Jeffrey A. Denman

Pennsylvania and western New Jersey Quakers had endured much for their cause. The men who were exiled to Virginia, for example, suffered deprivation, loneliness, and loss, as did the families they left behind. It was clear that the civil liberties of the exiles had been violated, but in times of extreme duress and fear of the unknown, democratic ideals are all too often tossed to the wind. Quakers paid a high price for their "liberty of conscience," while Pennsylvania's leade

Paine's Attack on the Quakers in American Crisis II In the Second American Crisis, Paine led an unremitting attack on the Quakers, distorting their December 20 epistle to suit his needs and those of the revolutionary government. He attacked their alleged affinity with the British government, citing the epistle as "a publication evidently intended to promote sedition and treason," which was clearly not a sound portrayal of the document. The "happy constitution" that the Quaker

Spanish privateers on the Delaware River As Pennsylvania was on the threshold of the 1740s, a dilemma emerged between the core Quaker principle of pacifism and the necessary defense of the colony. European conflicts between England and Spain and between France and England would find their way to Pennsylvania's front door. Quaker politicians, who controlled the colonial government, were divided. Some decided to forego their peace testimony in times of crisis, and early Quaker

Of the little known of Greene’s accomplishments in the Southern theatre, his attempt to restore civil government in a war-torn region is...

History is always messy, even with larger-than-life figures such as Nathanael Greene. As my co-author John and I researched this book, we...

Sometimes the best stories are those lurking behind the bigger stories. That’s what I found as the genesis of this book took form in my ...