New book recounts 1777 exile of Quakers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, without charge

Few Americans know of a group of leading Philadelphia Quakers who were banished to the Virginia frontier for more than seven months during the American Revolution. According to a review by Amy Cohen published on the Hidden City website, the episode has been largely absent from the historical narrative for more than 200 years. Norman E. “Ned” Donoghue’s *Prisoners of Congress*, scheduled for publication in June by Penn State University Press, examines the events that led to the forced expulsion of 20 men at the founding of the nation. Donoghue, a former attorney with the Dechert law firm and a fundraiser for the Philadelphia Orchestra, first heard of the Quaker exile more than 25 years ago. He said that a family connection to two of the key figures, and his retirement, gave him the motivation and time to research it more deeply.

The review explains that Quakers had been among the wealthiest and most powerful residents of colonial Philadelphia. Many had come to take part in William Penn’s “Holy Experiment” in religious tolerance and became prosperous merchants. They practiced their faith through a direct, personal relationship with God, along with simplicity, equality, and pacifism. Their pacifism became increasingly problematic once war broke out between the American Patriots and the British crown.

For most of the 18th century, Quakers had dominated the Pennsylvania Assembly, but by the time of the Declaration of Independence none remained in its governing body. The Assembly required individuals with a religious objection to bearing arms to pay for a substitute, and the Quakers refused. When the Assembly passed the Test Act of 1777, which required all white men to take an oath of loyalty to the state, the Quakers again refused, and they lost the right to vote and to hold office as a result.

The review also reports that Quakers declined to take part in preparations to defend Philadelphia as British forces threatened to invade, and did not donate blankets, wool stockings, or other materials needed by the Continental Army. They also refused to use or accept the new Continental currency, which angered the Congress then meeting in Philadelphia. Some Quakers were active Loyalists, and a letter in which a New Jersey Quaker Meeting supposedly passed military secrets to the British was circulated; the review describes this letter as probably fabricated. Together, these developments made the Quakers enemies of both the Pennsylvania Executive Council and the Congress.

On September 11, 1777, 20 men, all but one of them Quaker or formerly Quaker, were escorted out of Philadelphia toward the frontier town of Winchester, Virginia. They remained there for the next seven months and were never charged with or convicted of any crime. They were not granted a hearing to defend themselves, despite frequent requests. The review notes that the book describes the men’s experience in exile and the hardships their families faced in Philadelphia during the British occupation, without the income and protection of husbands, sons, and fathers. The final chapters cover the men’s release and the aftermath, including the public hanging of two Quaker men for treason in Centre Square, the location of today’s City Hall. The fairness of the proceedings against men held without charge is a concern that runs through the account (Exodus 23:1).

According to the review, Donoghue’s account is fully documented and rigorously sourced, and he consulted numerous historians in relevant fields. His research relies heavily on primary sources held by the American Philosophical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Quaker Collection at Haverford College. These include more than 30 diaries, hundreds of letters, and many documents, along with 65 unpublished letters between exile Henry Drinker and his wife Elizabeth, and Elizabeth Drinker’s diaries, kept from 1758 to 1807.

The review says Donoghue presents the conflict evenhandedly. It describes him as admiring the moral convictions behind the Quakers’ actions while also portraying their self-righteousness and Loyalist tendencies. A central theme of the book, the review reports, is that the Founding Fathers followed the example of tyrants when they made political prisoners of the Quaker dissidents. The review adds that Donoghue links this to the preventive detention of Japanese Americans during World War II. The book also faults both sides on slavery. The Patriots espoused liberty and equality while 41 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence held Black people in bondage. The Quakers pointed out this contradiction, but much Quaker wealth had been built on the labor of enslaved people, and it was not until 1776 that Quakers were expelled from the religion for owning human beings.

The review also highlights a chapter in women’s history. Quaker women wrote what the review describes as the first political petition in American history written by women, seeking the freedom of their exiled family members. They traveled to Valley Forge, where they dined with George and Martha Washington and tried to persuade General Washington to expedite the release of their kin.

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