Those Persistent Quakers

Puritans Deny Religious Freedom to Quakers

Jul 16, 2006 Mary Trotter Kion

In spite of dire punishments handed out to Quakers in Massachusetts, the Quakers continue to migrate to America.

Barbarian Puritans

Although the two Quakers, who had been found aboard a ship in Boston Harbor, were sent packing back to where they had come from, the incident seemed to incite even more Quakers to decide to make Massachusetts their home. Perhaps the Quakers, like the missionaries that traveled west to Christianize the Indians, felt that the Puritans needed saving from their barbaric ways.

Quaker Beatings, Whippings, and Hanging

To halt this flood of Quakers flowing over their land, the Massachusetts authorities, in 1656, passed a law imposing a hundred-pound fine on any sea captain who transported a Quaker into the colony. If this failed to stop the flood, whippings were administered to any Quakers found on land. But whippings were not the only form of punishment for non-Puritan religious convictions handed out in Massachusetts. Such as the case as Quaker Mary Dryer and two other Quakers who were hanged.

Punishment for Harboring a Quaker

Punishments were also administered to any one that was found to be harboring a Quaker. And still the Quakers came to America and Massachusetts.

Colonial America Series continues with:

The Persecution of Quakers .

Recommended Reading:

Colonial Pennsylvania .

William Penn .

William Penn the Quaker .

Anne Hutchinson .

Sources:

Carson, Clarence B. A Basic History of the United States, volume 1: The Colonial Experience, 1607-1774. American Textbook Committee, Wadley, Alabama, 1987.

Hill, Frances. The Salem Witch Trials Reader. DeCapo Press, 2000.

Lindsay, David. Mayflower Bastard: A Stranger Among the Pilgrims. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2002.

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