John Woolman, Quintessential Quaker

Woolman's best known concern was about the evil institution of slavery. At age 23, his employer asked him to write a bill of sale for a slave. He was uneasy about this and told his boss he thought slavekeeping was "a practice inconsistent with the Christian religion." He came to try to live as much as he could without depending on the labor of slaves. For example, in his last decade he wore undyed clothes because slaves were used in the making of dyes. When receiving hospitality from slave owners, he would leave them some money to be distributed among the slaves from whose services Woolman benefitted. Woolman was deeply distressed about the oppression of slaves. He also thought slavery was spiritually damaging to the slave owners, and genuine love and concern marked his laboring with them to give up slaveholding.

While there were indications of unease among Friends about slavery from the earliest days, Quakers nevertheless did not have a clear testimony against slavery in Woolman's early years. Woolman spent much of his life seeking to persuade Quakers to give up slaveholding, and bodies of Quakers to make this a matter of discipline. His efforts, along with those of other similarly concerned Friends, bore much fruit during his own lifetime and the Religious Society of Friends everywhere accepted this discipline well before the abolition movement in the wider society gained much strength.

Doing It the Quaker Way

Woolman's efforts to rid the Society of Friends of the sin of slavery were not those of a rabblerouser on the fringes of the Society. Woolman was a recorded minister of the gospel and held significant leadership positions in the Society. He always accepted accountability to the faith community. All his travels on the slavery issue were subject to the discernment of Friends, and Friends minuted their approval of them. The travels were frequently in the company of other Friends, and Woolman served on a Philadelphia Yearly Meeting committee to visit slaveholders. He labored gently and lovingly with fellow Quakers who held slaves, and he spoke as someone sent by a body of Friends, not as an isolated individual. Woolman's example of bringing his concern under the discipline of his faith community is frequently cited by Friends even today.

Living Simply

Simplicity is one of the classic Quaker testimonies. It arises not from an aversion to things, but from the desire to live one's life centered on

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