LE3 .A278 1998

1998

Wilson, Robert

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

Theology

Acadia Divinity College

This thesis argues that John Woolman was the catalyst in persuading the Society of Friends to become the first denomination in the American colonies to adopt a position favoring the abolition of slavery. The author portrays Woolman's untiring efforts to combat the eighteenth-century's pervasive attitudes towards slavery with emphasis on his personal encounters with Quaker slaveholders, his itinerant ministry through the colonies, and his antislavery writings. Woolman's gentleness and his abilities as a communicator and writer were his resources in spreading his antislavery message. Slavery was an acceptable practise among all the eighteenth-century denominations in the American colonies. As the few antislavery supporters were heard, slowly the American Society of Friends began to be open to change. The result was that the Quakers became the first American sect to change its stance on slavery when, in 1776, it adopted a policy of abolition at the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Other Yearly Meetings throughout America quickly followed suit. A key factor in their decision was John Woolman's vision of liberation for slaves and his labors towards the fulfillment of his vision. Woolman led the American Quaker slaveholders back to the basics of Quakerism by identifying with them in their wrongdoing of slavery and by making himself a model of selfless devotion.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2964