page_title: History of religion in the United States
section_title: Quakers
hierarchical_section_title: History of religion in the United States / America as a religious refuge: 17th century / Quakers
caption_attribution_description: English: William PennDeutsch: William Penn († 1718)日本語: ウィリアム・ペン（William Penn）
context_page_description: The history of religion in the United States begins in 1776 with the American Revolution.
  Historians debate how influential Christianity was in the era of the American Revolution. Many of the founding fathers were active in a local church; some of them, such as Jefferson, Franklin, and Washington had Deist sentiments. Some researchers and authors have referred to the United States as a "Protestant nation" or "founded on Protestant principles," specifically emphasizing its Calvinist heritage. Others stress the secular character of the American Revolution and note the secular character of the nation's founding documents.
  Black Americans were very active in forming their own churches, most of them Baptist or Methodist, and giving their ministers both moral and political leadership roles. In the late 19th and early 20th century most major denominations started overseas missionary activity. The "Mainline Protestant" denominations promoted the "Social Gospel" in the early 20th century, calling on Americans to reform their society; the demand for prohibition of liquor was especially strong. After 1970, the mainline denominations lost membership and influence.
context_section_description: The Religious Society of Friends formed in England in 1652 around leader George Fox.
  Recently, church historians have debated whether Quakers may be regarded as radical Puritans since the Quakers carry to extremes many Puritan convictions. Historians in support of the Puritan classification of Quakers notice that Quakers stretch the sober deportment of the Puritans into a glorification of "plainness." Theologically, they expanded the Puritan concept of a church of individuals regenerated by the Holy Spirit to the idea of the indwelling of the Spirit or the "Light of Christ" in every person.
  Such teaching struck many of the Quakers' contemporaries as dangerous heresy. Quakers were severely persecuted in England for daring to deviate so far from orthodox Christianity. By 1680, 10,000 Quakers had been imprisoned in England and 243 had died of torture and mistreatment in jail.
  This reign of terror impelled Friends to seek refuge in Rhode Island in the 1670s, where they soon became well entrenched. In 1681, when Quaker leader William Penn parlayed a debt owed by Charles II to his father into a charter for the province of Pennsylvania, many more Quakers were prepared to grasp the opportunity to live in a land where they might worship freely. By 1685, as many as 8,000 Quakers had come to Pennsylvania from England, Wales, and Ireland.  Although the Quakers may have resembled the Puritans in some religious beliefs and practices, they differed with them over the necessity of compelling religious uniformity in society.
caption: William Penn founded Pennsylvania.
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