ABSTRACT
During the long period of warfare abroad and repression at home, internal tensions concerning theology, radicalism, and gender seriously divided Quakers. Despite these tensions, Mary Morris Knowles maintained her radical views and close Quaker connections, and she also remained an important public figure. At the turn of the century, the tensions among Quakers concerning theology, radicalism, and gender began to coalesce around Hannah Barnard, a ministering Friend from Hudson, New York, whom Knowles knew personally. The controversies surrounding Barnard and her visits to England and Ireland, as described in detail by James Jenkins, threatened the organizational unity of British Quakers. In London, a comment made by a country Quaker seems to indicate changing standards of Quakerliness in female apparel. The next year, 1800, Knowles wrote a humorous poem, advising a young female acquaintance about proper Quaker behavior and poking fun at those who criticized gay Friends and wanted to limit interactions with members of other faiths.
