Fleeing political upheavals in England for settlement in the New World, Quakers rose to unprecedented economic and political power in the Pennsylvania colony. However, the failure of the Quaker-dominated government to provide for defense in the wars from the 1730s into the 1760s began their downfall. By the Revolution, their fortunes waned and they were brutally suppressed by their political foes. Several dozen influential Friends were exiled to Virginia without so much as a hearing, and Quaker farms and businesses were subject to depredations. Labeled dissenters by Loyalist and Patriot alike, they stood their ground, alone and isolated.
Through the words of those who were there, author and historian Jeff Denman vividly describes the precipitous rise of the Philadelphia Quakers and their fall during the American Revolution.
On Thursday, November 5, 2026, join Jeffrey A. Denman at Arch Street Meeting House as he discusses his book, Philadelphia Quakers and the American Revolution.
6:00 PM - Explore The History of Quakers: A Religious Revolution - ASMH’s new permanent exhibition, which opened in April 2026.
6:30 PM - Keynote Presentation by Jeffrey A. Denman, followed by a Q&A and book signing.
7:30 PM - Program Ends
JEFFREY A. DENMAN is a former American history teacher, author and historian from the Brookline Public Schools in Brookline, MA; University of Maine, B.S.; University of Connecticut, M.A.; published seven articles on subjects ranging from the American Revolution to World War II; co-author of Greene and Cornwallis in the Carolinas: The Pivotal Struggle of the American Revolution, 1780-81; author of John Quincy Adams, Reluctant Abolitionist; author of Philadelphia Quakers and the American Revolution; current project: Closing the Ring: George Washington’s War in the North, 1778-1781 (July 2026).
