How did Quakerism begin?
Quakerism grew directly out of the English Revolution (1640-49). This Protestant Revolution had freed up numerous ordinary men and women from the constraints and control of the old feudal monarchal state. The Revolutionary years and the excitement of radical change (the armed challenge to and the eventual overthrowing of the English monarchy and its State) allowed an unprecedented freedom of thought and expression among the masses of people in Cities and towns and in the countryside. The Protestant philosophy of individualism (that each person could communicate directly with God, without the need for an intermediary State authorised person) meant that those who accepted this way of thinking were empowered to challenge local or national authority. For if you claimed to be acting under the direction of God, doing God s will then you could claim to be answerable to a higher power than that represented by your local Lord, Corporation, Magistrate or General. In a very real sense the English
