Quakers and the Law

At local, regional and national level, the first generations of Quakers faced a range of persecution, known collectively to Friends as ‘Sufferings’. This chapter considers the development of persecution over time from the Interregnum, when it varied from relatively unusual trials for blasphemy, notably that of James Nayler in 1656, to common prosecutions for preaching, holding meetings for worship, and non-payment of tithes. It will examine the Acts that were passed targeting Friends after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 when it became necessary, according to the authorities, to resist the radical potential of the Quakers. The Toleration Act of 1689 will also be considered regarding its implications for Friends’ worship, alongside legislation which continued to be used against them into the eighteenth century. Consideration will be paid to the role of the Meeting for Sufferings from 1675, particularly appeals to the government, with papers proclaiming the virtues of Friends, their peacefulness and economic importance, which served to repeat and emphasize earlier publications. Whilst scholars, such as Raymond Ayoub, have undertaken research into Quaker practices and English legislation (c.1650–1700) this chapter additionally focusses on preconceptions about Friends held by those in authority that informed which existing laws were applied, and what additional legislation was passed, in England and further afield. It begins by discussing the range of laws originating from the early fifteenth to early eighteenth centuries applied to second-generation Friends, before outlining their responses to persecution via the Meeting for Sufferings, and the implications of the accession of different monarchs in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and concluding with an analysis of popular cultural representations of Friends offered in published court records.