Book Reviews41 agent, endangered his title to lands in Pennsylvania; and the colonists refused to pay their modest quitrents, thus cutting Penn's revenues to the bone. He incurred great expense in protecting the Friends' interests at Court. That he was able to cope with these perplexities for so many years is a tribute to his greatness. Dr. Bronner has written a balanced account of these eventful and fateful years. Huntington LibraryJohn E. Pomfret A People Among Peoples: Quaker Benevolence in Eighteenth-Century America. By Sydney V. James. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1963. xv 405 pages. $8.00. A new look at the history of the Religious Society of Friends is always welcome, especially if the author has made an effort to examine Quakers from a fresh viewpoint. Sydney James has focused his study of American Quakerism in the eighteenth century on the humanitarian spirit of Friends, and has produced some original conclusions. The author points out that in the early years Friends believed they had a unique message for all of mankind, and hoped to encompass everyone in the new movement. With the major emphasis upon evangelism, Friends had little interest in humanitarianism, except for their own members within the Religious Society. When the Quakers realized that they were not going to win all of mankind to their own faith, they withdrew into themselves. Sydney James asserts that the decline in evangelical outreach coincided with an increased sense of responsibility for the underprivileged in society as a whole, and Friends became active in humanitarian enterprises at that time. This volume is based upon a very extensive study of all available sources. In the early chapters of his book he describes in detail the charitable work of Friends for their own members, and includes a discussion of the early efforts in education. James says that Friends turned away from their earlier interest in providing spiritual guidance for Negro slaves and began to develop a testimony against slavery. He adds that he found little evidence of real interest in the Indians during the first half of the eighteenth century. James regards the crisis over the outbreak of the French and Indian War as the turning point in the Society. He finds evidence of a Great Awakening in the Society, a religious resurgence, sparked by Samuel Fothergill. It was in this period that the discipline of Friends was tightened, and Quakers turned inward to strengthen themselves and protect themselves from the outside world. Although Friends drew themselves apart and tried to maintain a pure society, they also began to express concern over political matters and took a great interest in humanitarian activities. They were a separate movement, but interested in, and active in the world ; hence the title of the book, "A People Among Peoples." James does not see this new humanitarian emphasis as a natural development out of the beliefs and teachings of Friends. Instead he claims that Quakers consciously began to engage in humanitarian activity in order to silence their critics from the outside. This reviewer does not believe that Sydney James has produced adequate proof to sustain this thesis. 42Quaker History The last chapters of the book describe some of the new humanitarian programs. The work of Friends among the Oneida Indians, beginning in 1798, reminds one of present day Peace Corps or VISA programs. It was quite different from the evangelical work carried on among the Indians by an earlier generation. Petitions to government which aimed at improving the laws and reforming society are reminiscent of the Friends Committee on National Legislation today. Interest in prison reform and adult education also increased as well as a continued opposition to slavery and concern for the Negro. This is a stimulating book, based upon solid research. Some of the theories and conclusions may seem unusual, but the book does represent an effort to look at a rather neglected period of Quaker history in a new way. Perhaps someone will now be stimulated to study Quaker humanitarian practices in the nineteenth century, when different branches of the Society followed separate paths and there was no pattern which could be described as THE Quaker way. Quaker Collection Haverford College Edwin B.Bronner...
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Jan 1, 2004
Louis-Pascal Mahé 
Open Access