124 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and EnslavementIn the 20th century, Woolman’s views on wealth and pov-
erty inspired muckraking author Th eodore Dreiser. Wool-
man’s published work combines Quaker spirituality and
mysticism with an interest in social justice dedicated to
antipoverty, pacifi sm, and justice for Native Americans, as
well as abolition.
At the heart of Woolman’s critique was the belief that
God ordered the universe, and provided every person on
earth with a living to which they were entitled. Most clearly
in his essay titled, “A Plea for the Poor; or, A Word of Re-
membrance and Caution for the Rich,” Woolman argued
that greed for wealth or status drove some to neglect their
families and spiritual lives in favor of profi table labor, or,
more problematically, to exploit the labor of others. Th e
world would retain God’s felicitous design if people moder-
ated their desires, pursuing only their true needs. Break-
ing with many theorists of his time, Woolman traced the
cause of society’s evils, including slavery, war, and poverty,
to greed and concentration of wealth. Th roughout his life
he did his best to avoid participating in the oppression of
others. Woolman avoided products produced by any form
of exploitative labor. He wore undyed clothes in consider-
ation of the slave labor used to manufacture dyes. During
his travels he paid slaves in silver for any work done on his
behalf. Woolman lived according to his ideals to the last. In
1772, he journeyed to England, and although he was not in
good health, traveled in steerage in empathy for the sailors
who worked on the ship. He died of smallpox in York on
October 7, 1772.
See also: Abolition, Slavery; Quakers (Society of Friends)Jennifer EckelBibliography
Cady, Edwin. John Woolman: Th e Mind of a Quaker Saint. New
York: Washington Square Press, 1965.
Heller, Mike, ed. Th e Tendering Presence: Essays on John Woolman.
Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 2003.
Moulton, Phillip P., ed. Th e Journal and Major Essays of John Wool-
man. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Rosenblatt, Paul. John Woolman. New York: Twayne Publishers,
1969.
Whitney, Janet. John Woolman, American Quaker. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1942.slaves was inconsistent with the teachings of his faith. In
1749, Woolman married Sarah Ellis. Th e couple had two
children, but only their daughter Mary survived infancy.
At the age of 23, John Woolman was recorded as a
minister by his local meeting, or Quaker congregation.
Although the Quakers had no paid clergy, those people
recognized by their peers as ministers were recorded in
the minutes and issued a certifi cate that recognized their
gift and facilitated missionary work, which was a priority
for Woolman. In 1746, a trip through Maryland, North
Carolina, and Virginia increased his commitment to his
antislavery ideals. Th is experience, and another in 1757,
led him to write his most notable antislavery treatises. Th e
fi rst, Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, Part I,
published in 1754, focused primarily on slaveholders
rather than slaves, and claimed that the institution consti-
tuted a denial of God’s commandment to love all people
equally. In Part II, published in 1762 by Benjamin Frank-
lin’s press, Woolman looked more deeply into the harm
done to slaves. Additionally, using examples from history
and the law, Woolman pointed to fl aws in many arguments
used to justify slavery and demonstrated that the practice
perpetrated a grievous wrong against innocent people. In
time, Woolman’s thoughtful arguments became important
abolitionist texts.
At the 1758 Quaker meeting in Philadelphia, Wool-
man galvanized those in attendance and helped establish a
committee to expand his work of ministering to slavehold-
ing Quakers. Although he made attempts to aff ect public
policy, Woolman worked for change primarily on a per-
sonal level, successfully convincing Quaker slaveholders to
free their slaves through gentle persuasion and with a mes-
sage of universal love. Woolman’s message did not reach the
many slaveholders outside the Quaker community.
Wo o l m a n’s Journal is a classic of American literature,
oft en considered on par with Benjamin Franklin’s Auto-
biography. Woolman’s spiritual and social theories were
admired by Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emer-
son, infl uential British intellectuals such as Samuel Taylor
Coleridge and Charles Lamb, and later by John Greenleaf
Whittier, who produced an edition of the journal in 1871.