Among the “dissenting” bodies in England in the 1630s, 40s and 50s was one group (which has since become several) that called itself “Friends of Jesus”. The generally accepted leader of this group was one George Fox. Fox became disenchanted with both the Church of England and the non-conformist (read: Puritan) positions, and began to look into various alternative Protestant positions. During this time, he came to believe that he received a direct communication from God: a Revelation. Fox believed he had been chosen to inform the world that Jesus had already returned, and that He was available directly, without recourse to any clergy, at all. Soon, a number of adherents came to Fox’s assembly, and soon, too, some of them began to preach his message. Several were women, which was in itself very different from the existing norm. Before long, they were being called “Quakers”, based on their injunction to “tremble at the word of the Lord”. At first, the name was taken as an insult, but Fox adopted it, and soon it was accepted by most of the “Friends” in England.
Quakers in general believed in the universal priesthood of believers, worship that was (and is) mostly silent, but that is open to said or sung messages by anyone present, pacifism, plain dress, equality of the sexes, abolition of slavery, and complete abstinence from alcohol. They soon began to immigrate to America, and two of their female preachers, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, began preaching in Boston in 1656. Called heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner Light, they were imprisoned and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1660, an English Quaker named Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common for defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. In 1661, King Charles II outlawed the execution of Quakers, and in 1684, England revoked the Massachusetts Bay charter. By that time, Quakers had obtained a measure of toleration from the Crown, and indeed had obtained their own Colony in North America, named for its founder and probably the most famous American Quaker, William Penn.
That Colony, of course, was Pennsylvania, which means, pretty much, “Penn’s Woods”, with a Capitol in a brand new city called “Philadelphia”, which means “City of Brotherly Love”. Penn was, of course, an English Quaker, and his practice of his faith went well beyond the naming of places with friendly names. He negotiated treaties and purchase agreements with the local Indians; he made Quaker ideals the basis for daily life in his Colony, and he made religious toleration an important part of daily life.