These communities often boasted well-attended Quaker Meetings, though only a fraction of their residents were Quakers.From its early days, the Religious Society of Friends was noted for its relative egalitarianism. Within and among local congregations (Quakers called these “Meetings”), committees of women known as “Womens’ Meetings” were empowered to carry out some of the group’s administration, and their decisions were supposed to be of equal value to the governance provided by the “Men’s Meetings.”Mott, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, was raised in a Quaker home and moved to Philadelphia in 1811. It is still in use and has changed very little in the past two centuries. History. Philadelphia Quakersin edeltäjä oli Pittsburgh Pirates. This group of Quaker women wears the traditional plain garb of a long dress, cape, and bonnet. Though there is no evidence that Penn used the term “The Quaker City” for Philadelphia, he drew inspiration from Quaker founder George Fox, his mentor, as he imagined a communal environment where people would live in a way that “taketh away the need for all wars.”No one knows who originated the quip that “Quakers came to America to do good, and did very well.” But the combination of opportunity and frugality did, for a number of Quakers, bring great wealth. (Photograph by Bonnie Halda)As a member of the Religious Society of Friends of the Truth (Quakers), a British Christian splinter group, Penn shared in the belief that Christ’s arrival was occurring in his time. Although less influential in Philadelphia after the eighteenth century, the Religious Society of Friends remained a vital part of the city’s religious landscape.This concept of equality also extended to the idea that both sexes were equal in spiritual matters.
In response, worried that wealth would bring the temptations of moral flabbiness, Quaker leaders encouraged each other to donate the “excess” to worthy community concerns. Philadelphia Quaker entrepreneurs were early participants in establishing a lending library (1731); a university (1740); the nation’s first professional medical facility (1751) an anti-slavery network (1770s); canals (1820s); museums and historical societies (1820s); national railroad systems (1830s); investment-banking houses (1830s); and the nation’s first zoo (begun in 1859, and completed fifteen years later). Mott was one of the founders of Swarthmore College and, after the Civil War, crusaded for women's suffrage.Quaker influence on Philadelphia and the nation can be found in unexpected places.