Liberty and Conscience A Documentary History of the Experiences of Conscientious Objectors in America through the Civil War

by Brock, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780195151213
• ISBN10: 0195151216
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Although the act of conscientious objection entered modern consciousness most strikingly as a result of the Vietnam War, Americans have long struggled to reconcile their politics, pacifist beliefs, and compulsory military service. While conscientious objection in the twentieth century has been well documented, there has been surprisingly little study of its long history in America's early conflicts, defined as these have been by accounts of patriotism and nation-building. In fact, during the period of conscription from the late 1650s to the end of the Civil War, many North Americans refused military service on grounds of conscience. In this volume, Peter Brock, one of the foremost historians of American pacifism, seeks to remedy this oversight by presenting a rich and varied collection of documents, many drawn from obscure sources, that shed new light on American religious and military history. These include legal findings, church and meeting proceedings, appeals by nonconformists to government authorities, and illuminating excerpts from personal journals. These accounts contain many poignant, often painful, and sometimes even humorous episodes that offer glimpses into the lives of conscientious objectors of the era. One of the most striking features to emerge from these documents is the critical role of religion in the history of American pacifism. Brock finds that virtually all who refused military service in this period were inspired by religious convictions, with Quakers frequently the most ardent dissenters. In the antebellum period, however, the pacifist spectrum expanded to include nonsectarians such as the famous abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the New England Non-Resistance Society. A dramatic, powerful portrait of early American pacifism, Liberty and Conscience presents not only the thought and practice of the objectors themselves, but also the response of the authorities and the general public.

Author Biography

Peter Brock is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Freedom from Violence: Sectarian Pacifism from the Middle Ages to the Great War as well as many other books and articles on the history of pacifism. He was a conscientious objector during World War II and later served as a volunteer in the Anglo-American Quaker Relief Mission in postwar Poland.

Table of Contents

Colonial America

The First Quaker Conscientious Objectors in America, 1658

Rhode Island, 1673: "None to be compelled to train or fight against their consciouses"

Witnessing to the Quaker Peace Testmony

Quakers and Naval Impressment

Conscientious Objectors in the French and Indian War

English West Indies

Militia "Sufferings" among Quakers

Alternative Service and the Quakers of Antigua

Revolutionary America

Quaker Militia Penalties

Dilemmas of a Quaker Tax and Paper Currency Objector

The German Peace Sects of Pennsylvania and the Draft

A Peace Sect Wrestles with the Problem of Hiring a Substitute

The Conscientious Objection of a Methodist Preacher

The Moravian Brethren and War

Upper Canada

Legislative Exemption for Peace Sects

Quakers and Military Requisitions, 1810-1817

A Quaker Family in the War of 1812

Quaker Conscientious Objectors in Rural Upper Canada, 1840

The New Republic to Antebellum America

Continuing Quaker Witness against War, 1801-1824

A Quaker Petition against Militia Conscription, 1810

A Small-Sect Militia Objector

Pleas for Exemption of Nonsectarian Milita Objectors

William Lloyd Garrison as a Militia Objector, 1829

Should "Pacific Exempts" Pay Militia Fines?

Nonsectarian Militia Objectors in Jail

Dilemmas of Quaker Conscientious Objectors in Antebellum America

Civil War America

A Garrisonian Mother and Her Draft-Age Sons

William Lloyd Garrison and His Son's Exemption from Military Drill at School

Conscript Dilemmas at the Hopedale Community

Draft Experiences of a Conscripted Shaker

The Civil War Diary of a Quaker Conscript

Trials of a Quaker Conscientious Objector in the Confederate Army

A Reluctant Conscientious Objector

A Consistent War-Tax Objector

A Mennonite Farmer Hires a Substitute

Brethren and Mennonites as Exiles from the Confederate Draft

Adventists Confront the Draft

A Disciple of Christ Goes the Second Mile

Christadelphians and the Draft

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