Philadelphia Quakers and the American Revolution

Discover the history of Philadelphia's Quakers as they rose to power and prosperity and fell into peril.

Fleeing political upheavals in England for settlement in the New World, Quakers rose to unprecedented economic and political power in the Pennsylvania colony. However, the failure of the Quaker-dominated government to provide for defense in the wars from the 1730s into the 1760s began their downfall. By the Revolution, their fortunes waned and they were brutally suppressed by their political foes. Several dozen influential Friends were exiled to Virginia without so much as a hearing, and Quaker farms and businesses were subject to depredations. Labeled dissenters by Loyalist and Patriot alike, they stood their ground, alone and isolated.

Through the words of those who were there, author and historian Jeff Denman vividly describes the precipitous rise of the Philadelphia Quakers and their fall during the American Revolution.