{"id":90991,"date":"2023-04-28T11:08:50","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T15:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=90991"},"modified":"2023-04-28T11:16:59","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T15:16:59","slug":"colonial-america-king-stops-quaker-persecution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/colonial-america-king-stops-quaker-persecution.html","title":{"rendered":"Colonial America: King Stops Quaker Persecution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry describes how the Puritans\u2019 persecution of Quakers in Colonial America was stopped by King Charles II. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

One brave voice rose above the din.<\/em>
\nUpsall, gray with his length of days,<\/em>
\nCried from the door of his Red Lion Inn:<\/em>
\n\u201cMen of Boston, give God the praise!<\/em>
\nNo more shall innocent blood call down,<\/em>
\nThe bolts of wrath on your guilty town.<\/em>
\nThe freedom of worship, dear to you,<\/em>
\nIs dear to all, and to all is due.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

–John Greenleaf Whittier, \u201cThe King\u2019s Missive<\/a>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 1880 the city of Boston was preparing to celebrate the 250th<\/sup> anniversary of the town\u2019s settlement. James Ripley Osgood, a Boston publisher, commissioned a ballad from the poet John Greenleaf Whittier for \u201cThe Memorial History of Boston, including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880<\/a>,\u201d a book series to commemorate and chronicle historic episodes.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: portrait of John Greenleaf Whittier by Edgar Parker, dated 1884. The painting is now in the Moses Brown School, Providence, Rhode Island. The portrait was presented by Charles F. Coffin of Lynn, Massachusetts in 1884. Courtesy of The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whittier chose a subject that many Bostonians wanted to forget: the Quaker persecutions that occurred in 17th<\/sup> century Massachusetts Bay Colony.<\/p>\n

The ballad recalls the story of Samuel Shattuck, a practicing Quaker in Salem, Massachusetts, who was sentenced to banishment from the colony on pain of death on 11 May 1659.<\/p>\n

Instead of caving in, Shattuck went to England and presented a case before King Charles II to cease the persecution of Quakers.<\/p>\n

Shattuck, with the assistance of Edward Burrough<\/a>, who had the ear of the king, obtained on 19 September 1661 a mandamus commanding the magistrates and ministers of New England to \u201cforbear to proceed any further\u201d against the Quakers. Shattuck carried this mandamus back to Massachusetts in 1661.<\/p>\n

The above lines from Whittier\u2019s poem \u201cThe King\u2019s Missive\u201d are a reference to the Red Lyon Tavern owner Nicholas Upshall (spelled \u201cUpsall\u201d in the ballad) who was jailed for aiding and abetting Quakers. He was released with the others from the Boston Goal on the orders of King Charles II.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: a portion of the John Winthrop\/Nicholas Upsall (Upshall)\/Cotton Mather\/John Hull marker located at Boston\u2019s North End in Massachusetts. The marker is on Unity Street in the Paul Revere Mall. Courtesy of Beverly Pfingsten.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Worcester Daily Spy<\/em> gave a detailed background to the historical event. In summary, the Quakers were fed up with the Puritans\u2019 cruel punishments and in their efforts to stop any more executions of their \u201cFriends\u201d they decided to appeal to King Charles II.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Worcester Daily Spy (Worcester, Massachusetts), 20 September 1884, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The newsclip revealed a portion of the mandamus, or \u201cThe King\u2019s Missive,\u201d as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there be any of those people called Quakers among you condemned to suffer death or other corporeal punishment, or that are imprisoned and obnoxious to the like condemnation, you are to forbear to proceed any further therein,\u201d but if any Quakers misbehaved themselves, to send them over to him and he would take care of them!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It further noted that:<\/p>\n

This advice [of the King] was speedily heeded, and at the ensuing session of the general court, Dec. 9, 1661, an order was passed directing the \u201crelease and discharge\u201d of all the Quakers imprisoned, which was done forthwith, and the reverend defender of those cruel persecutors, John Norton, was sent over to the king to apologize for and smooth over, in behalf of the government at Boston, what had been so wickedly done here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Quakers were a rebellious bunch and sometimes used shocking tactics to revolt against the injustices imposed upon them. One example is Lydia Wardwell<\/a> showing up naked to Newbury Church.<\/p>\n

Wardwell stripped down to protest the whippings and heavy fines imposed upon her sect.<\/p>\n

Whittier, like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, had ancestors who suffered various punishments during the dark times of religious persecution, and crafted entertaining verses about their plight.<\/p>\n

Longfellow used many of the same characters in his New England Tragedies<\/a> as Whittier used in \u201cThe King\u2019s Missive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most-referenced character was Massachusetts Governor John Endicott, who labeled Quakers \u201cvile heretics\u201d and \u201cdangerous intruders invading our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: Governor John Endicott (inset) sitting in his home and receiving word from a constable that Samuel Shattuck has a message from King Charles II. Outside Endicott\u2019s home, Shattock and his fellow \u201cFriends\u201d are waiting to give the mandamus to him. Credit: from an illustrated version of John Greenleaf Whittier\u2019s poem \u201cThe King\u2019s Missive\u201d published in \u201cThe Memorial History of Boston, including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880,\u201d 1880.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nathaniel Hawthorne also wove Quaker themes into his work. His own ancestor William Hathorne was one of the magistrates who persecuted the sect.<\/p>\n

His grandfather Captain Daniel Hathorne<\/a> married Rachel Phelps<\/a>, the granddaughter of Nicholas Phelps, who was part of the effort to stop the persecutions.<\/p>\n

Hawthorne was familiar with the methods of punishment the Puritans used on their subjects. To quell a Quaker, a good branding would often be issued. The letter \u201cH\u201d for \u201cheresie\u201d was burned into the face or hand with a red-hot iron. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

Despite the tenacious efforts of the magistrates (before the king\u2019s intervention), the Quakers persisted and held worship in secret. See: Early Quaker Meetings Raided by Salem Authorities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Phelps and Josiah Southwick<\/a> of Salem, both banished upon pain of death, traveled with Shattuck.<\/p>\n

King Charles II had Quaker sympathies and was a close friend of William Penn, to whom he granted territory which became Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

A list of the cruel punishments and injustices endured by the Quakers in the colonies was presented to the king and Whittier wrote the following stanza:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a Vein of innocent Blood open\u2019d in his Dominions, which if it were not stopt might over-run all.<\/em>
\nTo which the king replied, \u2018But I will stop that Vein.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The London Society of Friends hired Ralph Goldsmith to escort Shattuck and \u201cFriends\u201d back to America. Goldsmith is among those whose sufferings for conscience\u2019s sake is listed on the monument at Shelter Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In his ballad, Whittier showed a transformation that Shattuck (a symbolic representative of all Quaker Friends) experienced when the message from the \u201cMerry Monarch\u201d was placed before Governor Endicott.<\/p>\n

The \u201cknave\u201d Shattuck was now addressed as \u201cMr. Shattuck\u201d and the proud Endicott removed his hat and bowed to Shattuck and promised \u201cimplicit obedience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Quaker prisoners were released from the jail, and they and their \u201cFriends\u201d outside were for the first time permitted to meet in Boston, and praise God for their deliverance.<\/p>\n

According to Drake\u2019s History of Boston<\/em>, an order was issued for the discharge of the Quakers then in prison.<\/p>\n

At that time William Salter was the prison-keeper, and records reveal there were 28 convicted Quakers in Boston jail. One of them, Wenlock Christison<\/a>, was under sentence of death.<\/p>\n

The \u201cKing\u2019s Missive\u201d did stop the executions, and it was a pivotal point for Quakers. Whittier\u2019s account is in his usual fashion, displaying his witty skill.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> Quaker prisoners released from the Boston jail due to the orders of King Charles II. Credit: from an illustrated version of John Greenleaf Whittier\u2019s poem \u201cThe King\u2019s Missive\u201d published in \u201cThe Memorial History of Boston, including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880,\u201d 1880.<\/p>\n

Related Article:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n