ABSTRACT
The involvement of Quakers in civil liberties began with their emergence as a Protestant denomination in England in the 1650s. Quakerism developed in England during the English Civil War and Interregnum. With the passage of the Test Act in 1661 and Conventicle Act in 1664, Quakers were denied freedom of religion. Quakers began emigrating to the colonies where they found persecution in Massachusetts but a sympathetic government in Rhode Island. When the Revolutionary War began, Quakers took great pains to establish their neutrality, even though that neutrality was often interpreted as support for the crown. Though Quakers opposed slavery and were active abolitionists, their religious principles forbade them to fight. In both North and South, Quakers' refusal to serve in the army brought them under suspicion. After World War II, Quakers became active supporters of the civil rights movement.
