southwark and the later
movement westward, but has given the
names of many individuals and fami-
lies who first went to the South and in
the next generation sent representa-
tiyes to the West. In this way much
material relating to the history Of the
pioneers and their families has been
gathered from the records and preser-
we'd in condensed form. lie has exam
med for this work nearly all the man
uscript records of the Society in the
South known to be extant. These rec
ords amount to some 10000 pages, and
besides this vast storehouse Of infor-
nation, he has drawn to the fullest ex-
tent from the published accounts of
the travelling Friends. He has pre-
pared a list Of all the Quaker meeting
houses in the Southern States, and ev-
cry one Of the valuable statements put
down in the table of all Yearly, Quar-
terly, Monthly and Particular meet
ings ever established in these States
was CLEANED from a different source
The map accompanying is also entirely
new and based on the same kind of ma
terials. The index IS very exhaustive
and the lists Of names on pages 272 to
$50 Of the Appendix, will enable the
people OF certain parts Of Western
North Carolina to trace their lineage
directly. The chapters that are the
heart Of the book are those on the EX-
pansion Of Southern QuaEerism Ia the
Eighteenth Century; Southern Qua
kers and slavery, and the Westward
Migration Of the Qualers Among
other chapters Of much interest and
great historical value are: The plant
ing Of 0uakerism ia Virginia and the
Carolinas; John Archdale and the Col
den Age Of Southern Quakerism; QUA
ker Social Life and the Established