A History of U.S. Pacifism

With much skill, Peter Brock has sought to tie together the many strands in the history of American pacifism from colonial times to 1914. Much of the material will be familiar to the students of the American peace movement, and a considerable part builds on earlier works of E. N. Wright, Devere Allen, and many others. Perhaps the most original chapters deal with such groups as the Mennonites, Amish, and Shakers. At times, however, one tends to get so lost in detail that the major themes are forgotten.

The antecedents of American pacifism, of course, lay in the European background of Anabaptism, the Quakerism of the seventeenth century, and, more remotely, in the attitudes of early Christians.

Pacifist-oriented groups played an important role in many of the early colonies—in Rhode Island, for example, where Quakers were active in politics for many years and, above all, in Pennsylvania. The Quakerism of William Penn and his associates established the precedents which were to be followed, in varying degrees, until the middle of the eighteenth century. Many legitimate criticisms of the “holy experiment” have been offered, not the least of which is the one that calls attention to the compromises accepted by the Quaker-dominated legislature. The experiment remains, nevertheless, one of the most remarkable in the history of mankind.

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