The major purpose of this study is to present a narrative account of the activities of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, in Indiana during the American Civil War. It is also an attempt to undo a myth that has persisted among many historians for over one hundred years. The Friends' adherence to the belief that all wars were unlawful in the eyes of God has caused many historians to take Quaker nonparticipation in the War Between the States for granted. Much historical writing has focused upon Friends' pacifism refusal to perform military service and the suffering they received as a result. Also mentioned in the historical literature concerning the Society is the benevolent work of Friends for the Blacks, both during and after the war, and in caring for sick and wounded soldiers. Virtually no major work, however, chronicles the nonpacifistic labors of this religious sect.Quaker activities including performance of military service, civilian support of the war, as well as opposition to the Civil War are recounted in this dissertation. Inextricably intertwined with the preceding topics are discussions of Quaker motivation for joining military companies, reactionto military life, and treatment of military Friends by the monthly, or local, meetings.Utilizing church records, Friends' manuscript collections, and cemetery records, the major finding of this work is that far more Quakers from Indiana took up arms in the Civil War than was generally known. Quakers also supported the war effort by donating money, food, clothing, and other accouterments of military life to the soldiers and in a variety of activities not approved by the monthly meetings. So widespread were these war-related gestures that, at least in Indiana, few Friends suffered recriminations because of their pacifism. In general, then, Friends who remained faithful to the peace testimony were able to preserve their conscientious beliefs without fear of reproach.

This study is an attempt to uncover the considerable contribution to antebellum reform made by a small unassuming frontier community in Indiana, That this community has been largely neglected in social histories of the United States is probably because the region did not produce any nationally outstanding figure as well-'known as William Lloyd Garrison., Elijah Love joy,, Theodore Weld, James Birney or Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This dissertation is an in-depth look at a group of so-called ordinary men and women who were really rather extraordinary in the enlightened positions they took.The two decades, 1826-1846, were the major years of Newport's ascendancy as a leading community in antebellum reform, Newport was made up largely of members of the Society of Friends, many of whom had migrated to the area from the Carolinas and other parts of the South to escape the spreading institution of slavery. Their opposition to slavery, then, was part of their religious tradition, and included aiding runaways to reach free soil. I t was only, however # among the more activist Friends, centered mainly in Newport that organized efforts to manage more efficiently antislavery activities resulted in that community being dubbed the "Grand Central Station" in the Underground Railroad.The outstanding individual in these efforts was Levi Coffin, reputed "President of the Underground Railroad," His coming to Newport in 1826 marked the beginning of organized, wisely managed efforts to oppose slavery. This included such activities as an antislavery tract society, an antislavery library, antislavery newspapers, antislavery societies (including also a young men's antislavery society and a female antislavery society), schools for free blacks and fugitives, as well as the free Produce Movement, an attempt to encourage abstension from the purchase of goods produced by slave labor.In this, Coffin and the Newport reform leaders were opposed by many, a vast majority at first, who felt their direct action methods were too revolutionary and disruptive and as a result were counterproductive, So severe was the disagreement that a rupture of eleven years took place in the Indiana Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends. By 1846, public toleration of abolition was such that Newport leaders felt little imperative to continue agitation for antislavery causes, instead, they centered their efforts in the political solution offered by the formation of the Liberty Party.The Newport community led in other popular contemporary reform movements including temperance, women's rights, education, and the peace movement. This comprehensiveness of 2lewport antebellum reform was consistent with antebellum reform in general. All the reforms were interrelated, all part of a larger pattern of moral planning. The cause of human rights embraced not only the freeing of slaves from bondage, but also the liberating of women from the bonds of less than equal status with men, the freeing, of the uneducated from the restrictions imposed by ignorance, the prohibition of the abuse of alcohol which shackled man's reason and will, and tie lifting from man of the curse of war.The Newport reformers believed in racial equality as tenaciously as did the Garrisonians or the Weld abolitionists. They seemed to have recognized that rhetoric, as ennobling and inspiriting as it can be, can also grow shrill and tiresome in its self-righteousness. Their reform was the kind of responsible reform directed at those around them--their family, friends, and neighbors--rather than at the faraway "demon" at whom shots can be taken with relative assurance he cannot immediate retaliate.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / As white settlers and pioneers moved westward in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, some of the first to settle the Indiana territory, near the Ohio border, were members of the Religious Society of Friends (the Quakers). Many of these Quakers focused on social reforms, especially the anti-slavery movement, as they fled the slave-holding states like the Carolinas. Less discussed in Indiana’s history is the impact Quakerism also had in the movement for women’s rights. This case study of two of the founding members of the Indiana Woman’s Rights Association (later to be renamed the Indiana Woman’s Suffrage Association), illuminates the influences of Quakerism on women’s rights. Amanda M. Way (1828-1914) and Mary Frame (Myers) Thomas, M.D. (1816-1888) practiced skills and gained opportunities for organizing a grassroots movement through the Religious Society of Friends. They attained a strong sense of moral grounding, skills for conducting business meetings, and most importantly, developed a confidence in public speaking uncommon for women in the nineteenth century. Quakerism propelled Way and Thomas into action as they assumed early leadership roles in the women’s rights movement. As advocates for greater equality and freedom for women, Way and Thomas leveraged the skills learned from Quakerism into political opportunities, resource mobilization, and the ability to frame their arguments within other ideological contexts (such as temperance, anti-slavery, and education).