A. Glenn Crothers
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813039732
- eISBN:
- 9780813043142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813039732.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Chapter 4 explores northern Virginia Friends' antislavery efforts before 1830 and the reasons they adopted deferential and gradualist tactics, including colonization. Friends condemned slavery ...
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Chapter 4 explores northern Virginia Friends' antislavery efforts before 1830 and the reasons they adopted deferential and gradualist tactics, including colonization. Friends condemned slavery because they believed all people possessed an “inward light,” but this same belief led them to embrace moral suasion to appeal to slaveholders' conscience. Friends' growing attachment to the region also encouraged them to embrace a deferential approach and avoid alienating their white neighbors. Influenced by Revolutionary ideology and worried about Virginia's declining economy after 1815, some slaveholders supported Friends' antislavery efforts. However, Gabriel's Rebellion in 1801 and Nat Turner's revolt in 1831 revealed the limits of white Virginians' commitment to ending slavery and their willingness to impose legal and political constraints on Quaker activism.Less
Chapter 4 explores northern Virginia Friends' antislavery efforts before 1830 and the reasons they adopted deferential and gradualist tactics, including colonization. Friends condemned slavery because they believed all people possessed an “inward light,” but this same belief led them to embrace moral suasion to appeal to slaveholders' conscience. Friends' growing attachment to the region also encouraged them to embrace a deferential approach and avoid alienating their white neighbors. Influenced by Revolutionary ideology and worried about Virginia's declining economy after 1815, some slaveholders supported Friends' antislavery efforts. However, Gabriel's Rebellion in 1801 and Nat Turner's revolt in 1831 revealed the limits of white Virginians' commitment to ending slavery and their willingness to impose legal and political constraints on Quaker activism.
A. Glenn Crothers
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813039732
- eISBN:
- 9780813043142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813039732.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Chapter 3 explores the way in which Quaker business ethics and success, and Friends' economic contributions to the regional economy, their civic concerns, and social respectability enabled them ...
More
Chapter 3 explores the way in which Quaker business ethics and success, and Friends' economic contributions to the regional economy, their civic concerns, and social respectability enabled them during years of peace to escape the pariah status they had held during the American Revolution and become respected members of the mercantile and agricultural communities of northern Virginia. As they prospered and created economic networks that helped sustain the community, however, many Friends became embedded in the economic and social life of the region, in the process becoming dangerously entangled in speculative ventures and slave-based industries that diverged from their religious and ethical convictions. In short, economic success and growing public acceptance intensified rather than resolved the tensions that arose from living in a society that violated their testimonies on a daily basis.Less
Chapter 3 explores the way in which Quaker business ethics and success, and Friends' economic contributions to the regional economy, their civic concerns, and social respectability enabled them during years of peace to escape the pariah status they had held during the American Revolution and become respected members of the mercantile and agricultural communities of northern Virginia. As they prospered and created economic networks that helped sustain the community, however, many Friends became embedded in the economic and social life of the region, in the process becoming dangerously entangled in speculative ventures and slave-based industries that diverged from their religious and ethical convictions. In short, economic success and growing public acceptance intensified rather than resolved the tensions that arose from living in a society that violated their testimonies on a daily basis.
