Oatmeal Neutrality

This Week in 1776, Week 6

First week of February, 1776. There’s not a whole lot that has changed since last week—the British are gearing up for more ship seizures in Cape Fear, North Carolina, and privateering is now a key component of the American economy. That’s all hardware. Let’s talk software.

The Other Adams

Samuel Adams was never president so we don’t give him as much attention as his cousin John, nevertheless he was a key figure in the Continental Congress, and he worked specifically on drumming up additional support at home for the war. On February 3rd, 1776, he responded to a statement from the Quakers, who said they wouldn’t join the cause of the Revolution given their commitment to nonviolence.

The Quakers (a religious congregation with some endearing if eccentric beliefs) were committed to pacifism. They believe in being submissive to authority, and concerning the British crown, they would either submit or be neutral but they’d never openly rebel. Since they also believed in preaching their virtues, they tried to convince others not to rebel.

Naturally this stoked the ire of Congress, as they feared it might dissuade others from taking up the cause and fighting. Sam Adams replied to the Philadelphia Quakers with a cutting summarization: whether they were earnest, or whether they were deceived, the Quakers’ refusal to fight the British was the functional equivalent of aiding the enemy. They couldn’t claim passivity because their refusal to fight was itself an act of resistance, and neutrality in the face of tyranny was immoral.

While Adams’s response didn’t change the Quakers’ position, it did change public attitudes toward them, and some people even started to suspect the Quakers of secretly aiding the British. Quakers soon learned via ostracization and public scrutiny that neutrality would only earn you scorn.